Another recent Upcycled Vintage Art project… Evening Soak. This brown style of landscape was very popular in the 70’s… but not so popular now! I gave this unwanted ugly-beautiful painting a refresh by adding an oversized toad having a soak while enjoying the amber sunset.
My Upcycled Vintage pieces are inspired by damaged artwork and discarded prints found at local thrift stores. My aim is to encourage an appreciation of older styles of artwork by respectfully refreshing the colours and adding playful elements. One-of-a-kind pieces, these are not prints and are not reproduced.
The first step was coming up with the idea! I’m partial to toads, and think they’ve got an ugly-cuteness and unexpected pleasantness that complements this sort of painting. After drawing carefully on top of the canvas on a piece of tracing paper, I draw the work on with white paint, and then start building up the layers.
It’s always a bit of a risk painting over top of a real painting… a bit like graffiti, there is an in-the-moment permanence to it.
I didn’t take many photos along the way, but did take a lot of reels… you can watch this guy being painted in this short reel on Instagram. Be sure to follow me @heather_castles_illustration to not miss any of the latest work in progress.
Do you have an ugly-beautiful painting in need of a rescue?
contact me and we can chat about it!
Heather Castles Illustration 