To the Moon and Back

Stay tuned--the rest of the week I'll be doing a series called Paint with Me that will walk you through the steps and techniques to help you do your own painting! If you have any specific questions about painting, please leave it in a comment here or on Facebook and I'll try to answer it this week! 

Little Man has officially outgrown his nursery decor, so we were on the lookout for new artwork for above his bed. I decided I'd paint him something just for him. Problem is, I wasn't quite sure what.

After months of stewing, I finally felt inspired by an idea! Little Man is fascinated by NASA and says he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. He loves all things outer space! Growing up, my middle school science teacher (Hi, Ms. C!) instilled a love of space in me and I wanted to become an astronaut, too. I had a big poster of the space shuttle as it launched in my bedroom. I used the mental image of that poster as the springboard for my painting plans.

 One thing Jeremy and I are always saying to Little Man is "I love you to the moon and back!" to which Little Man will compete and say he loves us to the moon and then to the stars and back and even further. It's really sweet! I decided to combine his love of outer space and the sweetness of this expression in one painting.

Little Man loves his painting! After we put him to bed at night, I sometimes hear him reading it to himself. It's so rewarding!

I purchased the canvas at Michael's. I happened on an amazing sale and only paid $5 for the canvas! Crazy! I purchased simple craft paints in the colors I needed and used brushes I already had on hand. The cost to do this painting was around $10! For this large of a painting, that's very inexpensive!

I won't lie, it took me several hours and was tedious, but it really was not hard at all!

I'll be back with the first step of the painting process tomorrow!

Linking up to The Turquoise Home, Elegance and Enchantment, and Thrifty Decor Chick!