my summer reading list.

Published on by Quandie

I stopped off at the thrift store the other day to pick up a few books to add to my summer reading list.

LOL, just kidding.  I didn’t buy these to read, I bought them to paint.  which is not to say there aren’t a few options here that I might enjoy reading.

But I was surfing around on pinterest the other day and I came across this image …

and it inspired me to do some more book painting.

Is it just me, or does that image seem AI generated?  I don’t know, maybe it isn’t, but it just seems too perfect.  And I also saw the same exact image but in black and white.  I also couldn’t really track down the origin of this photo, it just has been shared and re-shared by individuals without any attribution.

Regardless, I was inspired by the colors and the florals on those books.

So I got out my Dixie Belle paint in Secret Path and in Kudzu to see what I could create.  After painting three of the books in each color, I started embellishing them.  I used a some floral transfers from a few different I.O.D. sets; Sarah Featon’s Botanicals, Rose Botanical and Wilde Bloemen.

Next I added a few random bits of gold typography from the I.O.D. Étiquettes transfer.

I also added some horizontal gold lines to the book spines using Dixie Belle’s Gold Marker.

Once all of those elements were in place, I gave the books a coat of Dixie Belle’s clear wax.  Then I used some of their Dixie Dirt in the color called Earth to add a little faux wear.  Dixie Dirt is a powder pigment that you can use to … well … make things look a little dirty.

I use a small artist’s brush to apply a little of the Dixie Dirt to the top of each book spine.

I kept it fairly subtle, but it definitely helped the books not look quite so freshly painted.

I kept aside 3 of the books to paint based on another inspiration pic from pinterest.

Isn’t that gorgeous?

I first painted the last 3 books using Dixie Belle’s Caviar, then I added more of the same embellishments I used on the previous books.

Only this time I used one floral transfer and applied it across all three books instead of using an individual one on each book.

And isn’t that transfer perfect over black?  It’s from I.O.D.’s Wilde Bloemen set, and it definitely has that look of a Dutch still life floral.

I have to admit that I like the black books even better than the green and purple books.

The gold elements really pop over the black.

I love the way these turned out.  So much in fact, that I’m going to keep them for myself.  I’ve already ordered more of the Wilde Bloemen transfer so that I can paint up some more too.

What do you think of these painted books?  Leave a comment and let me know.

31 thoughts on “my summer reading list.”

  1. what will you think of next?? Almost every day I get a boost of inspiration from your projects. I love these books! Are there any particular dos and donts that we need to know? The black ones are amazing but I love the purple and green too. Can’t wait to buy some dirt!

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    1. This project was relatively straight forward. Personally I prefer using a chalk style paint v. an acrylic or latex paint because it adheres beautifully to the book covers and doesn’t look too much like paint, but otherwise I say just give it a try!

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    1. Good question. I usually purchase mine from The Painted Heirloom (online), but she is sold out on most of them including Rose Botanical and Wilde Bloemen. Her website says she’ll restock in late August, but that has been pushed back from late June, to late July, to now late August. Meanwhile, you can just do a google search or look on Etsy. There are a lot of online sellers out there.

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  4. Great idea! Although I’m a color girl, I do love the black ones even more than the purple and green ones. Really getting into black lately. I bought a bunch of tattered black books at an auction mainly for display purposes.

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  6. These are stunning! I’m a book lover, especially old one’s. I have that same image saved of the purple and green books, but I really love your black set. I may have to copy you, lol.

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  10. You stopped my in my tracks ~ what a beautiful distraction from work today ❤ I’m thinking – what gorgeous Christmas gifts this would make!

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  11. I absolutely love this. Both sets turned out amazing. I am definitely inspired to copy this idea. Thank you.

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  15. OK when I saw “My Summer reading list” I just thought oh blah. I never want to read about what somebody else is reading. I came back here later today to look up a past post and I saw that this was a project not a reading list. 😂 These books are beautiful and I’ll read a little further next time and not just the intro. 🫣

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    1. But wait, ‘book’ is right there in your name … I’m surprised you don’t want to read book recommendations. Well, regardless, I’m glad you came back to check into this one a little further 🙂

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