Transforming a Vintage Wallet with Paint

Transforming a vintage wallet with paint.


I purchased this vintage wallet online, and, of course, I wanted to paint, and restore it.


I have been drawing and painting women from online photos lately.


As stated before, I am unable to draw images to look exactly like the photo.


Instead, I take liberties, and make the drawings my own.


I scrolled through a bunch of photos, and found one that I thought would not be too difficult to draw.


Transforming a Vintage Wallet with Paint - The Process


I started by painting the front of the wallet pink.


I then drew an image of the woman on the wallet.


It is much easier to draw on a piece of paper, than on a leather surface, but I struggled through it because I must have an outline to paint from.


I always look forward to choosing a hairstyle, and this time I chose to style the hair in two high buns.


I paInted the outline of the buns, and painted the dress turquoise.


Next, I painted the buns in their entirety, and created a cutout design to partially expose the abs in the dress because this is how the photo looked.


I then completed painting the hair, and added tendrils, along with a pair of circular, silver earrings.


Next, I painted silver bracelets, and necklaces.


Last, I added strappy silver sandals.


For reference, the hairstyle in the original photo, and the color of the dress were totally different than what I painted.


The model in the original photo was also not wearing silver earrings, bracelets, or necklaces.


The silver strappy sandals were also not in the original photo.


I added these acccessories to create more "bling" (pizzazz) to the painted image.


The inside of the wallet has not yet been painted.


brick1.jpegThe front of the wallet in its original state.
folderwalletplain.jpegThe inside of the wallet, which has not yet been painted.
brick2.jpegThe front of the wallet after being painted pink,, and drawing a sketch on it.
brick3.jpegThe front of the wallet with a painted outline of the high buns, and a painted turquoise dress.
brick4.jpegThe front of the wallet with the buns fully painted. The dress has been painted to include a cut out.
brick6.jpegThe front of the wallet with the painted tendrils, and silver earrings.
brick7.jpegThe front of the wallet, with the painted silver necklaces, and bracelets.
brick10.jpegThe front of the wallet, with the painted silver sandal straps.
brick9.jpegThe front of the wallet, with the face painted on the woman.

Transforming a Vintage Wallet With Paint - Making a Small Change

When I initially painted the straps on the sandals, I thought that the straps made her legs look a little bigger than I wanted them to look.


Nevertheless, I decided to leave the image as I had painted it.


It is now a week later, and in viewing the image again, I determined to paint over the silver straps.


I made the straps stop at the ankle, and I like the image a lot better.


Even when I think I am "finished" with a project, I continue to study it for any additions, or take aways.


Each piece of work is always in progress.

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brickhousesitesell.jpegThe front of the wallet with the scrappy sandals changed to one strap around the ankles.

Transforming a Vintage Wallet with Paint - My Work

To see more of my work, please visit me on Instagram, or Etsy.