DIY Acrylic 3x3 Retro Canvas Art

I didn't realize my acrylic colors were going to be so bold. On the bottle... seeing it under Walmart lighting, they looked like they were going to be pastel colors with the exception of my blue and black. I thought I chose colors that were in my step-daughters duvet cover so that the canvas over her wall would slightly match but as the acrylic paints dried, they looked like they were better suited for boys room as the design looks soccerball-ish, as you can clearly see below.

The canvas was already a used canvas. It had house paint on it. I took some primer and made it mostly white. That primer took two days of layering alone. Jeez. The rest are $0.57 Acrylic bottles of paint from Walmart and $3 pack of brushes from Big Lots. The bristle brushes get super annoying as they fall out very easily. I had tweezers nearby to take out the loose ones so they did not affect the painting too much.

Yes, my kitchen counters are the only space big enough to paint. I had to do it there. So, while my canvas looks like a cow at the moment, I had created a football like design (even though my real intention was a leaf). I started out with black since black brings forth all colors nicely. This is a 3 foot by 3 foot canvas by the way, it takes a lot of footballs. I used a dishware lid to create the circle on some thick drawing paper (possibly watercolor) and cut it out. I traced the design onto the canvas until it was filled.

It helps to work with one color at a time and to write in pencil (very softly) what color goes where so you don't mess up while you're jamming to an awesome song on Pandora... or iHeartRadio. And if you listen to the actual radio, lame. 

As you can see, the circles are designated for green paint at this time. I had already done teal (which was a bit darker than I expected it to be) and blue. My blue paint needs another layer of paint when it dries. 

This is my end result. While it looks to be completed, it isn't. The green and blue is very much crappy still. It is not solid. I can still see through. Needs its third layer tomorrow. The yellow paint still shows the pencil line in which I'm afraid if I try to erase, the paint will get messed up. So, as a result, I may take a sharpie to it if I cannot cover the line with its natural acrylic paint by tomorrow. 

A picture of it hanging will be posted tomorrow. Hope you enjoy. Do you see the soccer all in there now? It's so there! And now it looks like it belongs in a boys bedroom rather than a girls. If you are wondering what my inspiration was, it was a Pottery Barn pastel leaf canvas art image I found on Google and their website. However that totally did not happen. 

Edit: This is the same canvas art hanging in sons room

Now I just need to find a long entertainment system and turn it into a very cool kids storage unit. Time to craigslist it up!