Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can

Although we’ve curtailed all of our social and sports activities due to the coronavirus, I’ve been walking in the park everyday and working in the yard. Since I’m stuck at home anyway, it’s a great time to spruce things up around here. For the past few years, I’d been using a plastic green watering can with a missing spout. This week I decided to treat myself to a beautiful, galvanized metal Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can.

• 1.75 gallon galvanized watering can
• vinegar and paper towels
• sandpaper- medium grade
• paints- Apple Barrel 20404 Black, 20359E Pumpkin Orange, 21473E Pale Daffodil, 21049E Pink Parfait, 21396E Sublime Lime, 21978E Princess Purple, 20637E Hot Rod Red, DecoArt Kelly Green and Snow White. Some of my colors are Gloss. You can use Gloss or Matte because you’ll be finishing with gloss acrylic spray anyway.
• Aleene’s Acrylic Gloss Spray
• brushes- 1/4” angle, small pouncing sponge, small round, 0/0 liner

Instructions for the Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can:

We’re painting the front half of the watering can. One side has a seam, and the handle on the other side serves as our other guideline. We will paint between these two markers. Sand the entire front of the watering can with medium grade sandpaper. The sandpaper roughs the surface and gives it teeth to accept the paint.

After sanding, clean the front half of your Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can with vinegar and paper towels.

Use the 1/4” angle brush and Kelly Green to create the background grass. I painted one blade at a time. Let it dry, then add a second coat of paint. You can use a hair dryer to hurry the drying process along.

The bee is our focal point, so we’ll paint him next. Make his three body parts with the round brush and Pale Daffodil. he will need several coats of paint for an opaque look.

Paint his legs with the liner brush and the same paint mixture you used for his body.

Add the Black hairs and highlights with the liner brush. Use Snow White and the end of the liner brush to paint the eyes. Paint the outline of the wings with Black and the liner brush, then paint in the smaller lines. If you don’t want to freehand paint your bee, print a pattern from the internet. Rub chalk on the back of your pattern, then tape the pattern to your watering can. Go over the outline of the bee with a pencil. A beautiful, easily removeable pattern of the bee will be applied to your watering can. Read another post with pictures of this method here.

Mix Kelly Green with a little bit of yellow. Pounce the paint mixture just below the grass blades with the small pouncing sponge brush. We are creating depth/layers.

When painting with acrylics, you begin by painting the the thing your eye sees last, or the thing furthest away. So, we’ve painted the background blades, and a yellow-green layer. Now, use the pouncing sponge brush to create another layer using Snow White mixed with a very small amount of Kelly Green. I like to leave my darkest colors in the back, then lighten things up as I add more layers in the front.

Time to add the first flowers! In the case of the flowers, I painted the shortest ones first. I bought two Lithodora plants recently because the Impatiens were not out yet. I decided to feature these beauties on my Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can. Lithodora are star-shaped, and have five petals. Use the liner brush and a mixture of Princess Purple and Snow White to make these. Use Sublime Lime and the small round brush to make tiny leaves around the Lithodora flowers. Paint the flower centers with the tip of the liner brush and Black.

Next, let’s paint a few daisies. Make the centers with the small round brush and a mixture of Pale Daffodil and Pumpkin Orange. Use the round brush and Snow White to paint the petals. Start from the center of the flower, and lift the brush upward at the end of each petal.

Shade the daisy centers with small Black dots using the end of the liner brush.

Asters are so much fun to paint. Use the round brush and Black to make the centers. To paint the flowers, we’ll begin with the darkest color first. The first petals are painted with the round brush and Hot Rod Red. Paint the petals from the center, lifting the brush at the end of the stroke. The second layer of petals are a mixture of Pink Parfait and Snow White. The final, most inner petals are Snow White. Use the liner brush to paint Black “hairs” in the flower centers.

Make dots in the center of the flower by dipping the handle’s end of your paint brush in Snow White. This method similar to making polka dots with the eraser end of a pencil. Make the stems with a mixture of Black and Snow White.

Finally, let’s add some details.My youngest daughter suggested that my dark green leaves looked like seaweed (out of the mouth of babes), so I made them more pointed with Sublime Lime and the liner brush. I also added some Snow White highlights with the liner brush.

I added some of my signature swirls with Pale Daffodil, Sublime Lime, and the liner brush. Dip the liner brush in a slightly thinned (not too watery though) amount of the paint, then make the swirls. If you don’t like your swirl, wipe it off quickly with a baby wipe or wet paper towel, then try again. You can sign your Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can, if you want. I paint KS and the last two digits of the year on most of my works. I used Snow White and the liner brush.

Once the watering can is completely dry, take it outside and spray it with Aleenes Acrylic Gloss Spray. You’re all done! I hope you enjoyed making a Spring Meadow Painted Watering Can with me!

Happy Spring!

Krisite

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