Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 212 Comments

Making Acrylic Art

It’s Tuesday the 10th… so it’s time to share this season’s (completely unofficial) Pinterest Challenge (not sponsored by Pinterest or anyone else, just dreamed up by Katie to make us stop pinning and start doing). Cue the choir of glue-gun-wielding angels!

Pinterest Challenge Banner

I actually tried my hand at painting, just because I thought it would be fun to get back into. Other than this painting that I did a while back, I haven’t painted much beyond walls, accessories, and furniture for the last decade or so. Are my Pinterest challenge paintings going to land me an art opening anytime soon? Not on your life. Haha. But it was so much fun and I found spots for them all over the house – and I really do smile when I see them. The best part is that I got to spend two great evenings messing around with Christmas art supplies from John that sat unused in my closet for over six months. I really hope I stick with it, because painting is totally my idea of a good time.

As per the rules, I took inspiration (or Pintspiration, har-har) from the projects that I linked up with in last Tuesday’s post and did my own spin. Here’s a recap of them for ya:

  1. Fabric by John Robshaw reminded me of the geometric doodles that my dad used to make.
  2. Clara painted this with reckless abandon (more on that here) and I’ve always loved it.
  3. This is a cool DIY art project that I saw on Pinterest (she actually used a toothpaste lid). You can read all about it here.
  4. I asked Kristen at KFD Designs to make sure she was ok with me pinning her art. Thankfully she didn’t mind at all (she does commissioned art for anyone who wants to get this look – and as for me, I loved using her as my muse, haha).
  5. This was a DIY art project that was actually done for a Pinterest Challenge with us. So I thought that was awesome that our little challenge inspired her to make something, and in turn her result inspired me.
  6. This is a watercolor card project, but the happy colors and rough imperfect strokes are so charming.

*As for other places that I’ve found art inspiration – Michelle Armas is unparalleled (seriously, total girl crush) and this post about making abstract art over on Oh Happy Day had me pumped to paint. But enough jibber jabber – here’s the painting play-by-play:

My first painting adventure began after Clara went to bed for the night around 8pm. I got out my little set of acrylics (by Reeves) and my small canvases (which I got for a dollar each) with my Christmas gift card to Main Art Supply here in Richmond.

Painting1

About twenty minutes later I had this:

Painting2

I thought pretty hard about the colors I included (I love the red & coral with the green, yellow, and blue) but I tried not to think too much about the way I applied them. I literally just dabbed things on in a few spots, moved to another color and applied that, repeat, repeat, repeat. Sometimes I dragged the brush to make things look smoother and more blended while other times I did more of a dab-dab-dab application.

I actually really liked how this came out and immediately wished it was about ten times the size. Oh well, starting small was less intimidating, so I guess it worked out for me (and I can always have this blown up 300% at Kinkos on nice paper and then just frame it with a thick mat in a giant frame).

Painting3

The next painting wasn’t one I loved as much as my first (maybe that was beginner’s luck?) but I didn’t hate it. I think I just connected with the colors in the first painting more, so it was a good lesson in taking my time with the colors I used instead of rushing to fill up the canvas. Painting is apparently a marathon, not a sprint.

Painting4

In the end it was sweet in its own way. And at only 4 x 6″  it’s hardly a giant commitment.

Painting5

Then I moved on from my canvas-wrapped boards to an actual 5 x 5″ canvas (it’s much chunkier and more substantial) and this time I went loosey goosey with it.

Painting6

My entire technique was dab-dab-dab for this guy. It’s kinda water-lillies-esque to me, which I don’t think is a bad thing (love me some Monet) and the small streaks of coral and bright pops of turquoise make me happy. Once again I’m learning the color choice totally makes or breaks things in my mind.

Painting7

After they all dried overnight, I studied the hallway frame wall for a spot to add them. We love switching things up on that wall, so the two thin canvas-wrapped-boards just got popped into existing frames (in place of an Ikea print and a postcard I had previously framed). See them up in the top left corner?

Pinterest1

Still like this guy the best. Totally beginners luck. I took the glass out of this frame (it was too thick for it to fit) but the green one fit behind the glass, so I left it in for that one.

Pinterest2

The thicker 5 x 5″ canvas found a spot on the other frame wall (top right).

Pinterest31

Would you like fries turquoise smears with that?

Pinterest4

Now I’m about to scare you. I laid out two larger canvas boards (8 x 11) that were $2 each and decided to photograph all the “phases” they went through. Things always start out realllllly ugly. Exhibit A:

Pinterest5

I tend to just build and build until I get somewhere totally different. Looking back at these pictures I wonder if I should have stopped here. At the time it felt really unfinished, but I like them now. Haha.

