Feature This... STAGING TIP No. 26,731 - SMART ART!

Thanks Margaret!

I was nervous about making it, as I am not super-proficient with acrylic paint, but the room needed some round elements, and we wanted a square, not rectangular, painting. My mom thought lily pads, and I agreed to do it. I HATED it, until the white paint that edges the lily pads came into play. That one detail transformed the piece and made it really fly off the wall.

So then I loved it and was satisfied.

One night, we were working very late on the extensive lighting for this project. It was, like two in the morning. We were punch-drunk with fatigue. I dragged everyone outside to do a drive-by see what our work looked like from passers-by as they might peer in.

So, there we all are, coffee in hand, dragging ourselves to perform a choo-choo train down the street. As our walk angled us to line up with this painting thru the front window, I just burst out laughing. This painting, from a distance, basically looks like three wads of toilet paper in a frame. We laughed ourselves silly.

It may be titled "Waterlillies"  OFFICIALLY, we refer to it as "Three Wads."

~Michelle

Thanks Kathy! :)

It really is super easy to make something with PAINT. I love to whip out quickie art. It's so exciting. I just wish CVS could send them faster!

~Michelle

Hi Michelle,

Don't be in awe of me...be in awe of yourself! 

You already know all about color, scale, and balance. You have everything you need to make great custom staging artwork. Just whip one out.

It's just too cost effective not to give it a whirl.

If you want to get really obsessively compulsive about the colors, here's another  really amazing tip... (well it's technically a tip within a tip):

Download THE PICKER.  It is a free color reproduction code tool.

Using a major-brand paint deck( a brand with a supporting website where you can view color samples), determine your exact color scheme you are working with or towards. For instance, the room above is painted with Benjamin Moore (Easter Lily trim, Jamesboro Gold cabinets, Aganthus Green walls, and the couch corresponds to Pacific Sea Teal, and red pillows to Caliente. Write down the names and code numbers of the colors you choose on a piece of paper.

Then, you just go to the BM  website and view colors with the Personal Color Viewer. While in Personal Color Viewer, simultanuously run the new application you downloaded...THE PICKER. It is an irritating little tool, but immensely useful. It  is a crosshair that chases the cursor. Slide the cursor over each appropriate color swatch in the screen for each color on your list. Leave THE PICKER on the color, and write down the RGB ( Red-Green-Blue) digits. Thre are nine total, in groups of threes,each separated by a comma. They are at the TOP of the Picker Tool. This is the exact code of that color for reproduction purposes. Do that for every color on your list.  For instance, the Picker says Jamesboro Gold (American Color - not Canadian) HC-88 's RGB digits are 151, 129, 199. Write that info down! When you are done, click the RED X to get rid of it. If you don't exit the picker,  it will drive you CRAZY!!!

Now, open up PAINT, and  click on COLORS in the top bar, and then click EDIT COLORS, Click on an empty white square in the lower grid. Then,  click DEFINE CUSTOM COLORS.

On the far right of the new box that opens, enter the first code next to the letter R, the first three digits only ( in the case of Jamesboro Gold, the first three digits are 151. Click to the second,  and enter them Next to G, 129 and enter the net series of three digits next to the letter B, 099.

On the Menu you should have a pretty darn accurate sample square of Jamesboro Gold. VERY IMPORTANT= after color is entered, CLICK ADD TO CUSTOM COLORS. Then, click on a NEW white square and do it all over for each color you need/want. If you don't click ADD, it won't save.

Now, click on the whatever newly-made color square you want to begin to paint with, and hit OK. That color is now ready to use. To switch between colors, go back to the top bar.Click  COLORS--> Edit Color --> and click the color you need next, AND HIT OK. That is how you change out colors that are extremely closely in tune to your actual real-life colors.

With that Picker on your side, you cannot fail to reproduce the color scheme from the real world into the virtual paint world. CVS Pharmacy reproduces these colors beautifully, in my opinion. You will find MANY uses for that little picker freebie. I just wish it wasn't so ENTHUSIASTIC about following the cursor. It gives me a migraine just thinking about it. I use it all the time, but as quickly as possible, then I close it out. It's just plain pesky.

But, using The Picker a huge confidence builder, just knowing your virtual paint is going to match with whatever you are cue-ing off of. I use it anytime I see a cool color scheme anywhere on the internet that trips my trigger, art, fabric, anything! I run The Picker over it, and I can pull up a very reasonable facsimile of the color scheme for future reference.

I also used it to design my logo at the top of this blog, pulling tiny shades out of the peacock feathers and rocks. It's just a handy-dandy thing, even if I have a love/hate relationship with it.

~Michelle

I'm excited to see whatever you do, Michelle.

But truly, I am NOT good with the tech-y stuff. I just know a tiny handful of programs well. Overall, I am REALLY lame with this stuff. I am still waiting for a computer tech guy to call me back to fix a problem I am having uploading to certain websites I use. I'll bet it takes him all of two minutes to charge me $90. When I went online to try to get some advice to try to fix it myself, I knew it was WAY over my head... I can't even find My Computer button on Vista. It's MIA on the desktop. Everything else they told me to do was 100% pure gobble-de-gook.

I WISH I was tech-savvy!

But that stuff just gives me a migraine, too.

~Michelle

Hi Ana,

I have used Kinko's, and wasn't impressed. I have used our local print shop, to no avail. CVS Pharmacy blew me away, even with the glossy finish. I do like to use a local photography studio which has an amazingly rich matte finish, but even an 8x10 is $ 30 a copy. I cannot tell you how marvelous these look in real life for $14.99 a copy. But I also liked Vistaprint, which makes large, stiff posters, for about that price.

With CVS, I can order them in my jammie-jams at 3 am. I just have to pick them up in person in two weeks.  

~Michelle

Tanya - Go for it! You will love them.

Cindy - You might be surprised at what you can do! See this for inspiration!

Cynthia - You are most welcome. Try it and you'll be hooked.

~Michelle

Beth - LOL. I'm no genius, I assure you. I'm just cheap.

~Michelle

Go for it, Tina!

It fun and good for you, too!

~Michelle

Great idea Kathryn! I love those frames, and you don't have to buy a mat!

~Michelle