Re-purposed Dollar Tree Placemat-to Hanging Wall Art

by Phillipcardjr

$2.00

1 Hour

Easy

A couple days back I took a trip to the local Dollar Tree store, initially to purchase some small hexagon and other shaped boxes. After picking up two hexagon boxes I headed over to the linen area to see what pillow cases were available( I also make cloth bookmarks re-purposing the pillow cases ). Coming across the placemats I thought that they would make an interesting support for a painting.

re purposed dollar tree placemat to hanging wall art, crafts, paint colors, repurposing upcycling, wall decor

Two mats were picked out ..this dark brown one and a light tan one. ( I really wanted to pick up several but decided to make sure they would be okay to paint on ).

Having painted full scenes on handkerchiefs that have turned out good, yet needing a frame or other support to be hung, the placemats appear to be something that would hang well by itself. ( As I write this I think the finished mat would also look great inside a glassless oversized frame...? ).

This was going to be a random painting since it is the first one on this kind of support, and I couldn't decide what type of scene to paint , only having the one dark mat. Coming across this simple canvas painting it was used for a reference to get things started.

Opting for a wide border duct tape was secured around the outside edge, mainly to provide me with a straight edge to work from.

( I used duct tape because my brand new roll of masking tape went into hiding ). Once the gold was painted around with the tape in place, the tape was removed and another trip around was added to have the outside edge rough too.

Grey paint was then dabbed on to provide a reference area to work with and shades of green were applied to be the base for the leaves and stems.

The placemat material is 100% polyester, so I was not sure how the water based acrylics would do. What was needed to be able to build up color and form was to allow the first application of paint time to dry completely. This was not a problem because this painting was started late in the evening. There was some concern that there would be bleed through but only a couple small spots of green went through.

You can see, especially with the yellow flowers in the middle, and the orange ones to the right, how the paint went to the inside of the mat.

I was adding flowers to the composition randomly as well. Though these side items are okay, the structure of the flowers and leaves will be improved on in future paintings. Building a painting on this material meant that once it was on it could not be (easily) changed.

Here is the finished placemat. The colors were built up and more definition was added to the flowers , leaves , and butterflies. There is room at the top for a word or two to be added. The mat was hung for this photo using two 1/2'' by 1/2'' removable mounting tabs. It would take a few more to have one stay in place for an extended period of time.

The painting took about an hour to do, not including dry time.

Hope you enjoyed this simple post. And that it stirs your creative mind to paint, or stencil , or copy and ( iron on ) transfer something of your own.

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3 of 6 comments

Hillela G. on Aug 07, 2016
You are an artist! I love it!

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- Phillipcardjr on Aug 07, 2016
  Thank you...and goodmorning.
  
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Mammaw on Jul 20, 2023

Wow, wow. It’s all I can think to say. Such an artist. I wish I had your talent. I try to imagine you drawing that in one hour. I think it’s amazing. Thank you for sharing it with us. Stay safe have a great day.

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