Pinterest6

Then I ended up here by adding a lot of white and dabbing and streaking things around. I totally should have stopped here. I love that little bright red heart hiding in the canvas on the right (the one peeking through from behind the white in the bottom left corner).

Pinterest7

These paintings (and photographing the stages) taught me a nice lesson. Know when to stop! Haha. I kept noodling and they ended up here. I have a pretty strong preference for the paintings above these to the paintings below, but now I know. Take a breath every now and then and see if you’re just painting because it’s fun or actually making a positive improvement. Lesson learned.

Pinterest8

Thankfully I don’t totally hate where I ended up. In person they have a really fun neon greeny-yellow color in them that makes them feel modern & happy. And it’s nice to know that I can always paint over them (that’s the beauty of paint and $2 canvas boards – zero commitment).

I also knew they’d look more finished when I framed them, so John and I actually DIYed two chunky wood frames (John will be back this afternoon with all those details – and you can do it without a Kreg Jig or any major tools for that matter – yay!). I originally planned to hang them in the office, but the stenciled walls competed, so we ended up liking them most in the kitchen. Best of all – no holes in the wall (just 3M picture hanging velcro strips for the one over the stove). Easy to do, and undo!

Kitchen Art Hung

Speaking of the one above the stove, don’t worry about that getting splattered. I went to Lowe’s and got a $3 piece of acrylic that I slipped in front of the painting to keep it wipeable (so it’s protected from rogue spaghetti sauce splatters).

Pinterest9

It’s funny how many things I’ve held over the stove only to decide they didn’t really work, yet this homemade painting with a homemade frame seems to slip right in. Dare I say it was meant to be? At least for now until I get a wild hair and decide to paint over them again- haha. I’ll keep you posted for sure!

Pinterest10

So that’s how it all went down. As for the money stuff, here’s a little budget breakdown:

  • $11 – for the five canvases and the paint brush that I used (purchased at a local art shop called Main Street Art Supply)
  • $16 – for the set of 24-pack of acrylic paints by Reeves (also from Main Street Art Supply)
  • $0 – two homemade frames <–made from scrap wood and supplies we had on hand – more on that process this afternoon!
  • $0 – two more already owned frames for the smaller flat canvases in the hallway
  • $3 – piece of acrylic from Lowe’s to protect the canvas over the stove from splatters
  • Total: $30 (for five painted canvases – four of which are framed – which averages to $6 per piece)

Oh and if you call the art supplies a holiday present (since they were purchased six months ago with a Christmas gift card), I actually didn’t spend any money on this Pinterest challenge – just used things that we had like scrap wood, and inexpensive canvases and paint (other than the $3 piece of acrylic). Cheap people like me like looking at things this way. Haha.

Don’t forget to check in on Katie, Kate, and Michelle to see what amaaaaazing projects they whipped up (they’ll be sharing theirs sometime today as well)!

Pinterest Challenge Faces

And now here’s the part where we invite you to share all of the fun Pinterest Challenge projects that you guys have tackled in the last week (right along with us, well at least virtually with us). If you’ve already blogged about it, just:

  1. click on the blue “Add Your Link” button with the odd cartoon head at the bottom of this post (you might have to do some scrolling, depending how many projects are added)
  2. add a link to your specific blog post about your project in the url field (not your home page)
  3. where it says “name” write a descriptive name for your project (ex: “Painted Canvases”) as opposed to your actual name
  4. we’d also love if you could quickly link back over to our project posts within your own (here’s Katie’s, Kate’s, Michelle’s, and ours) – it’s also nice to link to your inspiration project on Pinterest as well as to directly link to the original project/site, just so they get some love too.

And if you’d rather just link over to your project in the comment section, feel free to do that – or even add a link to a free photo sharing site like Flickr with your pics if you don’t have a blog (remember to set the gallery to public so we can all see it). We can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to!



Comments

  1. Lindsey says

    These are so awesome. I’m curious – did you mix most of the colors yourself or were they already in your set of paints? They’re lovely.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I mixed a fair amount (just two or three colors, nothing too fancy). Mostly I added white to lighten colors and mixed things to make the less common colors (turquoise, coral, limey-yellow, etc).

      xo,
      s

  2. Allie ~ This Yellow House says

    Those turned out really cool! I love the one in the kitchen, it looks so perfect there. This so inspires me to want to make something like that for our house.

    This is soooo exciting! I love seeing everyone’s projects!! I’ve been looking forward to this all last week :-)

    Reply

  3. Brooke @ Inside-Out Design says

    I love your paintings! So pretty and it looks like fun to make. I love the way the one over your stove looks. Can’t wait to read how John made that frame. I need to go bang out a pinterest project so that I can link up with you guys!

