My pseudo-nephew Hank turned 30 this month, and I wanted to create a special picture for him, despite my limited talent as an artist.  Hank is a bicyclist, and I thought a bike wheel with 30 spokes should be my inspiration.

I decided to try a bold and crisp graphic design of an orange wheel on a dark blue background.  My crapsmanship led me to a mis-shaped wheel with about as much crispness as a month old head of lettuce.

Since I wasn’t pleased with this iteration, I consulted Hank’s mother, who is a much-more-artsy-than-I friend.  She suggested we “embrace the blur” and add some other elements to turn this into a one-of-a-kind gift.

She painted pipe cleaners and used them to stamp the inside and outside of the tire, and then she added contrasting colors with artist crayons.  Looks better already!

We used an old toy truck to roll “bike tracks” over the canvas.  I also stamped 3 blocks of color and ModPodged cut-outs from a U.S. map of the three cities Hank has lived in.  

I then cut out the words from a magazine and glued them onto a strip of washi tape to create the phrase “Life is a beautiful ride.”  

Next, I glue several bars from “Born to Be Wild” to the bottom edge of the canvas.  No one can see this, but I thought Hank would appreciate the sentiment!

Finally, I applied gloss ModPodge to the entire picture to make sure the elements were well-stuck and to give it a uniform sheen.

I gave Hank an easel to accompany the picture, and he now has it displayed in a cabinet at his house.

And that, my friends, is how to turn crapsmanship into gold!