Color Design

"Fresh"

Acrylic paint on wooden cutting board
-" x -"

For this project, I was inspired by making something with a bunch of separate shapes to divide the colors I needed to use (we were prompted to paint something, but it had to include 84 colors). I also wanted to make something bright and tropical. Additionally, I wanted to be different, and challenge myself by painting on a surface other than canvas. 

To begin, I bought a cheap bamboo cutting board from Walmart. I taped up the full board except for a small rectangular section in the front middle. Once I started planning for what to paint, I used gesso to prime the board for painting. I painted multiple coats to create optimal coverage. I then made a light sketch with a drawing pencil. After I had the sketch I wanted, I started mixing colors. I started with blue - with the blue, I made the blueberries. I had to paint multiple layers in order to make it so you weren't able to see through the paint. I needed to make 12 separate colors, each with 3 tints and 3 shades. I moved down the color swatch paper, creating all of the fruits as I went. I made extra lighter colors to make highlights, and also made browns for detail- and the coconut (brown wasn't required). For small details, I had to use a TOOTHPICK. Let's just say that it took me a VERY long time... After I made finishing touches like the highlights and smaller details, I was happy with my product. I finally used acrylic clear gloss spray to put on a protective and shiny layer.
A very big struggle I endured throughout this project was how much time I spent on it. The toothpick usage for tiny details and some fruits like the blueberries, blackberries, raspberry, and strawberries took up a ton of my time and energy. For this whole project, I have probably spent upwards of ~12-15 HOURS. I enjoyed making this project, but I suffered with putting it off with my increasing workflow, and that's why it is so late. A part of this was also how much time it took me to mix all of the needed colors. Finally, another struggle out of the many I faced was finding a place for each color. There are a limited amount of fruits, and some colors I couldn't find a spot for, but I had to make one. Also, I made a ton of mistakes. Thanks to the ability to paint over things, I was able to fix most mess-ups.