Paint a Watermelon Banner

Today I painted a Watermelon & Sunflower Banner, made from a dollar store placemat. Just a fun pop of color to hang outside on the patio for the summer. No fancy paint techniques either, just straightforward painting and some permanent marker details.

Wanna see how to make it?

Supply List

• Bamboo placemat (this would work on any placemat)
• Clover Green paint by Folk Art
• Fresh Foliage, Folk Art
• Habanero red by Martha Stewart
• Vanilla Bean brown, Martha Stewart
• Turner’s Yellow, Folk Art
• Jonquil yellow, Martha Stewart
• Black fine tip Sharpie permanent marker
• sealer, if hanging banner outside
• cardboard
• painter’s tape

The first thing you need to do is fold the placemat over a couple inches to create a pocket for hanging. Then tape the placemat onto a piece of cardboard to prevent paint leaking onto your work table.

 

Next, basecoat under the folded edge to create a background. I painted a design with some simple curves. You could do anything you want, even spray paint the entire placemat if you want.

 

When your basecoat is dry, transfer your pattern. I’ve included the watermelon & sunflowers at the bottom of this post.

 

With Clover Green, paint the stems & leaves of the flowers and the watermelon rind. Then paint over the rinds with your basecoat, Fresh Foliage. This’ll add a little variegation to the rind.

If desired, paint the leaf veins with the same Fresh Foliage.

 

Fill in the watermelon with Habanero. You might need two coats, depending on your placemat, to get a bright red.

 

Paint the centers of the sunflowers with Vanilla Bean.

 

Then paint the ‘petals’ with Turner’s Yellow. Because of the bamboo slats, I didn’t try to paint perfect petals. I dabbed the paint on in uneven circles.

Optional: add yellow highlights to the leaves as shown.

 

See what I mean? No defined petals here. Just paint a rough circle with an uneven outer edge.

 

With Jonquil (light yellow), highlight the petals.

 

Don’t try to paint perfect petals. It won’t work on the slats. Adding the lighter highlights will give the flower a bit more dimension.

 

Even on the bud, the petals aren’t perfectly defined. Just highlights.

 

After the highlights are dry, paint Turner’s Yellow over the petals again. When it dries, you’ll see the Jonquil highlights peeking through.

Allow all of the paint to dry fully.

 

Okay, grab your Sharpie. And don’t freak out, ok? You don’t have to be an artist to do this. As a matter of fact, it’ll look much better if you’re not precise with your marker.

All you do is outline everything and draw some watermelon seeds.

 

See how my lines are not straight? It’s impossible to make them straight on the bamboo slats anyway so don’t even try. Same with the seeds. Don’t worry about making them all the same size, shape or whatever. Just draw some black teardrop shapes.

 

Same thing with the petals. You just want to give the idea of petals.

 

 

You can paint a little border of red dashes or dots to finish it off, if you want.

 

To hang your banner, you can use ribbon, twine, or whatever you have handy. I happened to have some green ribbon that matched pretty closely.

 

Just tie a knot in the ribbon, flap the top edge over to the front and that’s it!

 

If you want to hang it outdoors, I’d recommend sealing your painting with a light polyurethane, either spray or brush on. Folk Art & Martha’s paints are pretty durable and might last the entire summer but I’d rather be safe and seal the banner.

Watermelon & Sunflower Pattern

You can download the pattern (without watermark) by clicking on the above photo or title. Resize it to your placemat before printing.

I hope you give this a try. It’s really a fun project that will add a little pop of color to wherever you hang it!

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Before you go, check out my friends’ watermelon goodies too!

Oh my goodness! Rhonda is grilling her watermelon and topping it with a scrumptious mint honey glaze. Wow. Drop by Mrs. Greene to get the recipe.

How cute is this Watermelon Headband? Just adorable. Paula shows you how to make it at Virginia Sweet Pea.

Make sure you drop by tomorrow for our Watermelon Week wrap up!

Colleen

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