abstract art DIY

we have a considerable amount more wall space in these new digs! (unfortunately, every wall and most ceilings! are painted tan. while we have free reign to paint, it's sort of the last thing i want to do.) 

so one by one, project by project, we're filling these tan walls up with fun art!

you've probably noticed already, but i'm all about abstract art.

while i love and respect literal art like: food, flowers, landscapes, people or animals, when it's art i look at everyday, in my home, i prefer it to be abstract. 

i can look at the same piece of abstract art 1,000 times and see something new about it. depending on my mood, the lighting, how it's incorporated into the decor, the angle, the way it makes me feel can change. i like that.

luckily Rashelle and i agree on this and decided to try our hand at it.

we both used a dragging technique, but our images couldn't be more different.

i like that, too!

she opted for a pre-stretched canvas

i needed mine to be quite large, so i needed to stretch mine with Russ' help later.

if you can use pre-stretched, it's a lot less hassle!

*just start with a hefty helping of paint 

 *use cardboard, a plastic placemat (what we used) or any wide surface.

i hate to tell anyone how to do it, because the beauty of it is that you can do what you want!

*you just keep layering on the paint colors until you get the desired effect.

the harder you drag, the more the existing colors mix,

while dragging lightly will usually keep them separate.

this is when it took a turn for the worse.

my lifelong downfall with art is that i have a hard time stopping.

i could torture that canvas for hours.

Rashelle's turned out really cool!

while i don't love mine, i am happy with the brightness it brings to the basement!

i'm not down there very often so i think it will grow on me since i won't be staring at it all day.

 $3 for canvas

$4 for wood

$10 for paint - i bought three large bottles of tempera paint and used the whole blue one, half the red, and 1/4 of the white. 
the rest of the color we had lying around.

it's pretty hard to beat that!