The Welcoming Committee

Yesterday, while I was speaking to one of my mother's friends about a commissioned piece of artwork, the idea popped into my head of designing a piece that would not only be a fun project, but also compliment someone's home. After all, whenever people buy artwork for a home or business, they consider how it enhances the space. 

Growing up in the Midwest, I've seen a lot of cute welcoming mats in front of doors, a lot of decorative key-stones and garden-gnomes, and LOTS of signs that say phrases like, "Welcome to our home!" or "Mi casa es tu casa." I wanted to make a piece of art that would act as a welcoming committee for a house, that would combine found objects and natural materials to make the project meaningful and fun. 

Another part of the inspiration was the fact that I had three slabs of fine-grain, heavy-weight particle board that I thought of gesso-ing over and making paintings with. It soon occurred to me that even though they would make great "canvases," they were far too heavy to place hanging fixtures in, as they would tear the wall, or be torn themselves. So, I decided the boards will make a great sitting decoration, something that can lean against a brick wall on someone's porch. 

After coating the board with a layer of gesso, I plan on painting some background images (with acrylic paint) of flowers, trees, and a chicken—your basic rustic scenery. Then, in the foreground, will be the words, "Welcome to my home" in stylistic format. Once the painting layer is finished, I plan on applying bits of sea glass, stones, flattened leaves and flowers, twine, etc. onto the surface using molding paste or some other adhesive. After the colors and shapes are all in, the board can be sealed with matte medium or a water-proofer, since it will be outside. 

Here's a very basic sketch for the background-painting:

Hopefully it will be cute! This is a slightly long-term project in that it can't be done in a typical afternoon, so I'll be posting every few days to once a week on the step-by-step process as I complete it myself. Keep your eyes peeled!