Affordable Art

Well we discovered WE could paint, and if we can be artists….anyone can!

Moving in to a new space, and not having enough adornments for the walls or the dollars to purchase can be frustrating. We had many walls to decorate, and simply painting them wasn’t enough. The garage was full of leftover paint from years gone by that somehow made its way to the new house. Can’t dispose of perfectly good paint now can we?  We thought we could try to create a masterpiece or two from a selection of these colours. We prepared a piece of drywall by cutting it to our desired size. Using brushes of various sizes, sponges, rollers and whatever we could find in the kitchen drawers, we covered the surface with colours and shapes. We even got a little texture by mixing drywall mud in with the paint and then applying it with putty knives and other grooved tools. The result was masterful!! Plus we recycled and reused! The cost for four large paintings was $14.00! Now that’s affordable art!

 

Other ideas for  art projects….Instead of taking that old wood paneling to the dump, cut it to size and then give it a coat of any colour of leftover latex paint to undercoat your potential work of art. Don’t worry about any grooves or imperfections in the wood, it just adds to the effect! You now have a clean pallet to express yourself. When you are done, give it a frame and voila! its ready to hang.

You can also try stretching your own “canvas” by using a canvas drop sheet from the local hardware store, or a piece of burlap from the garden centre. All you need is a wooden frame and you just stretch the fabric over it and fasten with staples. We learned how to do this by watching a youtube video on ‘how to stretch a canvas’.

Using recycled materials is the way to go, as it forces you to be creative…plus it saves you money!