Britney Dearest: Easy DIY Abstract Painting

diy, abstract, wall art, painting, easy, how to

Hello Beauties!

I have been putting more effort and attention towards decorating my home and I have been pinning like crazy! I decided that I would keep pinning, but also start doing. I am determined to beautify my home, wall by wall, from wall decor to furniture pieces against the wall, and in the words of Jay Z, "I'm focused man!" I helped my husband finish 1 out of 3 rooms in our basement (pics coming soon!). I have been doing a lot of DIY projects for myself as well as others. I purchased a cute little buffet cabinet a couple weeks ago and am currently working on refinishing that. I have 2 console tables that need work. Here I go rambling. Let me just get into the details of the topic.

About a month ago, after seeing some gorgeous abstract art DIYs on Pinterest, I took matters into my own hands and put my own artistic vision onto a canvas. Okay honestly, the last half of that sentence sounded really good, didn't it? I thought I worded that like a true artist lol. The truth is, I had a specific color scheme I wanted, I didn't know what in the world I was doing.

I didn't take any photos during the process because I was so nervous that it wouldn't turn out good, but I'll list the tutorials I relied on and try my best to simply explain what I did. I'm horrible at giving extra detailed instructions so I apologize in advance!

Supplies:

A canvas. I bought 2- 16"x20" for $8 at Hobby Lobby. They're the same price after taxes at Walmart.
4 different sized paint brushes (all flat). The sizes depend on how wide you want your stripes and if you want them all to be even or not.
Gold or silver metallic spray paint OR gold leaf foil.
You can use whatever colors you want. I used navy, gold, pearl white, off-white, blue, black, and brown acrylic paint (purchased at Walmart for less than $1 each!). I actually did not have brown or ivory so I had to mix tan, burgundy, and black to make brown. I mixed tan and white to make an ivory, cream color.
A cup of water to clean your brushes.
Easel (optional). I created a makeshift easel.

My process:
1. I didn't have any gold leaf foil so I used the gold spray paint and gold acrylic paint I had on hand. I spray painted my entire canvas gold.

2. I followed the tutorial from the video below, however, I left the gold visible horizontally in the center of the canvas. I mixed paints to get desired colors.

3. I added the ivory, off-white and mixed it with the other colors. I lightly painted over colors. I also used water to add a light, watercolor look on certain parts. I didn't have a specific way of doing it, I just wanted to lighten it up and add different warm tones. I tweaked it to my liking.

4. I made extra random gold spots above and below the horizontal gold line with the gold acrylic paint, trying to mimic an ikat fabric pattern.

5. I traced around a few gold spots with the black paint, again, mimicking an ikat pattern. I make quick strokes up & down, very closely together, to avoid smooth lines. On a couple, I kept the outline light and I didn't go around the entire gold spot.