Tranquil beaches and ocean views are much better-suited things to paint on a canvas for beginners who can find inspiration in coastal-themed artists like Robert Wyland. Here are the steps on how to draw an ocean scene:
13 Easy Things To Paint On Canvas: Ultimate Guide for Beginners
Canvas painting is gaining popularity as it allows you to set your creativity free and express yourself artistically. The blank canvas sheet invites beginners and master artists alike to reveal what they have inside and communicate their emotions to the world.
We present 13 things to paint on a canvas to help you train your hand at various painting techniques and gain mastery of canvas painting. Learn to create anything from serene sunsets to abstract designs, floral compositions and cosmic scenes. We’ll also delve into essential supplies, offer tips and techniques, and discuss the therapeutic benefits of art.
Let’s paint together!
Table of Contents
The Joy of Canvas Painting
An empty canvas gives you a chance to practice mindfulness and discover your innermost thoughts and feelings. Relax and enter Zen mode as you transform the canvas into a beautiful work of art with each brush stroke. In those moments of awareness, you’ll pour all your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and yourself onto the canvas, releasing stress and achieving harmony as you paint.
Numerous studies confirm what artists already know. Art helps to develop cognitive, emotional, and social skills, fostering empathy, trust, and social engagement. Canvas painting gives you a positive mindset, improving your health and well-being.
Essential Supplies for Canvas Painting
Besides creativity and passion, artists need a set of tools to help them transfer emotions onto the canvas. The essential list of art supplies includes:
- Canvas
- Acrylic/Oil Paints
- Paintbrushes
- Palette
- Easel
- Rags or Paper Towels
- Water Container
- Varnish
Every artist has a preferred brand of paints and brushes. If you’re a beginner looking for affordable yet quality options, try the Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Set 20x12ml. The color range is more than enough to turn the canvas painting ideas into reality. As for brushes, the Benicci 15-piece paintbrush set offers various sizes of no-shed brushes and a bonus paint knife.
FREE Video and PDF: 10 Abstract Painting Compositions
If you’ve ever wondered how to create an abstract painting composition, this video and pdf are for you!
Vlog
I began my painting career as a watercolor painter more than two decades ago. I loved it because of the way the water acts as a medium to let the paint flow onto, and be absorbed by, the paper. I eventually tired of the limited size of available paper and the need for framing and made the jump to painting in acrylics on canvas – thus retaining a water based medium, but on a larger substrate.
The major difference of course is that canvas is typically covered with a primer called gesso. The gesso seals the canvas and allows the paint to sit on top of it without absorbing into the canvas. I recently discovered that painting on raw canvas – canvas without gesso on the surface – can be much like watercolor painting. Without gesso, canvas is just cotton or linen fabric that is usually between 7 and 12 ounces in weight and is very porous.
I decided to buy some raw canvas to see what effects I could achieve. The painting above, “Calypso 2” is painted on raw canvas. You can see the soft color transitions and watery look and feel. To create these effects you have to use LOTS of water. I spray the canvas with water before painting, dip my brushes into water and continually spray the canvas during the painting process to get the paint to flow over the fairly rough fabric surface. My reward, much like watercolor painting, is this soft flow of color. It is a fairly difficult technique and I am just beginning to experiment with it, but I like the possibilities that I see thus far. I also like the contrast that you can obtain between paint applied thinly with lots of water and thick, creamy paint applied with little to no water. This contrast is particularly effective to highlight the center of interest as I have done in the painting above.
I will keep using this technique and experimenting with it to see where it leads and may do additional posts to describe the journey. You can Click Here to view a video of me painting the piece shown above.
