I received The Decorative Artist's Workbook for Christmas one year and thought Hey, maybe I could do this. I gave it a try and turns out that I needed a whole lot of practice. So, I practiced a certain type of brush stoke on newspaper for about a week and I improved. My first decorative piece of art was a tin stationery box, given to my step mom for her birthday. You can see a photo of it below. After that, I tried painting a rose. It didn't turn out the greatest, but it was my first try. I tried painting a more complicated rose later on and it turned out better.

I'm also going to paint on wood planks that my brother, Matthew, cuts for me. When we gather some wood for winter, he sometimes cuts small disks of wood - like the ones you see in stores. This way it's cheaper. :D They don't always turn out well - they sometimes crack or their bark falls off. I found out that keeping them in our basement is the best way to prevent cracking, and although I have to wait a year until they dry, it's worth it. ;)

Photos

Here's some of the work that I've done:

Here's my first piece. A tin box spray painted with white and decorative painting on the lid.

An upview.

An upview of a mini tin jewelry box I painted. I gave this one to a friend for Christmas.

A sideview.