DIY: How to Paint a Yard Statue
Put me to work on an art project, and I will be over the moon!
And that's exactly what my grandma did when I visited her with my family this summer. She had an old outdoor statue of Our Lady that was in desperate need of a facelift. I could tell this statue had once been stunning but was now in so much disrepair only the imagination could tell what it looked like before.
When I was asked to complete this project, I was thrilled, but absolutely at a loss as to where I should even start. I tried searching for how-to's but I wasn't finding exactly what I needed for this specific statue. The thing with this one is that it had previously been painted: most tutorials were for statues that had not been painted. I did however use this Wikihow article as a reference for most of the steps I took.
I did things a little differently though given my circumstances, so I'm going to share with you my method as well as the things I wish I had known to do, but no one told me... so that's what I'm here for!
Most of the tools and supplies I used were provided by my grandma, either things she bought or things just sitting in the garage. The only things I did buy were some of the paints I used for detailing and a pack of brushes from the art section in Walmart.
Step 1: Getting the Statue Clean and Ready
First thing I wish I had done: Sand the Statue
Our Lady was in very sad shape from being exposed to the midwest weather, so the previous paint job was peeling, faded, and almost unrecognizable.
However, there was enough paint left that, had I had more time, I should've removed because, in the end, there were some places where the old cracks showed through the new coat. So if your statue has already been painted, don't take shortcuts!!
The first thing I did do was scrub down the statue with water.
The article I referenced earlier recommended putting the statue in a bucket...that was not happening. XD This statue was heavy... so my solution was to put it in a position on the driveway where I knew running water wouldn't be an issue. I filled a bucket with clean water, dumped a bit over her just to rinse her off and get her mostly wet, then I took a wooden brush and scrubbed her down as best I could. A lot of old paint chips came off, but again, it really wasn't enough to do the job properly. In a pinch, however, and if you don't mind having another big project sooner than later, it works.
After a thorough scrubbing, I let her dry in the sun, but I wasn't concerned with letting her dry completely because apparently paint will stick better to concrete statues if they're a bit wet...? It did work for my project, however I'm not sure how true that statement is so don't quote me on that. 0:-)
Step 2: Painting the Base Coat
Looking at the statue, it's honestly hard to tell what color it was in the past... however my grandma and I are pretty sure she was mostly white since we're convinced the image is that of Our Lady of Lourdes. The base was obviously black, but to make my life easier I decided to start off by painting the entirety of the statue with a white base coat. For this, I used a spray can of white primer, it may have been this one just in an older can. This was one of the things my grandma had already purchased for the project and I didn't happen to get a picture of the can itself, although you can kind of see it in some of the others I took.
Here you can see it's already looking 100 times better, but it would've looked 1000 times better if I had sanded it down. The first coat I let dry for about 25 minutes as recommended on the can of paint, and the second coat I let dry for 24 hours before I added any details. I did not let it dry before I had to move her into the garage due to an unexpected rain storm.. so I would definitely check the weather before you start a project that requires something to sit outside for an extended period of time. Thankfully the paint was dry enough at that point that there wasn't any damage to the appearance.
Step 3: Painting the Details.
My grandma's initial idea was to paint the base black and the rest of the statue white with some blue accents, but in the end, I finished it off with more details.
For this step, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have the right brushes. Unfortunately, my entire stash was states away at home, and I thought, it shouldn't be too hard to make do, right? If you plan on doing any fine detailing, you have to guarantee that the brushes are up for the job!! I think I ended up using a couple makeup brushes that my grandma had mixed in with her regular paint brushes.. all in all they worked, but the smaller details could have been better.
For the paint itself, my grandma didn't want to spend too much money, so we went with the 58￠bottles from Walmart, and they did a pretty good job.
Most of them were a matte finish since I didn't really want the base of the statue to stand out too much, the blue was another item my grandma had already purchased. It honestly didn't differ from the others too much, even though it was the only gloss finish.
Again, looking at the picture above, it was a little difficult to discern what colors were originally used. The base seemed to be black and had a brown vine with green leaves. Our Lady may have been all white excluding the blue detail, but we decided to paint her with a skin tone. The rosary, sash, and dress collar we decided should all be blue. The traditional image of Our Lady of Lourdes has yellow roses on her feet: these appeared to be red, so I decided to just repaint them the way they were. It was super hard to tell unless you're looking up close, but there's an outline of a cross attached to the rosary (as it should be) so I decided to make that brown as well.
And here's the finished product!
I'm mostly happy with how it turned out, there are definitely a couple things I wish I had done better. Aside from the base coat already cracking due to old paint underneath, there were details that could have been much neater had I bought the proper paint brushes.
Even that alone would be absolutely stunning on your front porch.
Step 4: Finish it Off
I myself didn't actually make it to this step since I ran out of vacation time. Once all the paint, including details, dried for 24 hours, my grandma applied a clear coat finish. I believe it was a matte finish, but if you'd prefer a shiny look you could definitely use a gloss finish over the whole thing.
And that's it!
I usually overthink every project I attempt, and this one was no different, but it turned out to be very simple.
Some tips for you!
- If it's sunny, make sure to wear sunglasses you don't care about if they get ruined. I made the mistake of wearing my brand new pair, and now they have speckles of white spray paint. Oops.
- Allow at least 3 days of good weather for this project because you don't want anything raining on your parade. Literally. :)
- Just because something is more expensive doesn't mean it's a better quality option. Don't waste your money at craft stores or on name brands when Walmart products will do the job.
- Don't be afraid to go for it! It's just paint, mistakes can be fixed. Don't let your fear hold you back from a job well done.
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