Cindy Piccoli shows how to add a touch of color to your home with Mexican folk art furniture. This project utilizes patterns and tracing paper and is easy for those who lack artistic flair!
Materials:
furniture piece*
medium sandpaper
matte or flat latex paint for base coat (bright red, yellow, blue, pink)
4" brush
furniture design patterns**
tracing paper
pencil
scissors masking tape
palette (dish or paper plate)
water jar
ruler
acrylic paint (colors in Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and Hooker's Green)
watercolor brushes- one fine, one medium
drop cloths
*Piccoli suggests using an inexpensive, unfinished furniture piece for the best results.
**Check out local bookstores or library or photocopies of Mexican designs that you like from magazines, art books, etc.
Steps:
- Make sure surfaces to be painted are clean. If there is a gloss finish on furniture, lightly sand the entire piece with medium sandpaper.
- Apply one or two coats of matte emulsion paint to surface. Allow the paint to dry.
- Trace the designs onto the painted surface. Begin by placing the tracing paper down on surface and laying pattern on top. Trace patterns with a pencil carefully and firmly.
- Remove patterns and tracing paper and add paint to the palette. Although you can use acrylic paints colors directly from jars or tubes, try mixing your own intermediate colors. See color mixing notes below for some suggestions.
- Paint within the traced patterns. Depending on the base coat, one coat of color may be somewhat muted. Apply two coats for brilliant color.
- To enhance the painted traced patterns, try adding squiggles, dots or wavy in areas not covered with the traced patterns.
Color Mixing Tips:
- Ultramarine Blue with a touch of White
- Cadmium Red with a touch of Yellow Ochre
- Hooker's Green with a touch of Yellow Ochre and White
Other colors that work well for a Mexican folk art look: turquoise, hot pink, lime green, red-orange.
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