Tropical Vacation Memory Frame
Posted by DecoArt on Apr 13th 2014
Relive a tropical beach vacation with this frame made memorable with Americana® Acrylic color.
SUPPLIES
- paper towels
- sandpaper
- #2 round brush
- 1/2" flat brush
- tacky glue
- #6 filbert brush
- #4 flat brush
- old toothbrush
- palette paper
- tracing & transfer paper
- 4.25" cut-out wooden letter V
- 6" x 9" wooden frame
- paper scrap
- saw-tooth picture hanger
- #10/0 liner brush
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sand the frame and letter.
- Base the entire frame with one coat of Bahama Blue. Sand lightly allowing some of the wood grain to show.
- Trace pattern onto tracing paper and transfer to the surface with graphite paper. (Leave shovel, pail, and lettering off for now.)
- Base the sand area and the letter V with Buttermilk. (You may need several coats for good, opaque coverage.)
- With a scrap piece of paper, mask off all but the sand area. Using an old toothbrush, spatter the sand area with some thinned Honey Brown and Burnt Umber.
- Once spattering is dry, shade sand with a side-loaded brush of Honey Brown.
- Trace on the pattern for shovel and pail.
- Base the pail Snow White and the shovel, Country Red. Shade along the left side of the shovel with a side-loaded brush of Burnt Umber. Bucket is shaded on either side and inside with side-loaded brush of Slate Grey. Add detail lines to pail with True Blue and Country Red; handle is True Blue with a little highlight stroke of Snow White at the top.
- The tree trunk is based with Honey Brown and shaded along the left side with a side-load brush of Burnt Umber. The detail lines are painted with thinned Burnt Umber using the #10/0 liner brush.
- Palm fronds are based with Avocado. (I like to use #6 filbert for this, but you can use small flat or round brush as well.) Shade fronds where one overlaps the other with Burnt Umber. Fronds are highlighted with Hauser Light Green. Detail lines are added with thinned Lamp Black using the #10/0 liner brush. (I also added some outlining with thinned Lamp Black on tree trunk, shovel, and pail and also very lightly on sand.)
- Lettering is completed with the #2 round brush using Bahama Blue. Add dimension lines to the right side of each letter segment with Snow White.
- The letter V is shaded all around with a side-load brush of Bahama Blue. Add squiggly line of Bahama Blue down the center with a #2 round brush. Using the end of the brush handle, complete letter decoration with Snow White dots on either side of the squiggle.
- Allow the paint to dry thoroughly and then glue on the wooden letter. Once glue is dry, seal frame with several coats of DuraClear Satin or Matte Varnish. Add a saw-tooth picture hanger and favorite vacation picture.
