Making Your Own Art

I loved this wall in my Venice house. The Mick picture is ripped out of an old Rolling Stone Magazine and the Mountains was commissioned by my dear friend @thisisodessa. I pinned a roll of kid’s Art Paper from Ikea up wall to wall and told her to bring her pen and pencils over. We got to talking about life so she never did finish it, which might make me love it more.

This shot is from an interior design project – A Leanne Ford special! 😉 just kidding, believe me I am NOT an artist. But why not try?! I bought the largest canvas at the craft store along with a bunch of white, creme, and brown paint and put some old country music on in the garage! I wanted to make the canvas look like the wall it was going to be on! My plan was to add more to it after this layer dried, but I never did get around to that… Oh well, nothing wrong with simple!

This ones a little wild, even for me. We had a LOT of wall to fill and not a lot of art handy at this Upstate New York home. Since we were in the woods and far away from most humanity, we had to get Creative. I had brought an old Atlas book with me and had noticed how great the colors were on some of the pages. So… blasphemy… I know… I ripped them out and hung them right up on that wall. I don’t feel bad though, those pages found new life! Don’t forget, magazine pictures and book pages are instant and affordable Art. And the rest of the book is still on the shelf like it was before. Just a little bit skinnier. // Shot by @reidrolls

I love this one. My clients had a Neil Young (my favorite!!) quote that means a lot to them. So 1. I typed it up on the ol’ Typewriter 2. I took it to staples to blow up as large as they could then 3. I got it professionally framed. The room is clean and white and simple and beautiful and we wanted meaningful art that complimented the space. “I never believed in much, but I believed in you.” -Neil Young // #LeanneFordInteriors shot by @franewreck

Frame anything. I ripped this New Yorker Cartoon out of a friend’s calendar ten years ago when I moved from New York to Nashville. It’s still my favorite. I use Floating Frames a ton from the Craft Store, it’s the best for random shapes and edges. “Sometimes I wish you had taken that job in New York.” Hey, It’s ALL art. // Shot by @jacelumley for @gq

Wild One for you during my self imposed Art week! I’ve had this canvas for years. I bought it to try to use as a rug, which (no joke) I saw at a renaissance fair once. But that didn’t really work so well when you live in the woods… Then one day I saw it sitting in the basement just waiting for new life, so I took it right upstairs and nailed it to the wall. I called a great friend and one of my favorite Artists @audgeco and asked her to come over. She does amazing charcoal drawing and I gave her free reign. And look how it turned out! I really love it so much. Nothing much better than Custom Art made just for me. Under the mountains she wrote, “…forever wandering … in my soul… the quiet grounds me… love always.” It’s perfect, Alex. // Shot by @heredwelling

My clients sweet daughter, Jo and I made this Spin Art To surprise them for the reveal of their interior design project for HGTV. I bought the spin art toy and picked up some Black Paint. We did a ton of them and they were all so beautiful, but I loved the simplicity of this one! Then back to Staples to blow it up! We actually spray mounted it on wood then repainted the black and the white spaces on there to make it feel more like a work of art! I love how it “turned” out! Get it?! Turned out…