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Modern Art: Concrete Style

Basic Orange Ombre Modern Art

I have a confession, I have never been a huge fan of modern art.  Having studied the theory and history behind a larger portion of 20th century art I have an appreciation for the merits… but the aesthetics… meh, not my thing.  Let me tell you, that was not a popular opinion in art school.  However I have a modern house, with industrial decor.  This has changed my viewpoint.  It takes a lot more work to integrate a classical oil portrait with our furnishings.  In fact, I felt like we needed some modern color in our rather neutral decor instead of some classical portraiture.

If you follow me on Pinterest (you should!) then you would have noted the love affair I am currently having with concrete.   I was reading a post about making a faux concrete counter top using a product called feather finish when I came up with the idea to make some modern art that would incorporate concrete finishes.  Color and concrete say what?!  Adam was confused when I tried to explain, but luckily he was the kind to just go with it.

A few Michael’s coupons and a trip to Home Depot later you have my DIY take on modern art.

Modern Art: Concrete Style

DIY modern art with concrete and gold leaf finishes

Supplies:

Canvases*

Gold Leaf Sheets* or a Gold Leaf Kit* (which includes the sizing and sealer)

Adhesive* (also called Sizing*)

Sealer*

Feather Finish* (HINT: Ardex has partnered with Henry to make a feather finish you can get at Home Depot, but here is my Amazon Affiliate link if you want the real thing shipped to your door)

Paints*

Brush Set*

Step One: Lay it out there

I picked out four pre-stretched canvases (we had some on hand and used a 40% off coupon to grab the others)  I laid them out for the space.  There is a fourth around the corner not shown in the above picture.  It is an awkward space, as the windows are not centered, so I used the two smaller canvases to fill out the area.  After deciding a layout I thought would look good I laid them out on the table in a similar, but closer, fashion.

Step Two: Om Om Om Ombre

I started with a base ombre of 4? colors.  I tend to just add paint mix and repeat so four is just a guess from looking at the finished product.  These particular colors were a base orange mixed with a touch of blue (to darken) and then yellow & white (to lighten).  I wanted a rather choppy look and did not bother to blend wet edges well.  If you want a very smooth ombre pre-mix all your colors so that you can blend in the wet edges.

Basic Orange Ombre Modern Art
You will note the awesome ‘professional’ equipment. Old cardboard box, paper plate, and beer. Also known as liquid crafting juice.  The super awesome layout sketch is that black scribble in the corner.  As you can see I love to fully plan out every brush stroke *sarcasm*

After the ombre was dry I brushed some black in feathery horizontal strokes.  This step is not shown, but really just consists of slapping some black on the canvas and moving it left and right till it feathers out at the edges.  You can practice on a piece of cardboard to figure out how much paint and pressure you need.

Step 3: Concrete Answers

I probably should have planned this step out better but I was just so damn excited to work with a new medium that I went right to mixing up the feather finish.  I followed the directions which were 2 parts mix to 1 part water.  I thought “Hey! Let’s make this easy, 1 cup water to 2 cups feather finish!”  Okay, huge mistake.  I made about 100 times more than I needed and it was quickly too thick to do what I wanted.  Check out the huge amount:

Feather finish by Henry and Ardex
Why yes that is a plastic spoon from a Christmas Party…. And I made this in June… Horde much?

So my suggesting is to just mix it the consistency of pancake batter.  You are using this for decoration not construction strength.  After re-mixing my feather finish I used a very old putty knife/multitool to feather the concrete on in bands that matched the style of the black paint.

Troweling on feather finish to make modern concrete art

Step 4: If You Like It Then You Better Put Some Gold On It

I took a step back and was really feeling the look, but wanted to tie some of the other room finishes into the final piece of art.  In comes the left over gold leaf I had from the lamp shade redo.  I thought it would tie that and the wallpapered bookcase into the open concept dining room.  I laid out the sizing (If you need gold leafing tips you can read more here) in the same pattern as the paint and concrete.  Once it had set I laid on the gold leaf and covered the areas with sealer to keep the leaf from tarnishing later.

Sizing in loose brush strokes to prep for gold leaf
If you wonder about the numbers in the back of the photos, I always figure why do one DIY project at a time when you can do two or three…

All in all, I love the color and texture mix.  It adds visual interest and ties the various spaces together in the first floor of our home.

18 thoughts on “Modern Art: Concrete Style

  1. Hi, I t hink I may have fixed the problem, or it may have been my mistake . Anyway, I just wanted to say I really enjoy your blog. You have the greatest sense of humour (Elmo) and yes, I also think you should do a post on those lights. Did I leave anything out? Now that it seems to be working I will comment on everything!

    1. Glad we have things working finally! We appreciate your comments and feedback. I’ve gotten most of the way through the light fixture post – we want our readers to be able to build one if they so wish!

  2. And a third yay for the light fixture. But seriously I really like the paintings, and the vividness of the colors!

  3. Great tutorial :) Thanks for linking up to Pin Worthy Wednesday, I have pinned your post to the Pin Worthy Wednesday Pinterest Board.

  4. Brianna you are hilarious! I love the liquid crafting juice, I find it helpful too–and the hoarding comment–I can relate :-)

    1. Glad you find me humorous! Lord knows, I tickle myself, but I also know not everyone gets my sense of humor. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

  5. These are amazing! Love the black and grey against the orange ombre. The colours are so refreshing! I love you light bulbs, too. They’re so cute!

    1. Thank you! Concrete as a painting medium was definitely fun to explore. We’ve been working on covering different kinds objects with the feather finish, and when completed, we hope to share those here on Craft Thyme. Also, thanks for noticing the light fixture. I’ve got a very detailed post outlining its construction coming up next week!

  6. Had to come over and check your art out for myself! It looks amazing and I love the addition of concrete! I think it was really brave of you to embrace something you never really liked! Can’t wait to see what you get up to in the future!

    1. I’m really glad you like it! It is always hard to get outside your comfort zone. Art included! Thank you for taking the time to comment.

  7. Your concrete style modern art is fabulous but what caught my eye on your link at the Morning Cup Of Joe Party was that awesome light fixture – it’s so cool!

    1. :), alrighty, that is two for a light fixture post. We should totally get on that! Thanks for stopping by!

  8. Gorgeous! I love how that turned out! (And I love your dining table too by the way!) Pinning, thanks for sharing!

    1. Thanks for the pin! The dining table we got super on sale at World Market. I love the built in stools that are underneath.

  9. Wow great job! Love it thanks for sharing found you over at Fabulous Friday!

    1. Thank you!

  10. Interesting idea :-)

    Also I really really love your handing bulb lamp situation above your table!

    1. We really, really need to write a post on how to make that light fixture. Thanks for the compliment!

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