I am definitely a creator, but I am not what one would classify as an ‘artist’. I leave that for the professionals. But every once in a while, I feel like I need something fast and easy for my walls and today… I’m going to show you how you can paint abstract art and frame it yourself in just a few simple steps. Trust me, if I can do this, you can do this!
This is how it turned out. I took a chance on larger of three pieces hanging in our nursery and I just love how it pulls all the colours in the room together. I had so many questions about ‘where to buy’ the framed art in here that I figured I’d just admit that it’s all DIY! 😛
I wanted something that had a bit of an organic feel, but was playful and not too harsh. I also knew I wanted some sort of brush stroke art to offset the harder lines in the graphic pieces beside it.
So here’s how you do it. Start with a blank art canvas. Mine is 16×20 and I picked it up on sale. (I always stock up on basic supplies like this when I see them on sale for when inspiration strikes!)
Next was my colour scheme. I used quite a few for this painting –
- a navy
- three shades of teal – mint, aqua and turquoise
- white
- gold
- leaf green
I also had several craft brushes on hand ranging in size from 1.5 inches to 1/2 an inch.
Start with your base colour, which typically would be your anchor or darkest colour. In my case that was the navy blue. Just start creating longish brush strokes both vertically or horizontally until you have your base colour in all the different areas of your canvas. It’s okay to let your brush run out of paint.
Then move onto your next base colour, which in my case was my medium tone teal. Do the exact same thing, overlapping a bit with your first colour and letting the colours blend a bit – both on the brush and on the canvas.
I followed up with my vibrant teal, my super soft mint, and white. Just keep doing that with all of your colours until your canvas is full!
Then I let it totally dry before adding in my final accents of leaf green and gold.
Now for the frame. I picked up some basic poplar 1×2 crafting wood at The Home Depot for about $2 each. Then, with my Mitre Saw, I measured and cut 45 degree angles to fit around my canvas. (PS. I was sneaky and launched a YouTube Channel! haha I just did a video about power tools explaining each one and why you need them)
(I actually did this for all three of my canvases. The other two are simply adhesive vinyl I cut out with my Silhouette Cameo and stuck on using basic transfer paper.)
Then with 1.5″ brad nails I used my cordless nail gun to attach my frame pieces to my canvases.
Done!
Instead of spending hundreds on custom artwork, I ended up spending about $30 on all three of these pieces and they are easily switched down the line!
-E
xoox
Here are some other crafty projects you might like to try
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