This one’s for the art lovers!
This Spring semester I took 20th Century Art History and LOVED it! My teacher made it one of the most challenging classes I’ve had so far in my degree but also created a beautifully curated course that required a lot of interaction and work (and therefore learning!).
One of my favorite parts of the class was the Post-Modernism unit where I was introduced to the work of Kenny Scharf. He creates colorful and vivid pieces in many different mediums, often featuring fantastic creatures. He’s known for his street art as well as a series of paintings he has done of donuts set against landscapes and sky scenes. Look at this wonderfulness:
They’re all given obvious and great names too like, “Old Fashioned Donut Hovering On A Lovely Day.” Isn’t that perfection?
So for me, as a party-planning DIYer, the obvious thing to do to pay homage to my love of art history was throw a donut party and hand paint these food trays in Kenny Scharf fashion, obviously.
I love the contrast these trays set against a table full of donuts. Even for guests who have no idea who Kenny Scharf is and have never been introduced to his donut-scapes, will have to appreciate these painterly trays. They create such a happy setting! I’ve already been using them all around my kitchen and I don’t expect to ever have to explain them, they’re just like-able!
And don’t worry if you don’t feel confident in your painting skills. #1, I am NOT a painter. Seriously, I do not consider myself talented with a brush at all. So if I could do it, I promise you can too! But, more importantly, #2, I created these landscapes in a digital file for you to print out for free if you prefer to go the decoupage route. So there’s no excuses to not get your art-geek on! Click through to get the how-to for painting or decoupaging (and the free printable landscapes!) And if you want to learn more about Scharf, visit this fabulous page on Artsy.
- Materials
- Food trays (I got mine at a restaurant supply store for about $3 each) //
- Acrylic paints (or printables and Mod Podge) //
- Shellac //
- Paintbrushes
If you’re uncomfortable (or just don’t want to, I won’t judge :) ) with the painting, grab the digital files below. Print them out, cut out and match them together. These fit perfectly in 14.75″x10.5″ trays. Use glue to lay them in the trays, when that is dry, cover with a coat of Mod Podge. That’s food safe, so you’re good to go!
1. Paint a layer of white acrylic all over the tray.
2. When that’s dry, paint an aqua color all over the top and mix it with white towards the bottom to create a gradient.
3. When that’s dried, do a dark blue layer along the top and mix that with the aqua color towards the bottom of that.
4. When that’s dried paint some clouds with white. Scharf’s clouds are kind of a greek myth style with a flat bottom and rounded tops so I painted a straight line and then swirls up around it.
This ones super easy, I did a coat of black and then used the end of the paint brush stick and continually dipped it in white and dappled that all around. This automatically created variation in “star” sizes which was perfect.
1. Paint a white coat and allow to dry
2. Mix a small amount of purple with white and paint a strip of this a few inches up from the bottom.
3. Paint aqua in the middle, mix the bottom of this strip with some white to make a gradient.
4. Put a dab of aqua at the top and dab your brush in some green paint, paint this all along the top.
5. Do a stroke of dark blue along the top then put some aqua and a tiny bit of green on your brush and mix in to this dark strip.
6. When dry, do a black strip along the top and kind of fade it down a little.
7. Use green paint and paint outlines of hills at the bottom of the tray.
8. Fill these in with the green.
9. Use white mixed with the green and paint this to the sides of all the hills.
10. Use less white and do the middle of the hills.
11. Use no white and paint in the other side of the hills.
12. Paint another layer over the outline of the hills.
Use Shellac to coat each of the trays when you’re done. This finish is non-toxic so now your trays can come into contact with food and everyone will be A-Ok! Use a damp cloth to wipe (I wouldn’t run through a dishwasher).
Now throw a donut or an art party!
Here’s some of my donuts on my trays next to Scharf’s art so you can see the resemblance :D
Which one’s which, right?! haha! Ok, yeah, I’m pretty obsessed! I just want to buy even more donuts to create more look-alikes!
National Donut Day is June 5th so that’s a perfect time to showcase these lovely trays! Or just use my printables to make placemats for your dinner table. That’d be fun too! And grab these donut straw umbrellas for even more donuty fun!
