An Easy DIY Abstract in Muted Colors - Tutorial with Step by Step Photos

By now, you know I love painting.  I find it relaxing and it's a fabulous creative outlet for me, even if I am occasionally unhappy with the results.  Plus, with our small budget, right now I can't afford the giant paintings that make me happy, so creating my own art is a way to help make colourful canvases accessible.  To help you create your own piece of DIY "art," I have created quite a few DIY art tutorials, which you can see in my DIY Project Gallery. 

A lot of readers write in or comment, telling me they would love to try their hand at creating a painting for their space, but are worried about making a mistake or hating the result.  I always say: "just try it!"  Acrylic paint is wonderfully forgiving and painting over another painting can add depth and dimension.  I'm no stranger to a "round two" when it comes to DIY paintings.  So relax, enjoy the process and, if you really don't like, paint over it!  In this post you can see how I made over a painting I didn't like.

Remember the triangle painting I shamelessly copied?  It no longer looks the same!  Catch the step by step photos I took while I turned this disappointing art into a pretty abstract I like much better:

Don't be afraid to flip your finished painting upside down or sideways once it's done:

A pretty painting is doable, I promise.

DIY Abstract Tutorial with Step by Step Photos + Instructions

You might have guessed, I really enjoy painting.  One day, in high school art class - which I cannot believe was 10 years ago - I was working with such vim and vigor on a painting (the black tree in the office, actually) that in addition to getting paint in my hair, on my glasses, on my school uniform and up my nose, I totally demolished the delicate watercolour of the girl next to me with my crazy over spray of paint.  I thought "good artists" painted with "flair" (which to 18 year old me meant flailing arms).  After the "incident" I was sent to paint alone in a small, windowless supply room, where I splashed around and got 98% for my final mark (high marks for enthusiasm, plus Handy Hubby - who was Buildy Boyfriend then - made custom stretchers and frames for all of my work). 

I highly recommend painting as stress relief and a creative outlet, but a lot of readers have expressed some hesitation about getting started.  I think once you get started, you'll quickly and easily develop your own style and compose a beautiful abstract without even thinking about it!

To get you started, here's a look at how a recent painting I made involved.  Hopefully these step by step photos will inspire you to pick up a brush!

How to make an abstract painting:

To achieve a loose, drippy look, I started with a dry brush and acrylic paint and then used a plant mister filled with water to spray the paint after I applied it to the canvas.  It gave me more control than a wet brush and kept things looking kind of light and watery.

Then I just kept working at it, applying paint where I saw fit.  (And trying not to douse the whole room in paint.)  Here are a few full size photos from the progress collage:

As a last step, I added some black and white paint in sharper lines to contrast the softness.  

It was an experiment and - most important - a ton of fun!

Don't worry if you don't like your result - it is easy to paint over acrylic paint.  Remember how I tweaked the bedroom triptych and then totally fell in love with version 2?  I also reworked this geographic painting (details soon). 

If you're really worried about creating something worthy of your walls, here's my tip: I think even the simplest painting looks good in a large scale, like the giant drippy piece on the left:

The Apartment Via

The Apartment Via

Try a DIY painting - you won't be disappointed!

P.S. This abstract art tutorial was featured by Domino & In Style!

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My Expedit Hack Paintings - Close Up

Lovely readers have asked for close-up photos of the paintings I made for the Artful Ikea Expedit Hack, so I tried my best.  Take a look, as long as you remember three things:

a. Taking good photos of paintings is no easy feat.

b. I'm not sure I like all of these paintings.  You might see a switch-up in the months to come.

c. I'm not an artist.  I'm just a crafty gal who likes to smoosh paint around.

The How-to's:

Numbers 3 & 4

The chevron painted canvases are the same shade of turquoise but one is pale cream and the other a muted pink.  I'm feeling lukewarm about the colours but here's how, with Hubby's help, I taped off the canvases using a plastic triangle drafting tool as a guide:

The pattern lines up, but it also wraps around the sides so the paintings look nice hung side-by-side, or on their own.

Number 5

People often ask for a how-to for paintings (especially my yellow abstract) but unless it is something really rigid, like the Sigh painting, it is tricky because I really just move paint around.  And my mood really affects the product - I don't completely control the outcome so it is impossible to provide instructions . . . but I did try to chart the progress of painting #5 and maybe I can do an even better job next time:

And, speaking of artistic endeavours, Salvage Love (remember I featured Janine's awesome wood scrap art?) featured my framed bakelite brooches - click here to see the feature.  I love blog love.

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How I Paint: An Inevitable Rough Copy

Beatrice, of the lovely Crafty Bee, asked me if I have a tutorial for the painting I made for the main bath (click here for the original post):

Although I have been able to whip up tutorials for some paintings I have made, like The Sigh Painting and The Circles Painting, with other paintings I find it impossible to chronicle what I did because it happened accidentally.  I swooshed paint around and something interesting came of it.  But, not one to disappoint a blog friend, I'm going to try harder to document the process of painting.  But while I wait for the perfect tutorial to create itself, I thought I'd share a few glimpses into my process.

I almost aways need to create a rough copy.  I don't intend to do this, but it seems to take awhile for the creative juice to flow and for my hands to reacquaint themselves with a brush.  Take, for example, the original (unseen!) painting I made for the bathroom:

I liked parts of it so I attempted a second painting, aiming to create something only slightly different.  What I ended up with was more different than intended, but I liked the end result (which is rare for me). 

So my first tip is this: Don't try to make something for a space.  Allow yourself the luxury of "trial runs".  Play with the paint - experiment.  If you are finding canvases too expensive to play around with, use heavy artist's paper, or even cardboard, for experimentation.   



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