DIY High End Art on a Budget

Make Your Own High End Art

I’m not sure when this image was burned into my brain… but it’s been in residence for a while. It’s a lovely, simple graphic piece of art by Rebecca Atwood hanging in Emily Henderson’s family room and one of those things that I was confident I could, erm… recreate.

This falls into a category that I *should* call, under an hour DIY. So simple. So fun. So close to the original! (If I do say so myself…) Full materials list at the end of the post. See my other DIY wall art HERE.

Step 1. Give Canvas a Base Coat

Give your canvas a coat of paint. The white of the raw canvas is SO bright, that I wanted to take that down a notch. I used a combo of all the white paints I had in my stash and then VERY quickly brushed in some grays and some blues. Leave to dry.

Step 2. Create Your Stencil

Cut your round sponge in half.  I run my sponge under water and then squeeze out really well… the slightly damp sponge helps accept the paint a bit more easily.

Step 3. Tape of Frame

Tape off the edges of the canvas. I measured a 2-inch border and taped off with painter’s tape.

Step 4. Stamp

Start stamping! I loved the free-hand vibe of the one hanging in Emily’s house. I used paper trays to hold my paint. I squirted two or three colors onto my tray and then mottled/ mixed as I moved across the canvas. I loved the variegated mixed appearance of the Atwood piece so I was pretty liberal with my paint colors!

I didn’t worry about lining up my semi-circles and tried to shift them a bit with each row to get that organic look I wanted.

Step 5. Add a frame

The frame is what makes this stamped canvas look more high end and legit in my opinion! I used a 1×2 laid flat against the frame of the canvas.  l mitered the corners so they would meet up cleanly. With my brad nailer I attached them right onto the canvas.

Step 6. Hanging Hardware

I drilled two screws in place on either side of the canvas and then wrapped picture wire around either one.

Materials

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• Canvas
• Paint (I used pink, dark blue, aqua, light-ish blue, and lighter blue for the stamp colors.)
• Round sponge
• Painter’s Tape
• 1×2 common board
• Brad nails