Mickey Mouse Fan Art - I'm not making money, I swear ;)

oil painting  24" x 30"

My 2 year old grandson is a new Mickey Mouse fan. He recently moved into the big-boy bedroom with his 6 year old brother, and needed something for the big, blank wall on his side of the room. 

Grandma to the rescue! 

First, I looked for posters. I found a similar idea with paint splatter in the background, but Mickey himself looked like a psychopath. I figured I could do it myself, and make Mickey less nightmare inducing.

So, I found a happy Mickey image online, and transferred it to a canvas.

I gave him a few days to dry because I was going to be adding background,

and I wanted to be able to wipe off anything that dripped onto Mickey.

I don't know if this was the most practical way to work,

but I didn't want to try to paint him later, over the top of the background. 

This isn't so much a tutorial as it is a sharing of a process 

where I'm just trying to figure out how to do something.

I started adding splashes to the background (and cleaning Mickey up when I was done).

I wanted Mickey to be brighter than the background,

so I started splashing those colorful splashes with white. (This was after the colors had dried.) 

I used an old toothbrush for some of that. I flung a loaded paint brush at it as well.

Then, the drips. It needed drips!

After that was the fun part. 

With the background entirely dry, I got back to Mickey himself (top image). 

I painted him up nice and bright, so that he became the star of the canvas.

My grandson loved it!

Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. The Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse, very recently made it into public domain. 

This version is not public domain, and I was nervous about even posting it on my blog, but as I am not making a penny on any artwork I do for my grandchildren (that will come later when they have jobs), and I admitted to having found this happy image online, I'm hoping that no one who sees this turns me into the authorities. Thank you.