What is it about painting that makes me feel a little French—beret and all? I finally finished a large 40 x 30″ canvas we picked up on a steep discount at Michael’s for $23 (50% off plus an extra 25% off). After seeing an inspirational poster design on a blog (thanks to a Pinterest find), I decided to adapt the concept to a wide format and experiment with inexpensive test pots from Lowe’s. I spent about $9 on three small paint samples and mixed them with white craft paint I already had to create a range of tints from just a few base hues.
To begin, I used a yardstick to mark evenly spaced vertical lines across the canvas, drawing them in pencil so everything stayed balanced and proportional.
Next I used the corner of a small card we’d received in the mail to trace angled peaks, creating faceted, prism-like shapes inspired by the original poster.
I filled each geometric section with a variety of blues and greens produced from the three Behr testers I used—Tropical Waters, Embellished Blue, and Thermal Spring—lightening many areas with white craft paint to create softer tints. At this stage the composition felt lively and bold.
Although I liked the energy, the contrast was stronger than I wanted. One of the best parts of painting is knowing you can always paint over something. I mixed a light green-gray and glazed over the darker green sections to soften the overall effect and achieve a more subtle, tone-on-tone look.
I love the imperfect lines, visible brushwork, and the subtle variations within a limited palette. The only hitch is the placement: the painting doesn’t quite read well on the bedroom wall, which is a similar soft blue-green. While I hoped the layered tone-on-tone look would blend in nicely, it instead reads a bit monotonous against the wall color. We’re considering hanging the piece in the dining room above a large buffet or console near the front entry, or possibly moving it elsewhere entirely. Essentially, I prefer tone-on-tone art that contrasts with its background rather than matches it exactly.
I anticipated this project would take an evening or two, but it turned into several sessions—probably four or five blocks of about two hours each. It was worth the extra time; I nearly didn’t want to stop. Painting again felt nostalgic, taking me back to high school and art school days. I studied art in college in New York City and earned a BFA in Advertising Design, so making things by hand has always been a part of my life. Using Lowe’s test pots made me smile—back in school I bought more expensive materials when I could, so these budget-friendly supplies felt delightfully low-stakes.
One memory from art school: a drawing professor once nicknamed me “the narrator of life” because I talked through my process—mumbling about dropped charcoal, foreground decisions, or noticing the time as I worked. I was mortified then, but now I find it funny that my career involves sharing and describing my creative life. Maybe one day I’ll track down that professor and tell him where I ended up—though I’ll probably skip mentioning that I used house-paint testers instead of traditional oil paints.