Friday 28 August 2015

Geometric DIY art

Using an old canvas and a little paint to make a new piece of geometric art is pretty simple and inexpensive. I had a few issues on the way and slightly overcomplicated mine. I'm sharing today so maybe you can learn from my mistakes!
easy DIY art with canvas, paint and masking tape
This post contains affiliate links, if you click through and make a purchase then the cost to you is the same but Sum of their Stories receives a small commission.

The pinterest challenge is back today, a group of creative folks sharing things they've made inspired by something they saw on pinterest. I wanted to make some art for our bedroom, had seen these two ideas on pinterest and thought the whole thing looked simple enough.
On the left is a beautiful metallic canvas from While they Snooze, it's made by painting then taping over an existing painting. On the right is some herringbone pastel loveliness from Laura Wadsworth, funnily enough Laura's piece was also part of a pinterest challenge! She used a new white canvas, taped a design and then splodge painted all over it.

I started with a rather unattractive canvas that I picked up from a major supermarket for £4. I haven't photographed it as it was as I thought it might be a little bit insulting to the original artist and also to anyone else who has chosen to buy this for their home. It was quite a wishy washy picture with brown and cream tones and that's all I'm prepared to say!
I painted over it with some gold spray paint I had left over from my various gold spray paint projects. (here, here and here) I also splodged on some regular cream and white emulsion and left some bits of the canvas original picture showing too.
When that was dry I taped out a geometric design with decorators tape.
As you can see I went for more of a triangle design than the herringbone in the pinterest inspiration tutorials. I just googled "geometric designs" and then picked one that looked fairly simple to mark out.

Then I stopped and realised I wasn't doing this art quite the same as either of the pinned inspirations.
To use the same method as While they Snooze I should have taped off the triangles, then I could paint over in white to form the lines.
To use the same method as Laura Wadsworth I should have painted the whole canvas white to start with, then taped off, then splodged the gold etc on.

I felt I was past the point of no return with this so I soldiered on and tried to find a way to make this work.
I used my trusty air disappearing pen, the one I use for marking embroidery designs (herehere and here) and marked the decorators tape a little at a time, removed the tape, then painted in between the lines with a small paintbrush and white emulsion paint.
The white paint needed two coats, and this is my finished result.
Geometric canvas tutorial
I like it enough to have it hanging on the wall but I don't LOVE it as much as I'd hoped I would. Either the lines are just too thick or the canvas is just not quite big enough. 
I might try again at a future point with another variation on this idea, I'm keeping my eyes open in Charity Shops for a suitable canvas. For now art hangs where previously there was just plain wall so that's an improvement!
Don't forget to visit the other Pinterest Challengers for this months crafty inspiration.



You might also be interested in:
Simple Cross Stitch Mural
Simple Cross Stitch Mural
Papercut Quotes
Papercut quotes
Share a Coke With Picture
Share a Coke With Picture
Wall of Wisdom
Wall of Wisdom
I'll be linking up this project at all these lovely link parties, pop over for a look at loads of projects from other blogs.
Sum of their Stories
Sum of their Stories

Hello, I'm Julie. I love making things and this is where I share my enthusiasm.

35 comments:

  1. Very creative, Julia. I was just wondering whether masking tape is the same as decorators? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Agy, yes masking tape is another name for what I used. As far as I'm aware they are pretty much the same thing - unless someone knows differently! Just a tape that you can peel away again without damaging what's underneath.

      Delete
  2. Haha, I totally would have done the tape backwards too! It turned out great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd definitely gotten so far into the project that I couldn't give up - clumsy but effective solution I think.

      Delete
  3. I just love this!! The color palette is absolutely fantastic :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, It goes perfectly in our bedroom and the more I look at it the more I like it, which is good.

      Delete
  4. Oh my goodness! This is so pretty! Thanks for sharing at My Flagstaff Home!

    Jennifer

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm smitten with all things gold. This is really pretty & an easy diy. Pinned & shared. Thanks for joining the party. Theresa @DearCreatives

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am a bit dangerous with my cans of gold spray paint these days. If anything is still for too long it's in danger of a quick spray!

