Paigeedd!: Birdhouses for Mom

Birdhouses! And beer!

Backstory: My mom likes birdhouses, and she wanted to have the family paint a bunch that she bought to decorate the side of their garage. So we busted out the acrylic paints and got to work! (And my sister and I drank my dad's Berry Weiss!)

How I did it: My sisters had already started painting when we got there, so they had already picked the houses they wanted to paint. My mom had given the boat-shaped house a base of white paint but asked me to paint it. I also picked the hexagonal house (which my mom later said she was hoping I'd pick to paint).

For the boat, I decided I wanted to give it some wood trim but keep the white and add some red or blue. I took a light brown color and painted all the wood areas, then used a darker color and a dry brush to try to create the look of grain. The outer hull of the boat ended up red, because I thought that was a good row boat color. For fun, I used the blue to make waves on the sides. Finally, we debated silly boat names but decided to call it the Flying Fish because it was a boat-shaped house for birds, and I couldn't resist a little cheesiness. My mom liked it, and that's what matters the most.

For the hexagonal birdhouse, I thought it kinda looked Asian and I like cherry blossoms, so I let the design of the Arizona Iced Green Tea cans inspire me. The color combination came before I even realized where my inspiration was coming from (as I really like pink right now, and that shade of green compliments it so nicely). I wanted to use two tones of pink on the roof to highlight the structure.

I painted the branches using dark brown paint, then added in the blossoms. I went back to add the little flower stamens, then decided to throw in some gold highlights on the branches for fun. The gold top finial was a last minute decision, as I didn't like the way it looked all pink on the top.

My mom finished all the birdhouses with a sealer so that she could hang them outside.

What I learned: I enjoy painting. I should probably do it more, except that I don't really have a whole lot of inspiration of things to paint. This was easy because my mom was the motivating factor, she chose the 'canvas' and it was easy to let myself be inspired to create for her.

What I might try next time: Spray paint might be fun, at least to get a nice solid basecoat of color before doing the details by brush.

Final Thoughts: It was a lot of fun painting with my family, and discussing the different projects and colors and stuff.

***Bonus pictures!***
Here's some pictures of the other birdhouses my family painted!