Picasso - Crate and Barrel CopyCat

That’s who I feel like right now. I tackled a DIY I honestly thought I couldn’t do. I had high hopes.

I found a lot of paintings I loved a year ago that I found homes for. Most of them I was able to find on www.allposters.com and it cut the cost significantly.

There was one set of six pictures I couldn’t find a copy of. It was only offered through Crate and Barrel for $369 or $69.96 for each print individually. I originally planned to have these prints in the yellow quest room.

Courtesy - Crate and Barrel

I didn’t buy the prints because my plans changed for the yellow room and I wasn’t willing to drop the cash. It wasn’t until I saw a DIY project on younghouselove.com and they had viewers create their own Classical Symmetry sets. One girl used Adobe Illustrator to re-create the prints. The other girl actually painted her own prints.

I looked into buying “Illustrator” but still wasn’t willing to pay the money for the program and then pay the money to print it at Kinkos. I almost tossed the idea, but I browsed at Hobby Lobby for possible supplies I could use.

I found 12x12 inch black frames.

I found Acrylic paper that was exactly 12x12 inch size!

I found a kit of 12 Acrylic paints.

Next step… figure out how I was going to re-create the patterns. I tackled the easy ones first. The ones with the circles appeared easiest.

I found an object that was the circle size I needed and started tracing in pencil. Once the pencil outline was done, I started painting.

Once done, I was pretty proud.

The green painting was not so bad. I took two different size square pieces of paper and traced them.

The other shapes were pretty intimidating. I had to create my own shapes. The end result was a combination of different shapes together.

The penciling of the patterns was not hard, but involved measuring to ensure center and spacing.

The hardest part was the painting. I used a flat brush to create the thick paint lines. It felt like an eternity to finish. Holding my body and hand still, and waiting for areas to dry so I could move on without risk of smearing.

Once done, I could hardly believe it! I patted myself on the back. 

Instead of spending $400 (after tax and shipping.) I only spent $52 dollars (including tax)!

I honestly didn’t have a place to hang them and was part of the reason why I never got the paintings. But I had a new idea for the green room and making the paintings an extension of the headboard. The headboard is a little low, and the paintings would make it feel much taller.

I’m very happy with the end result, and even happier to have not spent so much money.

You never know what you can do until you try! I would have never thought I was an artist. But I can do shapes!!

In This Post:

Acrylic paper: $12.99

Acrylic paint: $7.99

Paint Brushes: $2.99

Six Black Frames: $60 $30… Hobby Lobby 50% off for the week!

 This project is part of the link party for week 2 of the "Creating With The Stars."