Looking for inspo so you can channel your inner Picasso? Here are some ideas for cute yet easy paintings you can do yourself with just a few supplies.
How to make a DIY canvas for your artwork
If you love to get crafty, consider creating your very own canvas using a TUPPLUR roller blind (you might even have an extra at home). It’s super simple and works just as well as a store-bought canvas.
HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
8 pieces of lumber (dimensions according to the size frame you want)
Hammer and nails
Heavy duty staple gun
TUPPLUR blackout roller blind
1. First create a simple wooden frame, making sure to reinforce the corners with smaller pieces.
2. Roll out your TUPPLUR blind and place the wooden frame on top. Cut the blind so that it is about 10 cm larger than the frame on all sides.
3. Fold the blind around the frame, pull tightly, and staple in place.
We love to see our customers get creative with our products. Go for it! But please note that altering or modifying IKEA products so they can no longer be re-sold or used for their original purpose, means the IKEA commercial guarantees and your right to return the products will be lost.
Made by
Interior designer: Saša Antić
Photographer: Andrea Papini
Writer: Vanessa Algotsson
Supplies
Brushes like this Super Value Brush Pack By Artist’s Loft (we won’t judge you for using old makeup brushes)
Pre-primed canvas, lightly sanded and wiped clean (if not primed, apply two coats of gesso primer)
Jar of clean water
Palette knives to help mix paints or can be used in place of a brush to apply paint to canvas
Spray bottle with water
Varnish to protect your work of art
Painter’s or washi tape
Colorful Cow
Check out The Art Sherpa, aka Cinnamon Cooney’s YouTube channel for step-by-step instructions on how to complete this Colorful Cow Painting. The cotton candy haired instructor has over half a million subscribers and 800 free and easy acrylic painting tutorial videos. The great thing about this channel is that you don’t have to be able to draw to paint. Just print out the free traceable provided and transfer to your canvas like so. She goes over everything, from which brush to use, to how to mix the colors, as well as techniques and methods. If you like this eccentric teacher, see her lessons for Easy Bubbles, Wine Glass and Pour, and her tutorials for painting with Q-tips.
Quote over Painting
If you don’t have a blank canvas, but you do have a painting you don’t really care for, try this cool Quote over Painting technique from A Beautiful Mess. This project also requires letter stickers and suggests spray paint instead of acrylic paints and a brush. Just pick the quote you want to use, cut out and lay out your letters, then stick them to the art piece and paint over. Let dry before carefully peeling off stickers.
STEP 3 Attach your print to the canvas
There are two ways you can go about this. Both have their pros and cons…
A) This is the “eye” method. Apply some diluted glue to your canvas then simply eye the placement of your prints. This is quick though can also be tricky and imprecise. The tissue paper is quite flimsy so tends to bow and wave and once you hit the glue it’s really difficult to re-position the paper if you happen to be off-center or crooked as it deteriorates quickly on contact with moisture.
B) This is the “dry run” method. Lay your prints in place on the canvas and hold them in position with some light weights (you can use anything which isn’t overly large and will keep the paper in place). Lift one edge of a print then coat the canvas beneath with some diluted glue before pressing the tissue paper back down. Remove the weight and adhere the remaining portion of the print. Repeat with the second portion of the image. This method is a tad more lengthy though affords greater precision.
Either way, attaching the prints is a somewhat messy and fiddly process. You just need to play around until you get a good feel for it…and you can not expect or aim for perfection! There will inevitably be some creases and bubbles, some rips and tears and probably some ink run. Simply press down any creases and bubbles with your fingers until they ‘meld’ into the canvas and try to embrace imperfections as enhancing the vintage feel of the artwork. I love them!
Note: I tried using both neat and diluted glue. I found that a ratio of around 70 glue/30 water worked well. Neat glue can cause extra creases and is just harder to work with in general. Watery glue can over-saturate things causing the paper to tear easily and the ink to smear which adversely effects the crispness of the print.
Once the print is fully attached to the face of the canvas, fold down any over-hang and adhere it to the sides of the canvas. Don’t worry about the obvious line where the print ends. We’ll deal with that in the following step.
Note: You could try lightly spraying your tissue paper prints with some clear sealer prior to attaching them to the canvas. This should help seal the ink and prevent the possibility of excess smearing.
STEP 4 Sand the edges
Once the glue is completely dry, sand the edges of the canvas to soften any obvious lines where the print ends and to create the impression of some wear.
If you find it difficult you can dampen the tissue paper with some water. Don’t worry about leaving remnants of the print behind – you actually want some residue to provide a bit of character (genuine paintings on canvas often have paint around the edges).
You can sand as lightly or heavily as you like. I even chose to distress the corners of the canvas fabric itself.
Doesn’t it look like a genuine old painting?
I know this worn style isn’t for everyone though I’m sure those of us who find it appealing can appreciate it.
You may even want to sand some areas of the face of the canvas to create an even more aged feel.
STEP 5 Done!
I am SO in love with the way this turned out!
Here are close-ups of the actual finished pieces…
The resulting artworks are quaint, and charming, and unpretentious, and just feel good. And they cost under $10 each!
I especially love the way the canvas texture peeks through the tissue paper.
I tried to get a shot of the join though it’s so inconspicuous you can barely make it out.
Of course, this project is not intended to produce flawless looking results. There will likely be some wrinkles in the tissue paper, little white canvas patches here and there, perhaps some black printer ink residue, and, of course, a join line where the prints meet. Remember, these “faults” are all intentional, working together to bolster the vintage feel this technique is designed to produce. I like to imagine these canvases have been stored in an artist’s shed for years and years, their imperfections a testament to their old age.
I hope you like them and it helps inspire you. I know I’m feeling slightly addicted!
