How to Create Your Own Canvas Wall Art

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How to Create Your Own Canvas Wall Art

Rachael Weiner · Jan 25, 2011

Just because you’re not an artist doesn’t mean you can’t create your own canvas wall art. If you can hold a paintbrush, you can make something interesting to hang on your wall. After all, who wants to decorate their apartment with only unsophisticated printed posters? Handmade canvas wall art adds a unique touch to any room. Here are some ideas.

Solid Colors Go a Long Way

The simplest kind of canvas wall art to create is the solid colored canvas. You can go about creating your wall art in several ways: purchase a large canvas or several smaller ones. From there, choose colors that coordinate with your room. Take cues from the colors in your room accessories (like accent rugs and pillows). A large bold red canvas, for instance, will make a statement when hung over your sofa—assuming red is a color used throughout the room.

You can also paint several smaller canvases all the same color and hang them in a quadrant. Want to be more creative? Paint the canvases each a different shade of one color or four completely different colors. This technique is the easiest way to add a little bit of visual interest to a room. Use quick-drying acrylic paint instead of oil paint for simplicity purposes.

Shapes and Stamps Add Quirk

Again, you don’t have to be an advanced artist to create wall art worthy of hanging in your apartment. Making shaped stamps out of sponges allows you to create quirky wall art. You can also buy large stamps in the craft store to use if making your own out of sponges doesn’t sound appealing.

Pick a color scheme that fits with your room. Paint your canvas in one color and then choose a different color for dipping the stamps. You can stamp the canvas abstractly or create very orderly art with an exact number of stamped images in a row. How you choose to do it is up to you! The result will be a modern piece of artwork with a little bit of personality. Using acrylic paint is best for this kind of technique.

Combine Texture and Color

Using choppy brush strokes or a different tool to apply paint to your canvas, like a leaf, sponge or small towel, apply various paint colors abstractly. The idea is to create a piece of art that really shows the texture of the tool you’re using to apply the paint—bumps and globs are a good thing. In adding texture, also incorporate more than one color. After you’ve done one layer in a solid color with your tool, go over it in various places with a new color. Keep adding colors and layers until you get the look you were going for. This type of technique might be better suited for oil paints, but you can do it with acrylics as well.

Creating canvas wall art should be fun. These are only a few ideas. Try not to get frustrated if you don’t like the result. You can always paint over whatever you create!

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Rachael Weiner: I’m a communications professional for a non-profit, which financially necessitates my status as an apartment dweller. Constantly “on-the-go,” I’ve resided in five different apartments across the United States over the past five years. Roommate issues, budgeting, organizing and handling problem neighbors are my specialty.

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