When I first purchased her, I was  less than thrilled. She was pretty but, she was missing something. I contemplated planting her in the garden as is.  That lasted all of 2 hours as I sat and stared at her. Better sense took hold!  The first thing I had to decide was what did I want to do. I decided I wanted to paint her.

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The first step was  to decide whether to order online or go to a craft store. I opted to go to the  craft store. Michael’s is an absolute haven for this. Fair warning, you may see dozens of other projects  you want to start while you are in the store, so I advise you go in and get what you need.

The acrylic paints aisle is filled with choices and a multitude of colors and tools to complete the task. In the picture on your right you will see the exact supplies I used.

I chose to use Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic. Whether you’re working on wood, canvas, metal or concrete, this professional-quality heavy body acrylic paint provides thick, rich colors that will bring your art to life. With excellent handling and blending characteristics and an increased open working time, the high pigment load produces brilliant, permanent color that is perfect for color theory and mixing. The exceptionally smooth, creamy consistency has good surface drag, useful for traditional art techniques, impasto, experimental applications, mixed media, collage and printmaking.

I picked the following colors:

• Titanium White (inside cape and cloud)
• Cerulean Blue (exterior cape)
• Light Blue (robe)
• Iridescent Rich Gold (bottom orb)
• Burnt Sienna  (Used Basics brand  for hair)
• Iridescent Bright Silver (belt and button)

I used Artist’s Loft Brushes. because the collection of natural hair brushes is designed for watercolor and acrylic painting. It is perfect for  beginners and intermediate artists. The 10-piece set includes a range of brush shapes and sizes, offering plenty of value and variety.

The set details as follows:

• 10 assorted brushes
• Camel hair filament
• Aluminum ferrule
• Wooden handle
• For use with acrylic and watercolor paints

It took one week to complete.  Here a few things I learned. Acrylics dry fast! Squeeze only a little paint out of a tube at a time. Keep a piece of paper towel or cloth next to you and get a plastic water  cup filled  with water. When you complete a color, wash the brush out. I found using a drop of dish washing liquid helped clean the brush thoroughly.

Acrylic paint is water-soluble when wet and yet, because it is a plastic polymer, dries into a flexible, water-resistant, and durable surface to which subsequent layers of paint can be added without disturbing the underlying layers. This means that if you screw up, YOU CAN FIX IT!  Believe you me, I made a few mistakes, but was overjoyed that I could just apply a dab of paint to correct the issue. This was key when painting the interior of her cape and dress.

The result was amazing. This is the final result below.