Go Gecko!

In this new tutorial, you can do as much of the design work as you wish (or as time allows!).

To start, you can decide on how many shapes you would like to paint and if you're feeling particularly creative you might even like to design your own gecko outline as I have! But why stop there?! You could adapt this idea and create a different animal template altogether or even use a different theme.

The idea for this painting project came from a holiday to Portugal where I found a lovely little fridge magnet in the shape of a gecko, covered in a blue and white tile pattern. Whilst on holiday I visited Tavira which is an historic Morish town in the south east. It has many beautiful buildings, many of which are adorned with decorative tiles so I took a few photographs of tile patterns which I thought might be useful in a project.

Tiles are a key feature of Portuguese architecture and they can be found both inside and out all across the country. From busy inner cities to tiny hillside villages.

Tiled facades are thought to have been introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors. The Spanish and Portuguese adapted these ideas and developed their own styles during the 15th-16th Centuries.

The tiles take many forms, from simple glazed, tessellated designs to Azulejos (large, hand painted scenes usually blue and white) which depict historical or religious themes.

For this project we will use the shape of a gecko and use it to create a tile patterned silhouette. You can choose any tile design you like from the ones I have selected or, if you have time you can research your own ideas - or perhaps you have some beautifully patterned tiles in your own home?

Once you have selected your silhouette shape and your tile design, it's time to put the two together. First you will draw your outline shape and then use a ruler to add the tile grid. Then you will add the main features of the tile designs using pencil ~ don't worry you don't have to include every single detail ~ just the main shapes.

Once your drawing is complete we need to keep the tiles separated (to give the effect of the grout lines) so we will mask the lines before drawing the tile designs.

Once you're ready to add the painted tile designs you will work from light to dark. If you are working using just blue you will layer the different values.

This project is really good practice for improving your brush control and even though it is quite intricate even at beginner level you will be able to recreate a lovely patterned tile effect.

Here you can see I have used two gecko silhouetttes and filled them with two different designs. If you have a light box you might like to use this to help you get your drawing onto your gecko with more ease than tracing!

Once complete you could choose to add a shadowed edge or even add a complete coloured background ~ there are so many ways you can adapt this project ~ you are only limited by your own imagination!

To find out a little bit more about this project, take a look at the short video below.

I hope you enjoy this project ~ and if you happen to be in Spain or Portugal this year ~ keep your eyes open for some of these beautiful tiles and you could even recreate your holiday memories using your own photographs.

Happy Painting!