Garden Art 2

If it's the middle of winter at your place you might get a bit depressed when you look at your garden. The trees are leafless, the plants look dead. There is no cheering color to be seen at all! But before you decide to either take a pill or start drinking to get you out of your winter-blues, here is an easy project that can be done by the whole family and will make your garden look color-ful all year round!

You'll need: some fiber-cement sheets (ask a builder for off-cuts ) , acrylic paint in bright colors, brushes,some water, an old cloth, a good clear brush-on varnish.

Place a large plastic sheet on the floor and start painting, on the smooth side of the fiber-cement sheet.Some suggestions: flowers, palm trees,tropical fish,animals, abstract etc. Let your imagination run wild. If you don't like the picture, it doesn't matter, you can paint over it. Don't dilute the paint too much with water though. Make the picture not too small, or else you might not see the details from a distance.

Once all the painting is done, it will need a couple of layers of the brush on-varnish. (This is best done with the artwork flat on a table or the floor.)Because this artwork will be going outside, in all kinds of weather and you don't want the paint to run the moment it starts raining. The varnish that comes in cans is not suitable for outside. Let the varnish dry between layers.

Once it is dry, either make a frame around it, and varnish this too, or leave it without a frame and drill it directly onto the fence. This way you'll have a cheerful garden all year round, with your own created art work! You can also apply the same method to unglazed Terra-cotta pots, as long as you varnish it well. Happy painting from me!