St. Patrick’s Day is almost here and that means for us here in New Hampshire, Spring may be right around the corner! It’s no secret how much I love roses, but I also love shamrocks too. So its not a surprise that I was inspired to combine the two and paint these vintage-style Shamrock and Roses canvas heart-shaped magnets.
Lucky you! It’s a St. Patrick’s Day Gnome!
Today, we are making a St. Patrick’s Day Gnome (You know I love my gnomes!) and we’ll be using lots of acrylic paint, some gold glass for his pot of gold, and some green glass to create a shamrock. I’ll also be doing a fun green ombre effect on his hat. Let’s get started!
We’re going to start with the background and we’re going to do some fun colors. First, squirt some white paint on your 8×8 canvas along with a little bit of light green. Let dry.
Next, we’re going to tape our tracer to the canvas. Place graphite paper underneath and trace your gnome with your stylus. (If you’re part of The Shattered Circle, you get TWO tracers for this project!)
Now, let’s start painting! I’m going to start by painting his beard white with a small, flat brush. Then, I’m going to paint his nose and hands with warm beige paint.
Next, I’m going to paint his clothes a dark green. Then, I’m going to do an ombre effect on his hat. Starting with a darker green on the bottom and working my way up his hat, making it lighter and lighter by mixing in some white paint. Then, I’m taking a little bit of white paint to make the creases in the hat.
I’m going to put a quick second coat on his green clothing. I’m also going to add a little bit of black and white to add some dimension. Next, I’m going to paint his shoes black, adding a teeny bit of white for some more dimension. I’m adding a second coat of warm beige to this nose and hands as well as a tiny bit of cherry red paint for dimension there too.
Now, I’m going to finish up his beard by adding another coat of white paint and strokes of gray paint. It’s way easier to work wet on wet when painting!
Finally, we’ll paint his pot of gold with black. I’m going to add a little bit of white highlights for some added dimension.
I think he needs dots on his hat, so I’m just going to take a sharpie marker with a flat top and dip that in my white paint and my stylus too. I’m going to make white dots all over his hat. Let dry.
I’m going to add some detail lines with a graphic pen. I’m just going to add some strokes around his hat, his beard, his hands, and nose.
Next up is glass! I’m going to take four pieces of green glass to create a shamrock on the end of his hat. Add some tacky glue to hold those pieces in place.
I’m also going to add some tacky glue to the top of the gold pot. I’m going to take some smaller bits of gold glass for his pot.
I’m also going to add some gold glass that spilled out of his pot onto the ground – just scattering some into the resin.
Now, we are going to resin. W e’re going to elevate our canvas using blocks. Mix 1/2 ounce of resin and stir gently for three minutes. Then, drizzle over your glass. Pour the remainder of resin onto your canvas and spread it using your gloved fingers.
Use a heat gun to pop your bubbles.
He is so cute! This might be my favorite gnome EVER!
If you don’t want to miss my Facebook LIVE art instruction, make sure you are on my texting list. I always text 10 minutes before I’m going to go LIVE, so you won’t ever miss it. You can text “Hey Cindy” to 901-519-2923.
*Supply lists and tracers are only available to members of The Shattered Circle. If you’d like to learn more about member benefits or get on the waitlist, click here.
St. Patrick’s Day Watercolor Painting Lesson for Beginners
This Irish Landscape with Sheep is a fun and easy painting for beginners – perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
Watercolor Techniques you’ll learn:
- Taping your paper
- Painting a fade
- Using crayon to mask areas
- Adding details with a dry brush
- Painter’s Tape
- Watercolor Paper – I use 9 x 12 Fluid Block.I trim to 9 x 11″ before painting.
- Cardboard larger than your paper
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Watercolor Paint – green,blue, tan and black
- Container of water
- Paper towel
- Medium sized round brush (#10 or #8) and a thinner brush (#1)
- White crayon
Try my “Beginner Watercolor Exploration Guide” where I walk you through the fundamentals of watercolor with exercises and projects. Learn by doing. Discover a love of watercolor today –> Learn more here!
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Did you know you can make shamrocks with a heart stencil? I use a stencil on the background of this design and then paint and shade over it to soften or darken areas with blues and whites.
It creates a beautiful background that you can make as busy or as simple as you wish, and then paint some impressionistic roses right over the shamrocks for a really vintage, soft look.
I painted these in Golden Fluids because the pigment is so brilliant. I mixed a few colors together and created a few shades of green and blue and it gave a really nice effect to them.
On some of these, I added some soft circles with blue and green accents that look almost transparent in the background. To give these a transparent – almost watercolor effect to the acrylic paint I use a blending gel medium and work it into the brush then pick up just a small amount of the paint and work it into the brush. I test it out first, to make sure its as translucent as I want it and then add in the circles here and there. You can paint these also by following along with my Shamrocks and Roses painting tutorial PDF I have available here. Some of the sample photos on this page might give you a better idea of what the design is like. In the tutorial, I share how I use a small heart stencil ( any kind of tiny heart stencil will work with this project ), but I recently found a great miniature heart stencil from my painting friends Sandy McTier and Tracy Moreau. They have created their own stencils called M2 Squared that they sell on their sites and so I wanted to give it a try for this design and it worked great! I highly recommend using it! You can find the stencil here to order. Let me know if you get a chance to try out the tutorial I would love to hear from you! Until next time!
