Pop Art for Kids

Every so often, I find myself on West Broadway in SoHo, strolling past the various art galleries and thinking to myself, “They’re selling that for how much?”

I’m not very snobby — or even knowledgeable! — when it comes to art, but when I see what major galleries are selling for obscene amounts of cash, it just hurts my soul. I don’t profess to understand the intrinsic value of the pieces I see, but I do often think, I can make that! So over the weekend, I tried to put my money where my mouth is.

One of the stores that always catches my eye is one that sells a bunch of pop art in the window.  Think paintings of over-sized cartoon dogs in front of polka dot backgrounds. Again – I’m not professing to be any kind of artiste, but, well, it’s not difficult stuff they’re selling for thousands of dollars.

So, I grabbed a spare canvas, my trusty brushes, a pencil and my imagination –  and got to work.

Step 1: Sketch a simple scene in pencil.

Step 2: Go over your sketch with a thick line of black paint.

First, I drew in pencil a very simple scene – two trees, with a bright shining sun and some flowers.  I thought of something that might go cute in a kid’s bedroom.  Second, I traced everything in a thick layer of black to really play up the cartoon-like elements.  From there, it was no different than coloring in a coloring book! Stay inside the lines and pick the hues that make you happy.

Did I wind up with something gallery-worthy?  Not yet.  But did I wind up with something trés cute? You betcha.   Here were some lessons learned:

Number one: Patience.  My finished product was not  gallery worthy, but it’s not fit for the trash can either.  With a little more time spent, I think the end result would be a little bit better. I wanted it done right away – but I should have let each layer of paint dry and kept coming back to it. As it were, I didn’t, and it’s  an adorable piece of art for a kid’s room. But there is room for improvement.

Step 3: Fill in with color!

Number two:  Invest in high-quality paints. The piece here was done with regular old craft paint. The same kind that I use for painting on terra cotta.  Quality would have been greatly increased with the purchasing of some semi-expensive acrylic paint that’s meant for canvas.

But couldn’t you just see this in a kid’s playroom or a bright and colorful nursery?  I could! And I’m still going to play around with different designs and mediums until I find that Soho-worthy combination.