MAKE: I've got the artist in me

In high school (OK, college.) I went through this phase where I kind of thought I was an artist.

I wasn't delusional enough to think I could paint portraits or free hand a landscape, but I somehow convinced myself that my ability to make cute signs for friends and master a craft from time to time meant that I was ready for a blank canvas.

I attempted to do a few landscapes, like the one below that I made for Duke when he graduated high school.

I'll take this moment to reveal just how great a brother Duke is: he hung on to that puppy even when my parents moved houses and we purged like only Bibers know how to purge.

Once I realized my tree wasn't exactly Cézanne (I just Googled a landscape artist, btw...), I tried to go abstract. I painted three oversized canvases - one with multicolor circles, one with stripes, and one all yellow. Although they weren't exactly perfect, they actually turned out really nicely. They added a nice pop of color to my walls and the misshapen circles and not-so-straight lines kind of looked intentional.

When I recently found that Real Simple actually suggested my college DIY as a lost cost decorating idea, I was over the moon. My project may not have been perfect in execution, but my artistic theory was right all along.