    Reply

  4. Erin says

    I love all of those paintings. I can’t decide if your “water lillies” or the one over your stove is my favorite. Any chance you would pretty pretty please do a video showing the technique you used to create those for us non artistic types :-)

    Reply

  5. Nimali says

    That is awesome – I love doing my own art for my apartment. Not only is it more affordable, but it means more to me too.

    I absolutely love how the last larger paintings turned out – I think you worked with them until they turned out really beautiful!

    Reply

  6. Rose says

    Cute paintings!

    Unrelated question: how do you guys keep your kitchen counters and shelves looking so organized and stylish? Mine always seem to get cluttered with functional stuff (toaster, coffee maker, olive oil, etc).

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Since it’s all out in the open we try to just keep tabs on it (we find places that are closed off like closets get more cluttered but it’s easier to keep things organized out in the open- seeing it every day keeps us honest!).

      xo,
      s

  10. Brenda says

    First three paintings, I like the colors of the second one better (I tend to prefer the cooler tones like purples and blues), but I think the pattern of the first one works better. I really like the Monet-esque one. As for the next batch, I like how they turned out in the end. That’s the cool thing about making your own art, is that you can make them just how you want. And I am always comforted by the fact that if I hate it, I can just paint over. I’ve overpainted on one or two of my paintings, and I always regretted not stopping sooner. The painting over the stove looks so great! This might be my favorite Pinterest challenge you’ve done, if only because it’s inspiring me to pull out my own paints and maybe experiment with color combos I haven’t used before.

    Reply

  12. Whitley S. says

    I decided to make a birthday calendar for my family and friends. This was so much fun and I was really excited to finally get this project finished. I started on it about a month ago and just put it aside. It was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated but here it is!

    http://www.pinterest.com/pin/60587557457584662

    I’m thinking of making them for Christmas or birthday gifts. Never an excuse to forget a birthday again. You could totally do this for all important dates with your family too. Just change the “birthdays” to something more generic like “dates to remember” or “save the date” :)

    Reply

  14. Melissa says

    I actually love the final of the bigger painting on the left. For me it evokes a close up of an Indian Paintbrush in a mountain meadow looking up at the sky. Which means it makes me happy.

    Reply

  17. Mary & Tim says

    Love the way your paintings turned out — it’s always nice to have a touch of something you made on the walls! Thanks for the much needed kick in the pants to get our own little project complete this summer.

    Reply

  18. Lindsay says

    I actually like the last 2 the best! I think the ending was way better. The middle step with the white was too boring but the left one reminds me of flowers and love the pop of color in the kitchen.

    Reply

  20. Jen@The Decor Scene says

    Love it all!!! Your a great inspiration Sherry. I have lots to learn about paint, because my DIY blue mason jar project did not come out well, but I still shared it with everyone so that no one else makes the same mistakes. ;) I will try again with the right paint and thinner and I will make it turn out the way I want it too. ;) Thanks for hosting this great linky party. Can’t wait to check everyone’s projects out. :)

    Reply

  21. Lindsey @ A Pear to Remember says

    Last Tuesday, you guys (wel, gals) REALLY insnpired me. Took my art teacher friend to A.C. Moore to guide my purchases and have been making a beautiful fun mess on the kitchen floor. And my clothes.

    I am soooo happy with the result, and grateful for the Pinspiration! Mine is a gift I’m giving away this Saturday, so I will post my inspiration and artistic results after that. Thanks again!!

    Reply

  23. Julia @ Chris Loves Julia says

    These turned out so great, Sherry! Since I am always doing all of the painting and art around here, I took this Pinterest challenge as an opportunity to pin lots of great ideas for children’s art and Greta and I are gonna have a ball this morning. Can’t wait to share later!

    Reply

  26. Molly says

    Looks awesome–as always. I am sure if I tried to do something like this, I’d find a way to mess it up. :) Works so well though with the rest of the casa. Love it.

    Reply

  27. katie says

    Sherry you are CA.RAZY!! I think the final two paintings in the kitchen are AMAZING!! LOVE them! You are so talented. I definitely like the final product best!! Now paint two more and send them to me!! ;)

    Reply

  30. Jessica @ Stay at Home-ista says

    I love your first one too! We have 4 empty dining room walls that are huge and require reeeaaallly big art. Like 40×40 size at a minimum. We already have a few gallery walls going on so that’s out and I was just thinking of buying canvases and painting something myself. Maybe in the spirit of your beginners luck I should just buy the big ones and go for it and hope they turn out:) I’d hate to do a small one, love it then be unable to replicate it for the “real thing”.

