DIY Art Project
Our paper bag “Chicas” art inspired by Windy O’Connor
Let me preface this post by saying I am absolutely obsessed with the Windy O’Connor’s art, especially her “Chica Nation” collection. I love her paintings, her pillows and her wallpapers. If you have not seen her work, please do yourself a favor and check it out @windyoconnor.com and start yourself a wish list. I am a huge fan and hope to own some of her originals one day.
I also am a big supporter of real art and will always buy pieces to add to my collection anytime my budget allows. There is nothing like curating a collection for your home that represents your unique personality. Let me just say you CAN find real art that is affordable. Check out @wellandwondercollective.com for example, “AN ONLINE COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL ART BY EMERGING SOUTHERN ARTISTS, AT PRICES FIT FOR COLLECTORS AT ALL LEVELS”. Also check thrift stores. You will be amazed at the treasures you can find. I will always make the effort to find real art instead of settling for a cheap commercial poster print. Even your children’s art framed creatively can be a great affordable option and so meaningful.
One Saturday morning, my daughter felt creative and wanted me to join her painting. Not having canvases in the house, I just grabbed some paper grocery bags and we used those. I had no idea what we were going to paint. Something wonderful just happened. I guess my subconscious love for the “Chicas” just took over the paint brush.
Had I known the end result would be so joyful, I would have prepared more and used canvases. An artist never knows when their creative juices may hit them though so you just go with what you have! We were feeling the girl power and went to town. First we just made a U-shape for the face, added a neck and shoulders, then went to town with funky makeup and jewelry. I just added layers and shadowing as I went. Looking back, I should have prepared the background by painting all over it first but I was too eager to get going and forgot. My daughter really focused on the makeup and hair;) I must say I love how they turned out.
I love them so much that I decided we must hang them somewhere in the house to enjoy. The only problem was, how? The paper bags were not sturdy enough to hang on their own. I did some research and came up with two options that I liked. One was to try decoupaging them to a canvas which I ruled out because I was afraid the paper was too thick to adhere to the canvas. The other option was to frame them between glass in the floating frame style. Enter problem number two. The paintings were not a standard frame size(duh- grocery bags remember). I considered having a custom size floating frame made from @framebridge.com (I love their frames) but the cost was too high for this project. After scouring the internet, I finally decided up0n these 16” x 20” floating frames from Michaels. They were the closest size that would work and were a great price point for a DIY art project. Because I couldn’t get that gold bamboo frame off my mind, I decided to add a touch of gold to the textured gray part of these frames. Here is the paint I used. Any stiff straight edge brush will do.
I had to trim the paintings down a bit to fit the frames. Ideally you want at least a 2” or greater consistent space around the art. A good trick for getting a clean torn edge is to tear against a ruler. This keeps the tear straight but gives you a nice raw edge, which I prefer over just cutting with scissors.
Once I had the art trimmed to size, I set it aside and disassembled the frames. I then embellished the frames with a gold brushed look. There is no real technique to this. I just dot a few small globs of paint randomly around the border then spread them with the brush. At the end, take a paper towel and wipe the excess until you get a look that you like.
After the frames dry about 10 minutes or so, it’s time to reassemble them. I used a couple pieces of tape on the back of the art to hold it in place while sandwiching it between the two pieces of glass. I’m probably not explaining this well, but you can see from the photos there are brackets that hold everything together at the end. It’s not hard. You don’t even have to add the gold paint if you find a frame you like as-is.
Now it’s time to hang them!
Here they are hanging above my desk in my new office space. I love how these frames elevate the art to a gallery feel. And, my daughter is proud to see our artwork so grandly displayed together:) That’s a WIN-WIN all around.
Maybe you have some art lying around that you’ve never gotten around to framing. Try this! For about $40 and an hour of your time, you too could have a similar look. I have less than $40 tied up in these(The acrylic paint and paper bags were free b/c I already had them on hand. My only cost besides my time was the frames(which were on sale) and the gold paint.) Here’s your weekend project. You can do it!
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