I made this as a simple carving about three years or so ago, to put up by the pond in the back garden. It kept falling down, and was starting to look very sad. So I decided to clean it up.

I sanded it down to remove most of the mud, and repainted the black background with a small roller to avoid getting paint into the carved out design.

Then I looked at the result and thought, “Boring. Needs more colour”, so got out the brushes and acrylics and went to work. A couple of things I learned on the way:

1. The mottled effect on the tentacles worked quite well (and it was deliberate, honest). I painted some white patches on the bare wood before over painting with green, and like the effect.
2. you can put big splotches of acrylic on to give a slightly 3D textured effect.

I do realise that both of these things are perfectly obvious to anybody who has painted before, but they were new to me. I do like the end result. I may be a slow learner, but I get there eventually.