    Jessica
    stayathomeista.com

    Reply

  32. Christa @ a*typicaljourney says

    I nearly failed this Pinterest challenge – started a DIY Plank Headboard inspired by this one http://www.housetweaking.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/love-bed.jpg with a little inspiration pulled from one of your deck posts (the boardwalk with the zipper-like seam). We bought the materials, had them cut, stained, and laid out our assembly holes… then we decided we wanted to add an actual sealant with a little bit of shine. So, needless to say we haven’t had a chance to finish things up. BUT.
    Here’s a Pinterest-inspired project I did in early Spring (since we skipped that challenge, anyway)
    http://pinterest.com/pin/238550111482398369/
    (link to the inspiration post is in the pin)

    Reply

  34. Laura (Blogging Over Thyme) says

    Really love this! I used to paint all the time (did it in highschool and in college) and I really miss it. I have the nicest easel too. I really love to paint in oil (because it dries so slow and you can really develop a lot of layering), but obviously the fume issue makes it an issue–but this makes me want to break out my acrylic paint and get to town! Thanks for the inspiration :)

    Reply

  36. Ashley @ 7th House says

    First of all, I wish I was brave enough to actually paint something on canvas! I have a blank canvas that’s been laying around here for probably over a year. I love what you did and the color combos are great!

    We weren’t able to do the Pinterest Challenge this time around because I’ve been sick (laryngitis in the summer is not fun!), but all of the projects linked up are great!! So much fun “Pinspiration” :)

    Reply

  37. Lindsey says

    Wow- I am totally getting in on this next round. What an amazing bunch of peeps Pinterest-ing their hearts out! Way to go, everyone! And Sherry, loved your sweet paintings! I am welling up with inspiration :-)

    Reply

  39. Beth says

    Beautiful artwork, Sherry! Those came out great.

    This really inspires me to try painting again; I used to take art classes in college but it has been many years and two kids since I have done anything beyond finger painting. I bought a Reeves gouache set at Michael’s with my Mother’s day gift card so I am ready to get started. Thanks so much for the cool ideas! :)

    Reply

  41. Hannah says

    I love the paintings! And I must say that I really enjoy how multi-faceted y’alls design talents are – YHL is my daily inspiration for sure.. picture me dying to finish grad school mainly so that I can buy my own house and start taking that baby to the market ;)

    I’m not sure if mine counts as a true entry to the Pinterest challenge, but your kitchen stools + chevron as far as the eye can see on Pinterest = my new stool for architecture studio class (and obsessed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about it!)

    http://instagram.com/p/M5jDcloX69/
    (Instagram is totally a legit form of project sharing — right? Ha)

    Reply

  43. Sammy says

    These look surprisingly great!! I really like the green-blue-purple one. That could totally work in my kitchen! haha. Who knew blobs of colour could look so great?!
    xx

    Reply

  44. seansmom says

    LOVE your paintings! Especially the little guy done on real canvas…BUT…I would turn him on his side…then he really would be Monet-esque. If you ever get tired of him, you can send him my way.

    Reply

  45. Kristen says

    Love the painting, but above the stove makes me nervous (ok, admittedly I work for the fire dept so I’m overly cautious). Cooking fires are the leading cause of fires, stove top fires are particularly common… and putting a wood frame above your stove could contribute to the spread of a fire. I’d advise against it– even though it does look super cute!

    Reply

  46. Carrie says

    I love the colors you used in the first painting and one above the stove, very pretty!

    I used this Pinterest inspiration http://blog.hwtm.com/2010/09/diy-tissue-number-birthday-sign/
    to make these for my girls’ shared bedroom http://www.roomzaar.com/rate-my-space/Girls-Rooms/Pretty-Pink–Blue-Shared-Girls-Room/detail.esi?oid=28551064 . Instead of fabric and tissue paper, I decoupaged scrapbook paper on 12×12″ stretched canvas with a painted edge, and then hot glued on flowers in the shape of the letter.

    Reply

  47. Jess @ life, happily ever after says

    I love the paintings you did! I seriously wish I were that creative. I really love the other big one, not the one over the stove (tho I love that one too) the other one that in the picture kinda looks like a Dahlia. All of them are beautiful! I can’t wait to see how John made those custom frames!! LOVE them!

    Reply

  49. Susan says

    Love your artwork and the colors you chose. I especially like the piece in the kitchen. Looking at some of the other people’s work there are many very creative people out there. I made some yummy pineapple margaritas from a recipe on pinterest, but that hardly counts!

    Reply

  50. Cara says

    Funny – I don’t care for the large canvases at the ‘should have stopped here’ stage at all, but I especially love the one on the left when finished. It looks like a dahlia to me. And it’s the only one without a featured home, so I’m guessing you didn’t love it like I did. Personal taste is a quirky thing!

    Reply

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *