Too Much Permanent Marker Is Not Good For You

Finally! I have figured out what to do with the oh so giant space above my TV *happy dance....BAP BAP BAP* Yes, I'm just a little bit happy to have this one done. For the last year I have been trying to figure out what to do. I have thrown around several ideas. A giant picture, a giant painting, lots of small pictures, shelving, shelving and pictures, a wall sculpture/installation....you name it, I've thought about it. However, nothing has seemed quite right. All of my ideas thus far have either looked out of place or like they were competing with the rest of the room. Then one day I was looking through my daily HGTV newsletter and came across what looked like a black and white wall print. It was made up of 8 circles, all in different black and white designs. I looked at it for awhile, and thought it would look really cool in the office. I looked online but couldn't seem to find it, so instead I did what I do best, and made one of my very own.

So first things first was design. I measured the size of the wall and then sketched a general outline of the piece so I could figure out the placement and size of each circle.

I originally was just going to take a large piece of paper or mat board and draw the circles right on it, but then I decided I wanted to create a little dimension. So instead I decided to do the circles individually on poster board and attach them to a large piece of paper. I found this 4ft x12ft wide roll of white paper at Michaels. 

Next I measured the radius of each circle. I went for a combination of big and small. For the smaller ones I used my protractor, but the larger ones exceeded the size that my protractor would go. Typically I would have just tied a string to an anchor and a pencil, but I decided to elevate my tools this go round. I decided to make a large protractor that I could use for really large circles. So I grabbed 2 rulers, a mechanical pencil, BBQ skewers and a big screw and nut. I taped the pencil to one of the rulers and the skewers to the other. Then I put the 2 rulers together and put the screw through the hole at the top and tightened it from the other side with the nut...and Voila! A new protractor. 

Using poster board I cut out 8 circles, 4 big and 4 smaller.

For my design I stuck to black and white. I bought a pack of fine and ultra fine black permanent markers. I debated using acrylic paint, but that could be a lot more time consuming and limiting, especially when it came to detail work. So I went with marker. I grabbed the first circle and just free handed a design. I really didn't have a plan or an idea of what it was going to look like. I started in the middle of the circle, and just did whatever came to mind. I continued drawing outward using varying size circles and designs until I reached the edge.

1st circle

Isn't it pretty. You know as much as I think and go for simple, the outcome is always beyond what I imagined. Originally I was thinking I would draw a few lines, some circles, and get fancy by throwing in a diamond or 2. Clearly that didn't happen. After the first one was done I moved on to the next one. Same thought process as before. Start from the middle and just design outwards with whatever came to mind. 

2nd Circle

Each circle took on average about a few days to complete. Sometimes because it was a lot of detail, other times I just didn't know what to do. Seeing as how there was no real plan on the design, it was real easy to get Artist's block. So sometimes I would just stop, hang it up, and let it sit until something came to me. 

3rd Circle

At this point I realized how toxic permanent markers can be. I don't think I've ever worked with so much permanent marker at one time. The 3rd circle had a lot of black in it, and I was just leaning over the desk inhaling every bit of fumes. Man, talk about getting light headed. I had to actually open the door and take it out to the garage so it could air out. I was not trying to pass out!

4th Circle

Now I originally thought this project would take me months. Each circle especially the larger ones were quite time consuming. I also didn't want to rush and do a sloppy job. I estimated about 1 per week when I first started.  However I seemed to somehow get a wave of inspiration and energy over the last week, and just started cranking them out. 

5th Circle

I finished the last 3 in a week

7th Circle

8th Circle

So in case you didn't notice I am missing the 6th circle. Somehow in the madness I missed photographing it when I was done, and unfortunately it is already taped to the wall at the time I am writing this post. Sorry. #BlogstarFAIL! As I designed each one, I laid them next to each other to make sure they were all somewhat cohesive. I didn't want them to be the same, but I didn't want them to all be so different that they clashed and looked odd together. 

With all 8 done I laid them on the floor and played around with placement. I arranged them around in various combinations to figure out which one worked best. I settled on this one.  

I wanted the piece to be in the middle of the wall. Hard to do when there are no distinct corners. So I measured the highest, lowest, and furthest points on both sides to get the basic size. I came up with 74" across and 48" down. To adhere the pieces to the wall I used Scotch photo tape. I used a couple of pieces per circle just to make sure they were secure. 

I marked the lowest mid point of the wall using Painter's tape so I could use that to place the first piece. Then I found the lowest midpoint of the circles and matched that up with the piece of tape. 

While they were on the floor I measured where the second piece would hang in conjunction to the first. So once the first one was placed, I placed the second one right next to it.

 After that the rest of the circles were easy. One by one I adhered the remainder of the circles to the wall until I had a completed piece. My new collage of circles we'll call it.

What do you think?! I'm actually digging it. It does wonders for how the room looks. Oh and let me just take a moment to reiterate how excited I am to finally have this done. After a year of not knowing what to do it's nice to have this checked off the list. One thing that I am still contemplating is color. Originally I was going to use my colored permanent markers and highlight each circle, but now I'm not sure. What do you all think? Color or no color? I'm hesitant to do anything because once I touch it, it's a done deal. There's no going back and changing my mind. So for right now I'm going to hold off until I'm sure. I have a few ideas of other options, but we'll just see how it all plays out. Until then it's on to the next project....And one step closer to my oh so MAGICAL office!