In middle-school art class, I was always being upstaged by my friend Kate. She had a natural gift for taking tempura paint, a straw, and a piece of construction paper to make a bonsai tree painting that her parents framed and hung in a place of honor in their home. ** My artistic talents were not to be discovered until much later when I discovered I could rock the textile medium.
But I haven’t given up exploring my paint options. This little craft was inspired by this article and then by a conversation I had with an AC Moore employee about an idea she had seen on Pinterest.
This weekend I decided it was time to try. I assembled my Sharpies (both regular and Paint), my acetone nail polish remover, some Martha Stewart stencils I purchased a while back, and a pair of tweezers for removing the stencils. My canvases were two ironstone butterpats and a soap dish. The stencils were a bit futzy to center on the ceramics and didn’t give a superclear edge, but I think the end results looks nicely aged in keeping with the older bits of ironstone. All in all, a cute craft that didn’t cost anything (since I already had all the supplies) and made me feel like there was an artist residing somewhere in my body!
**I love my friend Kate dearly and harbor no resentment toward her or her artistic skills. Rather, I see her as a motivator. With a straw full of tempura paint**
Bright and shiny things 