Growing Dogwoods...on a Ceiling Tile

Well, I recently got this request to paint dogwood flowers on an old metal ceiling tile.  Such a cool idea. 

I think those embossed edges are sooo beautiful.  

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The tile was kind of a rusty mess at first, so I cleaned it up with a bristle brush.   

Now that the tile is all "brushed up," it's time to...start the art! (I just love corny rhymes:-)

You can see that I first pencil in a rough sketch before I lay down any paint.  That really helps me.    Then I just block in the colors, using a mix of white, yellow, and black.  Oh, and the brand of paint I'm using is Folkart Outdoor paint for non-porous surfaces.

This is kind of a blurry picture, but what I've done here is add shadows and some reddened tips to the petals.  To keep the red from being unrealistically bright, I mix in a little yellow and black.

So, now I've painted the two other flowers and added the stem.  

For the woody stem, I first used a dark layer of red, blue, and black paint; then added highlights, using the same mixture - only brightened with white and yellow.

Detailing... using black, blue, and white, I hint at the lines in the petals.  Then I add highlights of yellow and white paint.

The leaves are simply a mix of yellow, black, and blue paint...white added for the bright tips.

And here's the finished product!  The dotted border you see was obtained by just floating a paint-soaked flat brush over the "mountainous" section.  I then embellished the other raised areas with plain black paint...kinda creates a framed look.   And we all know every painting looks better in a frame! :-)




Thanks for popping in...I hope you got as much fun out of this project as I did!  


Yours truly,
Callie