DIY: Rosy Flower Pots

My collection of Rosy Flowers Pots. So easy to make, it's addictive...apparently.

Today's DIY is one that would make the late painter/teacher Bob Ross proud. I remember watching him as a kid on Saturdays when the cartoons trailed off. He made painting look so easy and he enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, one of my favorite artist quotes is a Bob Ross euphemism: People might look at you a bit funny, but it's okay. Artists are allowed to be a bit different. Need further convincing of his genius? Read here.

Now to my knowledge, Bob usually stuck with landscapes and "happy little trees". Currently, I'm addicted to all things flowery, so I thought I'd share with an easy way to paint "happy pink roses."

 For this happy painting endeavor, you'll need:

• Cheap acrylic paint in the three colors shown above. Each bottle is less than a $1.
• A couple of angled brushes. I tried doing this with a flat brush...and failed.
• Spray paint to cover your plastic flower pot. I used turquoise.
• Modge Podge to seal the paint. 
• A plastic flower pot...not a terra cotta pot. The paint sticks better to the plastic and they're less expensive. 
• Parchment paper or anything to cover your work area.

The day before, I spray painted the flower pots. Once dry, I was ready to paint...

 To load your brush, you'll first dip the brush in the pink color. Then dip the front of the brush, or the toe, into the white and the back of the brush, the heel, into the red. I used the larger angled brush for the large flowers and the smaller for the leaves, stem and smaller flowers.

 On your practice paper, swipe your brush back and forth to blend the colors. You might even want to practice painting the entire flower a couple of times on your paper before attacking your pot.

 Paint a curve line on your pot.

 Paint two more curved lines on either side.

 Add a curved line in the center and one on either side.

 Create a curve that is going the opposite direction.

Underneath that, create a series of flower petals using a curve like the letter U...and viola! A Rosy Pot!

 Once you've got the hang of it, you can make your flowers a little more organic. For this one, I followed the same order of brush strokes but instead of using a curved line, I used more of a wavy curve.

 The leaves are very easy. I used the smaller angled brush for them. I started with the stem, dragging the brush from the flower off of the pot. Then I started at the end of the leaf, dragging the brush to the stem.

To finish, I added a bit of bright green on the leaves. Once dry, I coated the pot in glossy Modge Podge, planted some Begonias and hung it up.

I do hope you'll give this a try, it's pretty simple. If you mess up, just wipe the pot with a damp towel and try again. In the words of Bob Ross, Even if you've never painted before, this one you can do. And if you are a learner that benefits from watching a tutorial, I suggest visiting here. Have fun!

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