{photos of paint in various stages of drying}

Today you're going to get a little peek behind the scenes at Red Red. Glamour, this is not. It's the every day, bit-by-bit process of creating, whenever I can fit it in.

This is me painting a white canvas white. Seriously. Someone once told me that canvases should always be painted white first. I can't remember who, I can't remember why. But as the laundry sat unfolded, the dishwasher sat unloaded, and the baby lay sleeping, I painted a white canvas white. It was sort of zen, in a mindless-task-that-has-no-practical-value sort of way.

This is a sketch. A half-hearted, I-can't-be-bothered-to-fill-it-all-in sort of drawing. Recognise it? It's that four dandelion piece of art (from our large art round-up).

This is paint. My artistic friend, Whitney, who has a background in decorative painting, is mixing up a nice shade using colours from her own walls. Check out the toe-decoration -- and she didn't even know her feet were going to be on camera.

And here's me, slapping it on, crissing and crossing and trying not to listen to the perfectionist in my head. Good job you can't see my toes. I'd be like the Ugly Step-Sister of feet.

The base colour done, I then played around with slightly different shades on top -- a layer of the base colour with more white, a layer of the base colour with less white. The bottom layer wasn't quite dry, it turned out, when I started adding new layers, so I got an interesting texture where the half-dry paint below got pulled along with the brush. I meant to do that. Ahem. Not. 

A little darker in the corners, a little lighter in the centre. According to Whitney, this is how multi-millionaires like their walls painted. Ooh la la.

(P.S. By the way, there are three unseen --but very present!-- children in the background, and at all times, one of us was fending off Tilly, who was determined to step in the paint...)

Not wanting to have too much of the pulled-off-paint texture, I'm giving the background a good twenty-four hours to dry before adding the dandelions. But, in preparation, I cut the approximate shapes of the flower heads out of paper towels...

...and taped them to the canvas. (There's no artistic reason for using paper towels -- I was just in the kitchen, and they were handy)

Just like the masters did it. Everyone knows Van Gogh stuck paper towel sunflowers to his canvases before painting...

And I'm sure good ol' Vincent held up his iPhone pic of the art he was copying to check the placement of said sunflowers, too.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow, when it's all dry dry completely dry, I'll add the flowers. 

{inspiration: large art for cheap}

Over the years, we've collected several pieces of art that we really love. As we've had to move every year, and have been on a small budget, almost everything has been 8x10" or smaller.

Now, looking for a way to fill our ginormous living room wall, our pint-size frames simply aren't cutting it. Still on a budget, though, and with giant paintings not coming cheap, I've decided to create the art myself. These are a few ideas, none of which I've committed to yet, which all look beautiful and make-it-yourself-able.

Colour Blocks via Apartment Therapy. Modern art, simply by framing layered pieces of paper. 

Striped Panels by 4 Men 1 Lady. Though the colours here aren't my cup of tea (a little too green tea), I'm imagining that in red, yellow and orange this would look rather Kate Spade.

Tandem Canvas via Apartment Therapy. What's cheaper than one giant canvas? Four small canvases hung next to each other. 

Abstract Tutorial by Oh Happy Day. I do love these, but I'm a little afraid it might look as if Tilly got hold of some oil pastels. Maybe I should give her some oil pastels (in a well-covered and confined area) and see what happens... 

Potato Print Dots by Oh Happy Day. This idea can actually be done with the kiddos -- potato prints and dots. Plus, she shares her secret of cheap framing.

Golden Mesa I by Sean Jacobs. This one isn't really a DIY-- it's an actual piece of art from World Market. But it looks easy, doesn't it. Deceptively easy? Probably.

Sun Shower by Today's Nest. A collage of droplets, which could be made it any colour scheme. I love the idea of using a bunch of different papers -- anything from birthday cards to junk mail could lend itself to this.

Four flowers via Decorno. This is my favourite right now, but again, not really a DIY, just art that I'm wondering if I could knock off. What is it -- framed paper? Canvas? I can't tell. But I love it, nonetheless.

Giant Portrait via Pinterest. Can I please live here, please? That giant portrait peeking through the doorway is just so clever. Can I make it? No. But look closer -- can you see the painting of a dog with a fish bowl for a head? It totally reminds me of Justin's birthday card to Tilly -- her head on a dog's body! We could paint that one, I think.

So, what do you think -- do any of these ideas seem do-able? Or perhaps you've got other ways of filling up giant walls that you'd like to share -- please do, we're all ears!