A new use for scrap wood (Artist's Date, Week Three)

Today I tried several different art projects as part of my "Artist's Date." Over the course of the week I found several art ideas that I wanted to try and today was the day! But first I needed to find a canvas (or several), so to speak. Canvas tends to be expensive, especially when one is experimenting, so I needed to find another idea. That's when I remembered: Honey always keeps scraps from house projects, so we probably had plenty of odd-sized wood pieces in the garage.

There were three projects that I wanted to try:

1. A mod podge photo collage that I first saw here.
2. A painting of a landscape with the quote that I love and posted about here.
3. A frame surrounding the quote that I love.

After finding several scraps of wood, I sanded them a bit (just to get the rough edges off) and then put a base coat on each piece.

The dark brown piece I used for the mod podge photo collage. I wanted to create a collage of a few pictures from our holiday trip to New Mexico last month.  It turned out okay, I think. (Yes, I know it's hard to see in this picture. Just trust me.)

I then chose the other rectangular piece of wood to create a landscape painting, thinking that I would use it as a background basis for the quote I love.  As it turned out, Honey liked the landscape. I said "It's not done yet!" But Honey nicely said, "I like it the way it is. It looks really nice!"

So of course I left it that way and then got another piece of wood and started over again.  I did something a little different on the second piece and decided I couldn't use that one, either, for an experiment with the quote.

I put the painting aside for a bit and looked to the frame.  I mod podged the frame, but I used card stock this time and discovered that it's a bit unwieldy. Next time I'll know better, but for now it's okay.

After the frame, I turned my attention back to the last piece of wood, something in the shape of a triangle. I knew that I wanted to try painting a branch and birds on it in addition to the quote, but I have no skill when it comes to drawing.  I went online, found a silhouette of a branch and modeled my painting on that. The bird was more difficult.  I tried tracing a bird silhouette and then painting it, but that didn't work too well, so I decided to stick with a simple line to represent a bird.

Honey is glad that we've found a good use for wood scraps. I'm glad to have an inexpensive way to experiment in these crafts.  The furry babies are glad that I was so preoccupied that they were able to stay curled up together for hours without distraction.

It was a good day for everyone.