Quick Art Pieces You Can Do – Even If You’re Not an Artist
Blank canvases attached to wooden frames make a great base for your art. Use foam or regular brushes and make horizontal swipes, allowing ridges to build from brush marks, and minor drips to remain. These wide stripes, in various colors, can represent everything from a sea scape to a field of flowers.
An example is a beach scene made wide, white stripes across the top of the canvas then wide, blue stripes across the bottom. Switch to a smaller brush and make some white stripes, without much pressure on the brush, across the blue section. You can add a yellow circle in one corner, if you wish, but don’t make it too distinctive. Foam brushes allow you to circle the paint without adding much detail.
An example of a field of flowers requires a blue strip across the top third of the canvas, with strips of white included, if desired, then a very wide strip of green across the bottom. Now use a small brush to dot your favorite color of flowers across the green stripe. The flowers don’t have to have to be all the same color, and can overlap each other, too. This gives the effect of one standing in front of the other.
Use these techniques to make many different scenes, such as beach, cornfield, field of flowers, pond with ducks, row of houses, group of kids, and other images. After you get the color on the canvas, add your own real touches, such as a small group of silk daisies, along with a few sprigs of greenery, glued horizontally across the bottom of the canvas. For a beach scene you can glue on shells or even use glue and sand to enhance the design.
Mirrored wall designs are often considered art pieces particularly if they’re arranged in a unique and modern way. Mirrors without frames, but with beveled sides, make the best artwork pieces. Purchase one large mirror, then several smaller ones to start the project. You’ll also need small wooden dowel pieces, of various lengths, from an inch to three inches.
Paint the wooden pegs silver or gold. Hang the large mirror on the wall. Glue two to four of the pegs onto the back of each smaller mirror with contact cement, then attach the smaller mirrors onto the large one. The arrangement is your own, but here are some suggestions: Place one of the mirrors in the top corner, with part of the smaller mirror rising above the large mirror, and the other part of the mirror attached. Add a second mirror, in the same manner, placing it below and to the right of the first small mirror. Position the second mirror to where it extends out slightly past the large mirror. Use different sized pegs for each small mirror to get an even different effect. There are zillions of these mirror designs you can do, combining large, medium, and smaller mirrors attached to each other, some separated, or scattered across the entire wall.
Copper or foil, found on a roll at craft stores, can be used along with stencils to create some unique and beautiful shapes. Choose nice frames and mats then center the copper or foil design in the frame. Make several shapes and arrange them inside of the frame in a design that suits your style. Attach one of the copper or foil shapes to the outside of the frame to add to the beauty of the design. These wall hangings look expensive but aren’t.
Use inexpensive, small slabs of wood and rub-on transfers to make various art pieces for your home. Or, cut out slick magazine pictures of flowers, an old barn, or another image that catches your eye. For a rustic look, slightly burn the edges of the picture before mounting it on the wooden piece. Use the pieces in a manner as the mirrors, or hang them separately across the top of a mantel. The wooden slabs come in any number of sizes, shapes and colors.
There are many ways of making quick art pieces even if you’re not an artist. Combine things that interest you, and fit into your color scheme, and use your own style to create any number of beautiful pieces for your home. You’ll have fun with these projects because if it pleases you, it’s art!
