I found this little bunny while I was reorganizing the other day. I had painted it for Michelle's room while she was in kindergarten. At the time decorative and folk art painting were popular. A friend of mine had invited me to go shopping with her. One of our stops was a store that was devoted to folk art painting and supplies. I had dabbled in watercolors but had never used acrylic paints or painted on wood. At the time I was looking for a picture for Michelle's room that was different from the mass market pictures available at children's stores. I found this adorable little bunny in a book and decided to try to paint it. I was very pleased with the result. Unfortunately the book that this bunny came from is no longer in print.
To make this picture I started with a pre-sanded wooden plaque (available from a craft store). I sanded the plaque with a fine grit sanding pad to smooth out any rough places. I wiped the plaque down with a damp cloth. After the plaque was dry I lightly varnished it with DecoArt water based craft varnish (available at Jo-Ann). I lightly sanded the plaque again and wipe it down. Next I used a wash of walnut acrylic paint to color the plaque. The paint should be very watery. Apply the wash several times until you have achieved the desired look (a light walnut color). Seal the plaque again with the varnish and lightly sand and wipe down. I then transfered the bunny image to the plaque using graphite paper. The bunny was painted using a wash of light blue and tan. The dots are made by dipping the wooden end of the paint brush in undiluted paint. The stars are made by dipping the end of the paint brush in a wash of white paint and pulling the paint out from the center.
