3 Ways To Customize Your Own Canvas Art

We love adding a DIY canvas project to our walls! They’re especially great to break up framed pieces in a gallery wall, or to display a particularly inspiring quote. Here are three fresh ideas on making your own expensive looking canvas to display anywhere in the house.

Geometric Tape Pattern

This creative use of painter’s tape can take any piece of canvas art from a big blob of boring color, to a modern geometric masterpiece!

Step 1: Tape out a pattern onto your dry canvas making sure to tap down the edges of the tape. Try to vary the shapes and sizes left by the tape as much as you can. Using different widths of tape can help with this!

Step 2: You can paint this piece in so many different ways; you can color block and paint a different color in each white space, you can go black and white, or you can do what we did and mix up two different shades of the same color and use your brush to half-blend it through. We loved the light and dark blush colors we mixed, plus the blending technique is more interesting to look at than just one flat color. Another plus? It’s easy to cover up mistakes! (Don’t forget to paint the sides of your canvas, too!)

Step 3: Once the paint has dried completely, slowly peel back the tape. Don’t go too fast or it may flake the paint. When the tape is gone you’re left with a bangin’ geometric pattern that looks so mod and gorgeous!

Chic Metallic Splatter

This is a fun technique to do when you wanna dig in and get your hands dirty! Pro Tip: Wear something you don’t care about- even with our technique that minimizes backsplash, you might get a little messy. So crank up the Beyoncé and get to it, Girl!

Step 1: Choose at least 2 colors that are very different from each other. One color is going to be your base, while the other will be your splatter. (You can splatter in more than one color, too!)

Step 2: Paint an even coat of your base color over the entire canvas. Don’t forget the sides!

Step 3: It’s splatter time! Mix a little bit of water in with your acrylic paint color of choice. Not a ton- just a little splash to make it drip more naturally. Dip your brush in the paint completely so that it has a healthy dose of paint on it without immediately dripping off the brush. Hold the brush parallel to the canvas with one hand, then use your other hand to gently tap down on the brush handle to splatter the paint directly onto the canvas. When you get the hang of it, you can even move the hand holding your brush as you tap down to give the splatter a cool directional pattern.

The most important thing with the splatter technique is to have fun with it! It’s supposed to be messy so don’t worry if a giant glob comes off in one stroke and then tiny freckle-like splatters on the next. The more different the splatters are, the cooler the final product looks!

The Wave

Not gonna lie, “The Wave” might be our favorite technique of the three. It just looks so mod! Plus, adding metallic paint is an easy way to up the chic factor.

Step 1: Pick 4-7 colors that fit your space or that you think will look good together. Squirt a good amount of paint (ours was about a quarter to 50-cent piece sized dollops of paint for a 12×16 canvas) along the sides of the canvas, switching colors as you go. Keep in mind, the colors will stand out more if you alternate lighter and darker shades. Repeat the pattern on the other side of the canvas so it looks like a mirror image.

Step 2: Take a brush and lightly dampen the middle of the canvas. Using a touch of water helps the paint to glide across to the other side. Careful not to use too much water though or the paint won’t stick to the canvas!

Step 3: Use a straight edge, paint stick, scraper tool, piece of cardboard, WHATEVER you’ve got lyin’ around and gently pull the paint across the canvas in one long motion. When you get to the other side, repeat going the opposite way. Continue doing this until the paint completely covers the canvas! Pro Tip: Don’t forget the sides of the canvas- there can be serious spillage over the sides. Scrape most of the excess away at the end but use a bit to cover the white edges of the canvas so when you hang it on the wall it looks like a finished piece of art.
Step 4: Lay flat to dry overnight- this one has thick globs of paint that will take longer to dry than your average acrylic paint piece.

And voila! You have your final product! 
If you REALLY wanna get crazy and creative, you can combine these techniques in one project; like doing the wave with splatter on top, or tape a pattern before you scrape the paint for a wave. Any way you slice it, your walls are gonna look so gorgeous now that you have these 3 super easy, super chic painting techniques to try out!

Depending on the mood that you want to set for the room you’re creating wall art for, you can customize any frame to match it perfectly. Looking to have a more rosy tone for your room or nursery? Do soft pastels, or if you’re looking to have a more Palm Springs mod tone, feel free to play around with bold and dark colors.

Whatever you choose to do, show us you’re ready to make your own killer gallery wall, like this one we created! Regardless, we want to see, so make sure to share with us using #BeMakeful on Instagram!