I Made Art!

I've had a mirror over my couch for some time. The mirror was fine but uninspiring and a little too small for the wall. I've been snooping around for an affordable large-scale art piece to put there, but any pieces bigger than 36 inches -- even from student artists are prohibitively expensive. So...I've been plotting to create something. And this weekend I did it.

The design was "inspired by" (nearly stolen from) a piece I saw hanging on the wall of an apartment featured on HGTV's Small Space Big Style. I don't know if it's a well-known artist -- if anyone recognizes the style, I'd love to know who it is.

In order to get a stretched canvas big enough, I purchased a giant, framed, cheesy print from IKEA for $50. (I think it was a photograph of yellow taxi cabs in an otherwise black and white Times Square.) It's about 3.5' x 5.5'.

I got it home and primed it with green tinted primer left over from painting my walls. On the second coat I added some off-white. After one botched attempt at using painter's tape to mask out the lines, which resulted in pulling off the primer, I decided to pencil in a few grid lines and do it freehand.

The process took quite a long time, and required a few coats of paint, a few trips to the hardware store and art shop, and a patient and helpful assistant. All told, I (we) worked on it for the better part of three days.

While the concept is certainly not mine, and the whole thing is more of a craft project than art, there is none-the-less some creativity and skill involved. The scale and composition of the maze is original, and I have to say, I really like it and am wicked proud.

I also worked on, and completed a second piece with a totally different look and inspiration. I will post about that soon. : )