Gallery Wall is Finished... kind of

The gallery wall is finally done! OK, I really want one more item along the edge by the shelf and small square picture, but for now it's done. This wall seriously took way to long in the making. And I have realized why, I was waiting for it to be perfect.

I wanted to gather all the items first. I wanted each item to be just so. This kept me from enjoy our family pictures. I am starting to learn to let go of those design perfections.

Yes, I know to some this wall might not be perfect or even good to them, but to us it a wall of memories.  

We have the family pictures from the stylized session my Mom shot for us. I love these photos, they make me smile so much. The feathers are from that day out in the field. The painting of the birds is one my Dad helped me paint. I love that I can look up there an see our work together. The print on the other side maybe a bit of a sore point, Steve hates it, but he lets it slide knowing it's one of my favorites. It also represents the first time I took Mouse to the art museum. The final painting is a new one that I just got from Gracelaced, it brings in a Bible verse to the space, which is something I really wanted for the room. The antlers are just from a local boutique that we picked up on a date night. And the card is from KaityDaisy. The final item is the tatting cross in the oval frame. The cross my Great Grandmother made and gave me before she passed away at 105, being able to look up and see that every day is wonderful.

The piece I am looking for is a thin long piece in an off white to balance out the look and fill in that gap. I think I will make something with all our important years on it.

 

~ Cassi

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Gallery Wall.. Finally

This stupid wall has been a work in progress for two years now. First we had the photo shoot, first I made a tent for the shoot, then we took the photos. Then I posted about what style of gallery wall I wanted. Then I painted a picture to go on the wall, that took about a year.
Then it sat.

And sat.

And sat some more...

I think I have a bit of anxiety around this project. It's the main wall in my house. It's the one everyone sees. It's the one I see most often. What if it doesn't look right? What if I hate it? I know I can change it up but it's a lot of work to hang pictures (and hang them well).

I have also been stressing on do I have enough to make it look eclectic with out being so much that it looks like a souvenir shop.

This week I finally stop delaying, kind of.

 

I laid out what I had. Baby steps.

I think I like the above lay out. I want to pick up one more something for under the shelf. And I will probably make something thin along the left side. But I think it's good. Right?

 

And, WOW this picture turned out blurry. Even my pictures are shaky about this project.
Which picture do you like on the left?
I think I am going more towards the Weaver picture then the tree.

OK, next I need to put it on the wall. Maybe next month
~ Cassi

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Learning to Paint

A while back I talked about deciding to paint my own artwork. Yes I know it was a long while ago, but the point of the story is I finished it.
My Dad is an amazing artist (painting, sculptures, drawings, you name it he can do it) so I had a bit of help from him. He walked me through what kind of paint to choose for the style of painting I wanted. We decided on oil paints.

Then he showed me how to work with the paint the brush strokes. With lots of reminders to brush lightly and not to over brush.

With the base of the blue down, we had to take a break to let it cure (dry). Though oil paints never completely dry they do need time to cure before you continue adding colors over other colors.

And this is where I stalled out for a year. Minnesota has so few nice months that I didn't want to be stuck indoors painting during the summer. Then with my photography business I didn't get back to the painting this fall either. But Minnesota winters are always a great time to paint.
So back to it I went. Dad walked me through how to added and blend the colors I wanted to finish the background.

At this point I had to let it cure again before I could add the final piece. It takes a couple of weeks to get a decent enough skim over the paint to not blend with the new paints. A couple of weeks turned to a couple of months but finally I was ready to add the finishing touches.

I mapped out where I wanted the birds to go and traced around my birds with a pencil. Then I filled in the pencil with a dark grey (almost black). The black wire I free handed on to the canvas with a thin brush. After that I was done. I can't believe I finished and that it turned out how I wanted it to!

Now I just have to wait till it cures enough to put on my wall. It will go in the living room to round out my gallery wall, more on that later.

~ Cassi

Check out the links page to see where I am linking up this week.

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Start of a gallery wall

I do love the look of gallery walls, whether they be mixed media walls or all pictures both are great. When we finished off the basement there was a section of wall in my craft room that I knew I wanted filled with favorite pictures of us. But I also wanted something there that would be inspirational for a craft room.

 "Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air." ~ Emerson

Katie Daisy's had a print  that was exactly what I was looking for. Bright and colorful and tugging at your heartstrings. Reminding us to live life to it's fullest. That though while reading it I may be inside working on art I wasn't to forget to go out and live beyond those walls. 

I added other pictures around the center print, I am liking how it is starting. But I still need to get a few more to fill out the space.

Until then this is how it will look. But following the poem's direction I am sure it won't take long for us to capture more pictures. 

~ Cassi

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Inspire me Friday on Monday

I completely forgot to post the Inspire Me Friday. So here it is on Monday. I am still looking to redo my gallery wall in my living room. I posted some living room ideas here. Today I am focusing on just the wall, since that is where I can make the most change to the living room at this time.  A galley wall can make a huge impact on a room. One of the things I love about a galley wall is that it brings to like the owners loves. You can walk into a home and see by their gallery wall what is draws their interest.

Emily Clark

Of course if you have been reading some of my other posts you can see why this one holds my interest. It has two key features for me. One is the C is the left top side, since we have a collection of B's (here and here) I like how this one is incorporated into the gallery wall. I also like the addition of family photos. And that art deco mirror is fabulous!

Apartment 412

I love the textures in this one. The cross piece is perfect for it. But I think I love the number squares the most. They are very whimsical to me. I didn't see if they had meaning to the family, but if we incorporated important dates I think that would make the wall very personal. 

Isabella And Max Rooms

I really like the unity of this wall with the black and white. This doesn't work for what I have but I could see trying to find a space to do this. I also love the chalkboard additions to it. I have seen this in a couple gallery walls and love it but I am not sure I would know what to write. I also noticed that this wall has the same typewriter picture as the first one. I like that picture, might have to find it.
I also noticed in each one of these and from before that there needs to be what is called an anchor piece below the art work. I don't have that now but will be adding it. I can see how much it helps define the wall even though it is not apart of the wall.

I hope this has inspired you to make your own gallery wall.