Trompe L'oeil on Concrete

A trompe l'oeil pot lends color and texture to a bland concrete foundation. Figure A Figure B Figure C Figure D Figure E

Materials:

garden hose
scrub brush
inexpensive paintbrush or roller
paint specifically made for painting on concrete (usually comes in white)
tape measure
pencils
flat-ended brush
pale gray-colored paint
sponge
brown paper
scissors
sponge brush
terra-cotta-colored paint
brown paint
sponge brush

Steps:

1. Clean the concrete surface with a garden hose and scrub brush to remove the dirt.
   
   
2. Once the concrete is dry, apply paint liberally (figure A) across the entire surface. On a warm, dry day, it should only take a couple of hours to dry.
   
   
3. If there is white siding on the house, this look can continue down the painted concrete.
   
   
4. Measure the width of the siding on the house, then draw horizontal lines continuing the pattern all the way to the dirt. Have several pencils on hand because the concrete surface will chew them up.
   
   
5. Paint a narrow, straight line tracing the pencil line with gray paint.
   
   
6. Dip the brush in water and paint a wide band under the gray line (figure B) . You want the diluted paint to go on wet--don't worry about the drips that occur.
   
   
7. Come back under the pencil line and with a damp sponge, wipe away ONLY the drips. This creates an irregular shadowing effect.
   
   
8. Cut out a pot pattern with brown paper and scissors, then just lay the pattern on the concrete and trace it out with a pencil (figure C).
   
   
9. Paint in the pot color with a sponge brush, leaving a slight white lip where the pot rim is.
   
   
10. Next, shadow the pot. An actual pot will have a shadow under the rim and will appear a little darker on the sides. This look can be reproduced by mixing the terra-cotta and brown paints and fade into the pot with the sponge brush (figure D). A lighter shade can be painted into the center and green colors can be added to simulate lichen or moss.
    
    
11. Add branches and leaves. The trick to leaves is to dip a big, sash brush in dark green paint, flip it over, then dip the other side in a lighter shade of green.
    
    
12. Drop the brush directly on a branch and stick the leaf right on (figure E) . Try to vary the look by mixing four shades colors of green.