Like most people these days, I don’t have extra money to spend on frivolities. But! BUT! I will make an exception for cheap-ass projects that I pick up at garage sales. Behold, my $1 purchase at last week’s community garage sale! My husband dubbed it “Ugly Boots.”
So, not to brag, but this was originally $2. That’s right. I got Ugly Boots for a 50% discount — I live for this shit. Anyway, the original artist painted over, what I believe, was a commercial print stretched on a frame. It’s not canvas, but it is a large 3 by 2 worth of surface area. Somehow, the artist managed to run out of room for the third boot, and managed to both thinly apply the background and build up the heart/star. I left the raised areas and didn’t gesso.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to pay homage to the colors and keep a western theme. I found my “inspo” on Unsplash, and started sketching.
I’m not winning any awards for my sketches here, but the ideas was to get a sense of what would work. This was done in graphite on newsprint that’s about the same size as my canvas.
I got somewhat happy, and redrew my sketch on the canvas. I wish past me would have switched to Posca pens, but apparently I just use whatever is in my grubby hands. Don’t be lazy like me!
Not pictured is the glaze of Aza Gold layer I put over the sketch to warm things up. The original background was cold and not really what I was going for. I’m playing around with the background here, the colors, and obviously refining my main image.
I really, really liked the outlines I put in to keep myself on track. I kinda wish I hadn’t painted over them, or the Aza Gold that you can see on her jeans and hat. It muddled the graphite in an interesting way. Oh well.
I’m not 100% satisfied with this, but it is definitely an improvement from “Ugly Boots.” I’m calling it “New Sheriff in Town.”
I had the satisfaction of hanging it in my bathroom gallery with the express purpose of startling my husband in the morning. Success! It didn’t stay there though because it was really too big for the space.
I’m going to leave it like this for a while until I get some smaller brushes to refine the hands (so hard!) and maybe some better paint. Did I mention I also use upcycled paint? Yes, I pick that up at garage sales, too. Most of the paint I get at garage sales can charitably be called craft paint, but I did score some Winsor & Newton drawing pencils this summer for fifty cents. It’s always worth looking for art scores.
I can’t wait to find my next project.
