Inspired by Pinterest: Lovebird Painting

Before Pinterest and I met, I had bought a canvas to create a painting to hang above our bed.  I am embarrassed to admit that the canvas sat in our bedroom for over a year.  I think the main reason it sat for so long is because I could not decide what to do with it.  One of the first things I pinned on Pinterest was this painting:  http://pinterest.com/pin/179651472605085316/.  It inspired me to paint the painting below for our bedroom.  I would still like to add the different colors in the corners of the painting, but I am afraid I will ruin the painting. I have never painted anything before and am surprisingly pleased with it.

One of the main reasons I wanted to create something for our bedroom is because all of the pieces of "artwork" that I had been looking at were around $100.00.  I created this piece for approximately $45.00:


Canvas ($15.00 on sale at Michael's)
Paint ($5.00 at Michael's)
Gesso (two bottles) ($15.00 at Michael's)
Gesso spatula ($10.00 at Michael's) (I'm sure a cheaper kitchen spatula would work just as well, but I found a spatula that I think I will use for many other projects.)


I first painted the canvas without using Gesso for texturing and was unhappy with it.  Gesso is a little expensive, but I love the texture it added to the painting.  I had never used Gesso before but learned how to do so by watching a You Tube video.  The video I watched said it really does not matter what brand you use, but I found the Gesso brand to be a lot easier to work with than the cheaper brand.


Since being introduced to Pinterest, I have not only pinned almost 2,000 projects, but I have tried many new recipes, painted a few paintings, and have created several other crafty projects.  I would like to begin posting a Pinterest project once a week just for fun.  


What has Pinterest inspired you to create lately?