Painting A Blackboard Turtle

I have a birthday for a little boy coming up and this is always an ideal time to get into the mind of a young child. This boy loves drawing and has recently become enchanted by turtles. Well, I knew just the trick for combining these two loves into one project. I would use the turtle wooden cut-out I had in the studio, gather my Dala Blackboard Paint and turn this turtle into a lovely and fun blackboard for him to draw his own art on.

This is the wooden cut-out that I started my project on.

Dala Blackboard Paint will take directly on the wood without a problem, but I wanted to start on a whiter surface as this would make the colours appear brighter. That is why I started the project off by painting the turtle with Dala Acrylic Gesso, which is a surface treatment. You can read more about this fantastic product in an earlier blog. Simply click on this link to read that blog.

I painted one side of the turtle with the gesso.

The edges of the turtle was also covered with the gesso.

I waited before flipping the turtle over and covering the other side with the gesso as well.

I wanted to paint the turtle in Dala Blackboard Paint as this would make it a useful toy for the boy to play with. You can read more about Dala Blackboard Paint in a previous blog where I discuss this wonderful product in great detail. Read this previous blog at this link.

I wanted to paint both sides of the turtle to make it more versatile. One side would be painted in plain black, while the other would be painted more decoratively. I therefore started with a first coat of black.

I gave the first coat a chance to dry and then painted a second coat.

I waited for the second coat to become touch dry as well. I then swapped to a softer brush that would not be likely to leave paint lines and painted a third and final coat.

I also painted the edges of the turtle black.

When the last coat was dry, I flipped the turtle over and noticed that I had smeared some paint on this side. I quickly covered these areas with more gesso.

When the gesso was dry, I used a pencil to draw detail onto the turtle.

I started with blue on the shell.

I then moved to Navy Blue detail on the shell.

I painted teal on the feet and head.

The edges of the shell was painted grey.

I used pink on the mouth and more grey on the eyebrow.

The lashes and dimples was painted with black.

By this time my  first colours had dried and I could move directly on to the second coat. I repeated the same steps a second time. I only applied a third coat where I thought the turtle needed it, working selectively on this coat.

I then decided to paint a black trim all around the design, allowing it to resemble a cartoon drawing.

I then touched up the edges where necessary.

Finally the turtle was ready to go into a gift bag along with some chalks to make a little boy happy.

The front was pretty and he could easily draw on that side as it was painted completely with only Blackboard Paints, but I kept the back purposefully simple to keep it clear of distractions for his own art work.

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.

Jy kan Kom Ons Teken en Verf Tuinstories hier koop.
Jy kan Kom Ons Kleur Tuinstories In hier koop.
Jy kan Tuinstories hier koop.
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