I’m going to just go ahead and get this out….this is what I consider a DIY fail so you’ve been warned and I cannot believe I’m posting this.  A while back I saw this cool art idea on A Beautiful Mess.  I’ve always wanted to know what people do with cheap, ugly, art and Elsie did this really awesome post on her DIY artwork.  Here’s the link to Elsie’s Song Lyric Wall Art post.  I really love how her art turned out and I decided to test my hand on a really ugly painting that was in a box of pictures/paintings that I bought for next to nothing.   I also didn’t want to be a copycat so I did some things to tweak my art.  My instructions are a bit different from Elsie’s so if you’re interested in doing your own wall art you might want to take a peek at her instructions (she’s the master at cool decor projects!)  So first things first….

What you’ll need:

-A cheap piece of ugly art/painting that you’d never hang in your house

-Paint brush or sponge

-Paint (any color you’d like)

-Vinyl letters (any type – see the kind I used below)

-A cool quote, word, lyrics, whatever you want!

1) I’ll be honest, I was a bit scared to mess with this painting because I had the fear that knowing my luck it would be some artist and worth a killing but I did as much research as I could over a few weeks (I know it sounds like a bit much but better safe than sorry) and couldn’t find anything on the artist so I figured it was just a random painting.

2) Next you’ll want to pick out a paint color to go over the painting.  Any color you like.  I chose to use the same Pantone Paint called Ocean Depths that I used on my desk.  I really dig the color.  You’ll need your vinyl letters too.  I found these super cool gold letters on sale at Michael’s a while back and couldn’t pass on them.  (PS – Most craft stores like Michael’s & Hobby Lobby have coupons on their website so be sure to check them out and save some moolah!)

3) Start mapping out your letters and put them on the canvas.  I chose ‘Make Your Own Luck’.  It’s one of my favorite quotes (yes well before Rob Dyrdek made mad money from it).

4) In Elsie’s tutorial she actually paints over here letters but since I love the shiny gold I wanted to keep them paint free and use them in the painting after it dried hence the spacing around the letters.

5) Once the paint dried, I played around with several different options before I settled on the re-placing of the letters.

I’m not so sure how I feel about this outcome.  I actually did this project a while ago and had considered it a ‘DIY fail’ but it’s been hanging  in my studio ever since and I think it’s it might be growing on me or maybe it’s just that I like the concept.  I really like the idea I was going for but I’m thinking I need to change-up the frame a bit or just call it a ‘fail’ and try again.  Anyone else have a DIY fail?  Have you ever made art from art?  Has anyone else tried this before?