When you’re looking to add a little color in and around your home, walls and trim aren’t your only option. You can always go crazy with painting ideas for canvas art. Painting canvas can be less expensive and also offer you an easy way out if you grow weary of your creation. It also gives you a great way to express yourself. Try it one weekend night. Grab a glass of wine, an inexpensive canvas from your local craft store and get creative. We’ll help you with a few ideas we found online. Pinterest is a great source of inspiration if you don’t know what you want to try first. Just be warned, you could spend hours watching tutorials and all the pretty pictures on the social media site. Before it’s over, you might be pinning your own creations.
Painting Ideas for Canvas Art
Let’s get started with some painting ideas for canvas art. Here are a few of the more popular do it yourself projects that you can do in a weekend. The subject depends on your style and taste. You’re in control of every aspect of this project. From color choices to style, do what you want to do.
Groupings – A grouping of smaller canvas projects can really bring a big impact in a small space. This can be done with your own piece of original artwork, or you could find a grouping of reproduced artwork that work together. When working with painting ideas for canvas art, you can use a theme of colors or even shapes to tie the groupings together. For example, a young girl might like four canvases painted pink with gold accents. One canvas might have a solid background with the girl’s name written in gold, while another is a pink and gold chevron pattern, and so on. When hung together, the grouping makes sense and brings impact to the space.
Quote Canvas – Quote canvases are a big hit in just about any setting. Find a quote that fits you. It can be from your favorite author, or a scripture from the Bible, or an inspirational quote from a leader. Paint it, etch it, or sketch it onto the canvas with color and flare. You can paint or find smaller stickers to add to the quote to bring it to life.
Raised Texture in Painting Ideas for Canvas Art
Adding texture to your painting ideas for canvas art is easy and fun. And since it’s your style, you can make it funky and fun, or classy and contemporary.
Glue Art – Take your basic canvas and add some raised design by first painting a simple design using your basic school glue. When it dries, these painting ideas for canvas art can be painted to add dimension to the artwork. All it takes is a little extra time and little skill. You can free hand the drawing or you can use a sketch or stencil to help you achieve the design you want.
Floral Art – Here’s painting ideas for canvas art straight out of the Pinterest file. First, you find a collection of random and inexpensive artificial flowers. It doesn’t matter what color you choose because you’re about to alter that. Now, hot glue the flowers to your canvas in a pattern that you might enjoy. Take it outside and spray paint it an accent color to match your room. If you’re feeling snazzy, you can create an airbrush effect that bleeds from one color to another. Make sure you get the spray paint into every little detail for the greatest impact.
Decoupage – Decoupage is simply watered-down glue. You can make it at home or buy it at your local craft store. These painting ideas for canvas art are really at your discretion. We’ve seen it using doilies or other flat textures. It’s another way to bring your artwork to life with textures and colors.
Canvas Size in Painting Ideas for Canvas Art
Multiple Canvases – Much like the idea we used above, using multiple canvases can be used to show a bigger picture. If you’re looking for painting ideas for canvas art, try painting a large picture on several smaller canvases. Let’s take for an example, six 10 x 10 square canvases grouped together in three rows of two. You can paint a simple backdrop of a sun setting over a small hill in the distance with the silhouette of a large tree in the forefront of the picture. When you hang the set, leave a two-inch gap between each canvas for a broader impact.
Mixed Media – Using mixed media in painting ideas for canvas art is also very popular. Try using a hot glue gun to glue a rainbow of crayons at the bottom of your canvas. Flip the canvas upside down and grab your hair dryer. Yes, you read correctly, your hair dryer. Then begin to melt the crayons as they run down your canvas. Voila!
Contemporary or Messy?
A novice artist might want to try out a contemporary approach to their first painting ideas for canvas art projects. It’s messy. It’s random. But it can be beautiful.
Squirt Gun Painting – Using a watered down paint, fill a squirt or water gun with one color at time. Now, take your frustrations out. Picture your boss’s head in the middle of the canvas. You might want to take this project outside to an open area – far away from your furniture. Let the layers of colors dry in between so they don’t merge and lose their brilliance. This might be a fun project to get your small kids involved in.
Water Colors – Much like the squirt gun painting we just mentioned, these painting ideas for canvas art utilize watered down paints. These are multiple ways to make this time of medium work. Use brushes, droplets, or dips to achieve beautiful and natural designs.
Creating your own artwork can be a really rewarding outlet. If you’re good enough, your friends might ask you to teach them or even offer to buy it from you. When you’re ready for a change to your room, simply grab a blank canvas and begin again.
