A Spring-inspired mini gallery wall

This mini gallery wall project is inspired by the renewed energy I feel when spring starts to finally make an appearance in Southwestern Ontario. These alcohol ink and resin pieces feature one of my all-time favourite colour palettes to use with alcohol ink paintings. There's a subtle gold accent that ties the pieces together, and a perfectly glossy ArtResin top coat that finishes these pieces perfectly. 

Here's a little behind the scenes look at the process and how these pieces came together. Hope you like it!

Create your art.

The first step was to paint the alcohol ink paintings. I chose a bright and cheerful colour palette to work with. The colours all blend together beautifully to create a very vibrant look. Each piece uses the same colour palette to tie the final gallery wall together. I then embellished each piece with gold accents.

Prep the art for a coat of resin.

I love coating my paintings in ArtResin. The resin coating gives alcohol ink paintings so much dimension and vibrancy. Resin also provides an extra layer of UV protection for alcohol ink paintings. 

Prepping your art and your space for working with resin is so important! It can be messy and sticky, and it helps to have everything ready ahead of time. I always make sure I have a protective mat to lay down on my work table, a lot of paper towel (pre-ripped off the roll and ready to go), a few pairs of gloves, and I also like to take the time to tape off the sides of my canvas just in case the resin spills over the sides.

I use the handy ArtResin Calculator to find out just how much resin I'll need to coat a piece. I prefer to dome the resin to the very edges of my paintings and really try not to have any spill over the sides, so making sure I use the right amount of resin to coat the art is important! 

Add the finishing touches.

I mixed up some extra resin and tinted a portion of it with the same colour palette that I chose for the paintings. Then I mixed the clear and coloured resin in a circular silicone mold and created a couple unique pieces for the gallery wall.

Hang your art.

I chose a small nook in my home office to hang my mini gallery wall, and used 3M Command Canvas Hangers because these pieces are fairly small and lightweight. I also like the fact that I can easily switch out the art in this space without putting a million holes in the walls.

This project was a perfect way to freshen up my workspace and bring in some much needed spring energy after a long winter.

The finer details.

A closer look at the finished pieces: