Sunday, May 09, 2010

Little Birds on a Fence


My mom is reading garden blogs right now since going outside and working in her actual garden is too much for her allergies. She's been sending me garden decorating ideas. One of them is murals on backyard fences.


So, for Mother's Day, I painted some birds on her fence, like they are resting on the top ledge. I did a quick sketch of  a character, trying to keep it uncomplicated. I used acrylic paints because they are the most durable for outside murals.


The fence was old and weathered, so I started out with drawing the shapes, then sanding down the fence to get off dirt, dust and moss. I probably should have hosed it off first, but I was trying to be quick.



I knew painting on the fence would be rough, so I kept the shapes and colors simple. The metal fence and shell bowl on the picture above were taken down after this shot.







The final step will be seal it with a varnish to keep out the weather.


Next up for mom's fence, lizards!


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice!

Did you have to paint with the metal fence in place?

This reminds me a lot of the Partridge Family.

Soo said...

OMG what a fun way to brighten up an old fence! Cute birdies :)

Joy Steuerwald said...

Those are super cute and what a great way to decorate an older, weathered fence. You're so clever, Val!! What a wonderful gift to your Mom.

Glad you had such a nice Mother's Day outing with your friend, too!

Eric Barclay said...

Wonderful birds!

Unknown said...

These look great! I like the way their bright colors stand out on dark fence. Very cute :D