Using Pears in Your Home Decor

Junk Inspired pear project - warning the following post may be humorous to the real artists among us...

Still life imagery, with fruit,  is timeless (as any of the old masters paintings show us). Here is my attempt at painting a pear over a recycled canvas.

  Note:  I don't compare myself to an old master.




Pear Painting from Recycled Canvas & Frame

 

The pear painting above is hiding a secret.  Underneath the image you see is a painting of a young lady some wouldn't want to take home to mother.  My husband and I were at an auction in Texas and this canvas and frame came up for bid - lucky for me no one wanted it because the painting wasn't pretty and the frame was an ugly silver color.  I liked the hob knob detail of the wood so I started bidding and got it for $15.00.

I am not a painter by any stretch of the imagination and I painted and repainted this twice before I could live with it...but you don't have to be Picasso to come up with something for your own home; and your project can be very reasonable if you keep your eyes open for materials you can reclaim.

Here is what I used:

• White gesso over the whole canvas to cover the first painted image; I've also used Kilz interior paint with success  for other projects
• Acrylic paint in light color (from the hardware store oops department) for the background
• Acrylic paint (again an oops) for mottling over the light background - this paint was slightly darker than the background and I dabbed it randomly
• Ralph Lauren Metallic Gold Paint (another oops) in an old gold color for the 3rd mottling of the background
• Acrylic paint (you guessed it an oops) for the red in the pear
• Acrylic paint (your first background color) darkened somewhat and put on the plump part of the pear to look like sunlight is hitting it



close up of the plump part of the pear



• A variety of small bottles of acrylic paint you get at a craft store in blacks, browns, and greens for the stem and leaf

close up of the stem

After you have finished the canvas go back and paint over the frame with the same Ralph Lauren Metallic paint - several times in a variety of thicknesses to make the frame look old.

Total cost of this recycled art project was less than $20.00, including the canvas and frame, because I used paint I already had on hand or oops paints that I bought for .50 a jar at Home Depot.

Give it a try.  I get compliments on this when people visit the house.  It is a statement piece because it is large and red but I like it for its quirkiness and because it was junk inspired!