It all started when I started seeing pixel art on Pinterest, like this one and this one. And of course, paint chip art was becoming increasingly popular. I knew I wanted to have something bold and abstract, yet also meaningful. I played around with some scenic photos from our wedding, but wasn't liking how they were turning out. I finally decided a large artwork of our pup, Molly, was in order. I found a photo of her that looked pretty good pixelized and played around on my photo editing software until I got something I really liked.
Then it was off to the hardware store to pick out paint chips! I printed out my pixelized photo and just sort of matched paint chips to the color scheme, then I got out my 1" square punch and went to town punching out the colors that I wanted to use. I played around with the colors a bit, and as I matched 1" paint chips to the squares on my print out I just added a bit of glue and stuck the pieces down. With such a large piece of artwork, it took a while, but once I was finally done, I found an inexpensive frame for it and popped it up on the wall. Hubby and I loved it and still do.
I really liked the way the paint chips looked, so I hadn't planned to seal it or anything, but my laziness got the best of me and after a while, the paint chips started to curl and eventually fall off.
Just recently, I pulled it down from the wall and re-glued all the pieces and Mod Podged the whole thing. I'm crazy like that. Now it's kind of a texture-y, blobby looking mess, with pieces that still look like they're ready to peel off, but we still love it.
I promise that this isn't a project that actually takes years to complete. It just took me that long to fix it and photograph it. If you do it right the first time, it should only take a few days. The bonus is that it doesn't require a ton of money or skill to make this. I used a free photo editing software, plus free paint chips, a large piece of watercolor paper that I had lying around, glue and eventually some Mod Podge. The only cost involved was the frame!
I'm loving it so much that I think I'm going to tackle a water color version soon. I'll be back in a couple of years to share that one with you. :)
Just a reminder that there's still time to check out my Deescounted Stamps page! Everything on the page is on sale this month! :)
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