Amateur DIY Art

Amateur DIY Art

This painting is the most recent addition to our dining room:

 

I painted it myself!

 

I’ve always had a thing for “black and white” art.  You’ll see a lot of this on my Pinterest boards:

Via

 

When I saw this awesome wall art below featured in House Beautiful I knew it was perfect for our dining room.  BUT each one is over $300, and I would need to purchase two…

Via

 

So I thought, “HOLD THE PHONE! I can TOTALLY paint that myself!”   And a new DIY project was born.

 

It doesn’t get easier than this DIY.

 

1) I purchased a piece of painter’s canvas from a local art store, (sort of like this).  I measured out a big area (to leave enough room for framing later) and had the guy cut it to size.  You can also purchase ready-made-already-stretched canvases like this.

2) I used black paint I had left over from our black lacquered banister.  I grabbed any old paint brush.

3) I quickly made loopy loops on the canvas.  I just went for it.  No fear! 

 

For the frame, I WAS going to just have someone at Home Depot cut some molding for me so I could make a frame and then spray paint it, but then making the frame myself back at home seemed too complicated.  I am, after all, a “remedial DIYer”.  I needed something simple.

I took my sad floppy canvas to Michael’s, and I just told the guy I wanted a frame.  Nothing else.

They were having a major sale on frames.  YES!  But only on the brown ones, and I wanted a black frame.  BOO!  Well, I thought, I’ll just buy the cheaper frame and spray paint it black.

(Victor, the guy at Michael’s was so nice he emailed to follow up)

 

Which is exactly what I did.

 

I was going to staple gun the canvas to the frame but then worried the frame was too fragile.  So I literally used DUCT TAPE AND THUMB TACKS.  It doesn’t get more “remedial DIY” than that, people!

Super modern art paired with weathered and traditional furniture.  Love!

Why DIY art is a good idea:

 

1)  This looks like a “REAL PAINTING”.  This is on a canvas, not some digital print on a piece of paper.  There is no glass over this canvas.  Authentic and unique.

2)  You can customize the size!  In my case this was fabulous.  I have an awkward space here – the ceiling is low and the teal console is high.  I have a super short area to deal with height-wise coupled with an extra wide space.

3)  One word – Cheap!

 

Any successful DIY art in your home?  Share any tips, please!