      Delete
  6. Love the looks of these canvases to sort of upcycle is a great idea. You made me laugh about the tape as the sort of thing I would have done.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This looks so effective! Pinterest is such a treasure trove for inspiration! Having moved house just over a month ago, our walls are looking a bit bare so it would be great to have a go at something like this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We still have a quite a few bare walls so I'm gradually finding or making things to put up. Does make me wonder what we had on the walls at the old house though - I'm sure they were far from bare!
      This was dead easy and you are so super arty I'm sure you could put a clever twist on it and make something fab!

      Delete
  8. Ooo I love the idea of a Pinterest challenge!!
    Really love your Fab piece of artwork!! Week done honey xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jenny, it's nice to actually try things as well as pin them! You'd be welcome to join, I'll message you the details.

      Delete
  9. Well not week! Sorry terrible predictive text!! Xx

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the metallic look to it and the irregular iridescent splotches add interest. I am always on the lookout for DIY wall inspiration as my walls are so blank. If I were to attempt something like this, I would recommend frog tape if you were going to do a resist style technique. I get it at lowe's and it's like the masking tape, but the edging is noticeably smoother. I know you did a different technique and I think it looks beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the tip about the tape, I was just using what I had to hand but I do agree it's worth getting good stuff if you want a really good finish.
      One of my gold spray cans was more iridescent that the other and the random effect of using both turned out better than I expected.

      Delete
  11. Totally sounds like something I would do lol. Either way the finished product is beautiful. I love how its splotchy and metallic at the same time!!! And I think for free-handing your lines are pretty darn crisp!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Amanda, well as long as no one peers too closely I think it's ok!

      Delete
  12. Great project, although sorry to hear it's not quite the result you were hoping for, I think we all have projects like that!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. How pretty! This is very creative and I think it turned out great! I have a lot of trial and error projects I learn from. Thanks for sharing on Snickerdoodle Sunday. Pinned and Tweeted.

    ReplyDelete
  14. this turned out great in my opinion! very creative DIY art idea!

    ReplyDelete
  15. This looks awesome! I just bought a new house and am needing some decor. I've been wanting to make some myself. This is a great idea!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a whole board on pinterest dedicated to DIY art idea, there is such a lot of great inspiration out there. Good luck with your project if you decide to have a go.

      Delete
  16. Awesome post! I would love to invite you to my new link party The Beautifully Creative Inspired. The party launched today and will continue every Fridays at 9AM eastern time on 5 BLOGS! It runs until Wednesday night :D Hope you can party with us!

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a great idea!! Now I want to go thrifting and see what I can find, haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our local Charity shops are packed with old canvases so it's a really affordable idea to try. I'm going to paint my next one white though so I have a blank canvas to start I think, see how that works out.

      Delete
  18. Julie, I LOVE how your artwork turned out! I've seen these diy ideas on Pinterest & other blogs, but I've yet to try it for myself. But I really want to after seeing yours! Thanks for sharing with Creative Spark. I'm featuring your art at this week's party. Hope you'll join us again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How lovely, thanks Emily. I'm very honoured and I'll definitely be stopping by again this week.

      Delete
  19. I think your painting came out great :-) And good for you for painting on all the white lines - I'm sure it wasn't easy! Even if you don't love it, you should still be proud that you created your very own piece of art. I'm going to keep my eyes open for old canvases at yard sales and give this a try - thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awh, thanks! It's growing on me the longer it hangs there and it IS better than a blank wall. It really wasn't difficult and there are so many different variations on the idea out there I'm sure you could whip up something fab in no time.

      Delete
  20. Guess what! I loved this post so much that I chose it to be featured for this week's The Beautifully Creative Inspired Link Party. :) Go grab a button you deserve it!

    ReplyDelete
  21. dont got spray paint would it still work

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Of course, you can paint your canvas with any paint you have, just keep it all splodgy and random if you want results similar to mine. The spray paint I had was the one that gave a nice metallic finish, but some one what I used was just ordinary household wall paint. - use what you have. I hope it goes well if you have a go.

      Delete

I love to hear your thoughts/comments, thank you for taking the time.