Starry Night

Starry Night by Van Gogh & Chris August

I made the following for a friend of mine who has everything she needs. I started with one plan and quickly evolved to what it became. I took one of my favorite song lyrics and placed it over a painting using vinyl letters. I then painted over it with a few coats and peeled the stickers off. The letters protect the painting and the images comes through the words.


1. Gather Supplies.

• Painting - I picked up a 16x20 poster from Michael's and chose Starry Night by Van Gogh.
• Spray & Acrylic Paint - I went with white but any color will work
• Vinyl Letters - found at Michael's. For this project, I got the 1" letters. The package said they were permanent but I had no problems peeling them off.
• Yard Stick
• Frame - Got a 16x20 Frame from Hobby Lobby
• Quote - I went with one of my favorite songs by Chris August.
• I'm giving my life to the only one who made the moon reflect the sun. Every starry night that was his design.

2. Space out Vinyl Letters on the painting. Cut the stickers out and place where you want them to figure out spacing. I used the yard stick to draw lines across the painting so that they would be straight.

 3.  Once the spacing is down, use the yard stick and a pencil to lightly draw lines across the painting. Remove the sticker back and place directly on the painting. Run your fingers over each letter to ensure that each are solidly down.

4. Let the painting begin. I began with a coat of white spray paint. Make sure that you get around each letter well. It sort of creates a barrier and when you use the acrylic, the paint can't get under the stickers.

5. Began putting layers of acrylic paint. I used several coats and let each dry before the next one. I put on coats until you could no longer see the painting.

6. Once you're happy with the painting and can no longer see the picture, you can begin peeling off the vinyl stickers. Mine peeled off perfectly and didn't pull the outside paint with it. Frame it and you're done!

Overall, I think it turned out great. The only thing I didn't like was that more of the painting didn't come through. My quote was so long that I didn't have any other choice but will find a smaller one next time.