When I found out I was pregnant with my son, we began to think about how we wanted to do his bedroom. I thought about just buying a blue fitted crib sheet to match the pillow and blanket my grandma had made but then I came across a safari bed set on a yard sale site for only $40. It had barely been used and came with a fitted sheet, comforter, diaper holder, crib skirt, bumper pad (we didn't use) and curtain (we didn't use); plus it matched the extra fitted sheet we already had and the blanket my grandma made. The only thing missing was wall decorations.
I had three blank canvases I had bought to make paintings for my daughters room but never got around to doing it so decided to use those and paint some safari animals on them for my son's bedroom. I chose to paint a giraffe, lion and zebra to match the crib set.
You will need some canvases, paint and paint brushes. I used cheap acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby, sponge paint brushes I already had and a small tip paint brush for the details - eyes, mouths
How To:
1. First I painted the canvases a solid color and let them dry. I mixed the solid color I chose with some white paint to make a lighter background.
I matched the backgrounds to the crib sheet colors and choose to paint a lion, zebra and giraffe because we had already bought a giraffe wub-a-nub and a blanket that had a zebra on it for my son. The Lion matches the blue safari blanket my grandmother had made so all the animals matched something we already had. You can paint any safari animal you prefer and use any color background you prefer.
2. Next I painted an outline of the animals using the main color of the animal (yellow, white, orange/brown). You can sketch it on your canvas with a pencil if you prefer, but I free handed it.
3. Fill in the animal's body and let dry. I used a sponge brush because it was faster and smoother the paint out.
4. Once everything is filled in I used a thin tip brush to go over the outline, making everything as straight as I could and to add the details such as eyes, mouths, whiskers and ears. Let dry.
5. Optional - You can lock in the paint with a sealer if you'd like. This will help keep dust off the paintings and add a shine.
The three paintings took me two days to complete but I also had a one year old running around and was pregnant so I was tired of painting and took a break. You could probably finish them in one day, especially if you aren't chasing around a little one. I made my safari animals look more like cartoons and tried to match them as best as I could to my sons crib sets and blanket my Grandma made us. Overall I think they turned out really cute!
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