How to create budget-friendly art for your wall

Photo: Diana Durkes

Photo: Diana Durkes

Found French Drawing of the 19th Century book at Brown Elephant in Andersonville, 11am on April 2.
The process I thought the black-and-white reproductions in the drawing book were beautiful and wondered how they’d look with a wash of color in a paint-by-numbers effect. After tearing a few pages from the book, I outlined and filled in the spaces with random colors using a set of watercolor paints and a brush. (I used very little water with the paints to keep the paper from wrinkling.) When they were dry, I put the drawings in two document frames. You could also hang a group as a collage without picture frames or mount them together on a large sheet of colored paper. To fix them to the wall, a good alternative to tape is rubber cement, which won’t damage the walls when you’re ready to take the artwork down.

The materials French drawing art book $4, at Brown Elephant (5404 N Clark St, 773-271-9382), Prang watercolor set with brush, $4 and document frames, $4 each, both at Blick Art Materials (locations around the city, dickblick.com). Total cost: $16. —Collected and salvaged by Diana Durkes (finedivingchicago.com).

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