DIY Abstract Canvas Painting

sofa | lumbar pillows | square pillows

I’ve been looking for a piece of large-scale art for above our sofa and haven’t had any luck at a reasonable price. My home is very neutral, and I wanted something abstract that was also neutral. When I couldn’t seem to find what I wanted, I decided to take matters into my own hands and attempted making the art myself.

This was one of the easier DIY projects I’ve done, and people are always impressed at how good of a “painter” I am when they see it, but I honestly think anyone can do this! For real, you can just keep painting and painting until you get it how you like it. Art is pretty personal and if YOU like the piece hanging on your wall, then that’s all that matters!

If you’re having trouble getting started with a theme or colors, try searching around online for art you do like and use it as inspiration! I am obsessed with Carol Benson-Cobb’s work, and channeled her paintings as inspiration.

As a side note: I also think this could be a really fun project to do with a significant other or as a girl’s night in! The hostess can get the paints and everyone brings their own canvas & a bottle of wine!

Materials:

• Canvas (any size you want)
• Gesso (if you’re painting over an existing painting)
• Heavy Body Acrylic Paints (various colors)
• Acrylic Paint Brushes

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Directions:

1. Get your canvas. Figure out what size canvas you want and then go on the hunt, you might also already have a canvas in your home you want to paint over! I wanted a large-scale piece, mine is 60″ x 40″. I found a few options to order blank canvases online (like this one for $110), but then decided to hunt at HomeGoods to see if I could find a FRAMED one for cheaper. It didn’t take much hunting, (there are a lot of good HomeGoods in my area) and I found an exact 60″ x 40″ framed canvas on clearance for $80! It had some pre-printed art on it, so I didn’t feel bad about painting over it. I got a cheaper canvas and it was framed, amazing! Word to the wise: make sure your canvas will fit in your car before you purchase it! Mine JUST fit in.
2. Pick out your paints. I collected all of my paints & brushes at A.C. Moore (Michael’s is another good option) I like these two craft stores because they always have coupons and promos going on, so they’re often cheaper…I got all of my paints for buy one, get one 50% off, plus an extra coupon for 40% off, always check online for extra coupons when you go to the register! I liked being able to pick out my paints in person to see the actual colors, but you can also order them all online on Amazon, and they’re actually really good prices. If you’re painting OVER other work, make sure you also get Gesso that you’ll use to cover the existing paint and make a new white canvas with. I got the white 4 oz size and it worked perfectly. I got Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic paints for my colors, I know nothing about the different brands, I just knew I wanted heavy body and Liquitex was on sale, I got the 2 oz size for each and have more than plenty leftover. The exact colors I used were: Unbleached Titanium, Parchment, Raw Umber, Neutral Gray 5, and Titanium White (2).
3. Make sure you have brushes. I actually had a few brushes I could use, but if you don’t already have some, they’re really cheap at the craft store. My canvas was large so I wanted large strokes, I used 3 different sized flat brushes for all of the painting I did, the exact set I used is this. Again, I’m not a painter so I know nothing about brushes, I just imagined the look I was going for and used the brushes that I think would achieve it best (and they are for acrylic paints).
4. Make sure your canvas is blank. If you’re painting over an existing piece of artwork, just paint right over it with the Gesso like you would with painting a wall. It doesn’t need to be perfect, you’ll paint over this anyways. I used my 3″ flat brush for this. If your canvas is already framed like mine was, just do the edges very carefully, or if you have the patience, tape it off…I do not. Let it dry completely. If you are using a blank canvas you can skip this step!
5. Start painting! Again, this is where you can get creative and if you’re doing abstract painting like I did, you can’t really mess up! If you feel like you did, just paint right over it. I don’t have any training in color or composition when it comes to art, so I can’t really give you any tips on that part, I just painted what looked good to me. I did a lot of blending of all the different colors and just experimented! I kept all of my strokes going either completely vertical or completely horizontal. This step only took me about 30 minutes until I decided I was happy with it. Again, if you decide it’s missing something you can always go back and add or change something even after it dries!
6. Hang it up on your wall and be proud of the personal piece of art you made, you are an artist!

-SHOP THE POST-