Are you a painter or know of a painter who has to set aside her passion for Christmas? Here is a way to combine Christmas and your passion. This is a fun idea to do to surprise the painter in your life and celebrate who she is.
Ornaments
Materials needed:
- 20 4” x 6” canvas panels
- Paint (oil or acrylic)
- Paintbrushes
- 1” ribbon (14 yards)
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks or staple gun
In your own style or in an abstract, paint all 20 of the canvases. This is a project that can easily incorporate the whole family or a group of friends. When they are all dry, using hot glue or staple gun, attach a one-foot piece of ribbon on each top rear edge of the canvas. Tie the two pieces of ribbon into a bow.
If you are giving this as a gift to an artist friend, insert a new paintbrush into each bow. This is strictly optional.
Other Ornaments
You can also include tubes of paint with a ribbon tied around the top cap. These can all be used after the holidays for real painting.
Tie a ribbon to two ends of paintbrushes and loop the ribbon over a branch.
Tree Topper
Hot glue two pieces of ribbon to the back of a palette. Add some dashes of paint to the different areas first. Tie the two pieces together with the upper most branch in the bow.
Tree Skirt
Using a piece of muslin two yards in length, splatter and spill paint on the fabric to resemble a drop cloth. Once dry, wrap around the base of the tree.
Garland
Garland is a little trickier. You can use some of the materials we just used (i.e. paint tubes, mini canvases, paint brushes, etc). But if you want to expand on the idea without being repetitive, it gets more challenging. You can find other materials around the studio or in the paint store. Another idea is to divert from the ‘supplies’ idea altogether and go more conceptually. This would be a great way to add lots of color. Maybe get one-foot squares of sheer fabric in all different colors. Knot them on the diagonal to each other the way a magician would to pull them out of a hat.
Nativity
Instead of the traditional nativity, paint a nativity and put it on a tabletop and place it on the floor in front of the tree or place it on a floor easel and position the easel in front of the tree.
