Show off a favorite photo in a wooden photo frame with painted hydrangea.

SUPPLIES

• water container
• palette or plastic plate
• paper towels
• tracing paper
• transfer paper
• 3/4" flat brush
• fine-grit sandpaper
• #8 flat brush
• #12 flat brush
• pen
• wooden photo frame with heart-shaped opening
• white candle
• #2 script liner brush

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Load a 3/4” flat brush with Rustic and paint the frame. Let dry completely (about two hours). Rub a white candle over a couple of the edges and other places on the frame once base color is dry.
2. Load a 3/4" flat brush with Vintage and paint over the frame. (Run the strokes in the same direction and don’t apply the paint too heavily.) Let dry completely.
3. Run fine-grit sandpaper over the width of the frame, scratching up the surface just a bit. (The Rustic will come up through the Vintage, especially where you rubbed the candle.)
4. Wipe away any dust. Transfer the hydrangea pattern onto the frame using the tracing and transfer papers and a pen.
5. Load a #12 flat brush with Payne’s Grey to paint a rough circle using the corner of the brush. To get the placement for all the flowers first, paint hydrangea shapes in other places on the frame. When painting the rest of the hydrangea, paint one at a time so that the colors are wet on wet.
6. Load a #8 flat brush with Payne’s Grey to paint the shape of the hydrangea.

7. Wipe off the brush and load with Prussian Blue. Starting at the top of the hydrangea, paint petals using the corner of the brush. Continue painting petals as you come down the hydrangea but don’t reload the brush. Make sure to come outside the circle/oval shape you first created so that you don’t have flat edges on the hydrangea ball.

8. Wipe off the brush and load with a touch of True Blue. Repeat the stroke, starting at the top of the hydrangea. Skip around, leaving pockets of the other color underneath. Wipe off the brush, load with a touch of Indian Turquoise, and repeat the stroke just where the light would hit the hydrangea.
9. Wipe off the brush. Load with a touch of True Blue and repeat the stroke starting at the top of the hydrangea. Skip around, leaving pockets of the other color underneath.
10. Wipe off the brush; load with a touch of Indian Turquoise and repeat the stroke just where the light would hit the hydrangea.

11. Wipe off the brush. Load with a touch of Spa Blue and Snow White to paint a few strokes near the top where the light is directly hitting the hydrangea.
12. Wipe off the brush and load with a touch of Wasabi Green and Snow White. Paint a few strokes on the hydrangea. (Refer to photo for placement.) Don’t overwork the strokes; make sure the pockets of the previously-painted colors are showing. Leaving the hydrangea a bit darker on the bottom and lighter on the top will give the appearance that the hydrangea is a round, fluffy flower.
13. Repeat steps 6 through 12 for all of the hydrangeas.
14. Side-load a #12 flat brush with Plantation Pine and Wasabi Green. Pick up a touch of Snow White on the corner with the Wasabi Green and blend on the palette, keeping the colors in the same place. Flip the brush over to work the paint in on the other side of the brush, but make sure to keep the dark corner in the dark part of the little runway and the light corner in the light.

15. Sliding on the chisel edge of the brush, paint a stem by sliding down on the chisel edge from center of hydrangeas, leading with the dark corner. (Reload the brush as needed.) Pull small strokes from the base of the hydrangea to the top of the stem.
16. Use the #8 flat brush for the leaves: Load with Plantation Pine and then side-load one corner with Wasabi Green. Add a touch of Snow White to the Wasabi Green corner and blend on palette, keeping the brush in the same place as to not muddy the colors.
17. Stroke the brush on the palette in one place to work the paint into the brush. Starting at the base of the leaf and painting one side at a time, begin with the brush at an angle on the chisel edge with the dark corner at the bottom. Applying pressure to the bristles, slide on the flat of the brush, out and up, and come back to the center of the leaf with the dark corner. Repeat the stroke. Continue painting smaller strokes until you reach the tip of the leaf.
18. Repeat on the other side of the leaf, reloading the brush as often as necessary. (Remember, you are sliding at an angle on the flat of the brush, not on the corner, and slightly rounding as you lift. All strokes are going out and up at an angle.)

19. Flatten the brush on the palette and, using the chisel edge, pull the stem into the leaves. Paint all stems in the same way: Load a #2 script liner brush with an inky light mixture of Wasabi Green and Snow White. Paint one side of the leaf with a small curly cue that comes off the leaf.

20. Let dry completely.
21. Apply a thin application of Clear Crème Wax and wipe away the excess. Let dry.
22. (Optional) You can choose to give the frame a more rustic look after painting the design by applying a light coat of Golden Brown Crème Wax to the frame and wiping away the excess. (I chose to apply Soft-Touch Varnish after my project was completely dry as I wanted the basecoat colors to be a bit brighter behind the hydrangea design.)

DOWNLOADS

RELATED PROJECTS