Monday, December 10, 2012

Painting The Leaf Castings

Last week I finally made some space and painted the concrete leaf castings I told you about in this post.  I started out with the smallest one to get the "lay of the land", so to speak.  I didn't use exterior house paint like Roberta uses.  I used acrylic craft paint, keeping in mind the color pallet I told you about in this post.
 
I painted the back sides first.  Note to self: try a little harder to smooth those out the next time!  The Bears Breeches leaf (upper right) was the most fun to paint.  The Hosta (upper left) was the hardest because the striations went in both directions.  I started out thinking it was going to have a lot of turquoise and, um, not sure exactly where that went.  The trick is dry brushing and just keep going until you like the look.
 
I finished them with a brush-on satin polyurethane.  It gave them a little more gloss that I would have liked so next time I will go with matte.  Since they will be outdoors they will be exposed to the elements and I'm sure they will dull up a bit with time.
 
Painting these was SO FUN.  I'm looking forward to making more.  Must buy a Bears Breeches plant!
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9 comments:

Into Vintage said...

Kathy, these are INCREDIBLE. Wow!

My Vintage Mending said...

I see an entire terra cotta bowl full of these in the future. So beautiful. I had to look twice. The colors are fantastic. Smiles..Renee

Andy's Attic said...

Kathy, you are an artist. These are worthy of a magazine demo. Really beautiful!!

oldgreymare said...

Ditto..the three above :D

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

They're gorgeous! You did a great job with the colors, they looks so natural.

Annette said...

Love, love, love them all!! They turned out so fantastic. And I'm really glad you enjoyed painting them because I hope that means we'll see more! :)

Maggie said...

hi Kathy--they turned out great! Love how you blended the colors--i like how soft the colors turned out on the small leaf.

I was so glad I took Roberta's class--and glad I could steer you in her direction. Looks like you were a great student!!

Are you going to tackle casting some of the huge leaves in your garden next summer? It's kind of addicting :-)

vintage grey said...

So pretty!! Love the colors, especially the centers!! Great job! xo Heather

CATHY said...

They turned out beautifully!