In Texas last winter, I started collecting palm husks that would be scattered along the streets of our resort after a big wind.

I wondered if they might be a fun thing to paint on. After Googling, I learned that this wasn’t my own unique idea and that many people, especially in Florida, have been doing palm husk art for some time.

Now, you need to realize, that prior to embarking on the learning process of painting, I was a person who drew stick people poorly. Given that fact, I was extremely anxious about my abilities in this area (and truthfully, I still am).

In my feature photo, the one on the far left was my first attempt and I haven’t painted over it because I want to keep it as a reference point, to check my progress. It has sort of an amateurish folk-art look to it, and I’m OK with that.

I brought some base-coated husks home with me to practice over the summer.

The cubism one in the centre, I copied from a design I found on Pinterest. I added an earring for the photo, but I’m not sure if it’ll be a permanent fixture. A blogger I’ve recently started following (Jessica) does jewelry art, so I hi-jacked the earring idea from her. You can check out Jessica’s blog site here.

The other two palm trees and the lighthouse are my own designs. I repainted and/or tweaked these many times, and thankfully acrylics are the perfect medium to allow this.

I’ve learned a few brush techniques through my summer efforts and I look forward to returning to Texas this winter, where my “canvas” of choice is free and plentiful.

Photography Note: Because I’ve weather-proofed the pieces with a spray coat of varathane, the side light in our garage cast some unwanted glare on a few of these in my feature photo, especially on the second one from the left. I tried, unsuccessfully to remove the glare in post editing, so decided to leave the photo “as shot”.

My three most recent ones without the glare

“Acrylics can be a forgiving medium. You can paint over mistakes and even make drawing corrections.”

Geri Keary