How to...Personalise a Canvas with Paint

A cheap and simple way to add personalised artwork to your wall.

Rather than buy artwork for the lounge wall I had a go at painting my own. I purchased 3 canvases from Hobbycraft, size 18 x 14 inches (current price £7 each). I used tester pots from the Valspar range available at B&Q. The colour "Merlin’s Robes" was the perfect colour to match our sofa cushions. 

I painted 2 canvases using 2 coats of "Merlin’s Robes". I wanted a bit more design for the 3^rd canvas and to tie it into our lounge. I painted the canvas the colour "Worn Canvas" and then used tracing paper over a cushion on the sofa which meant I could see the pattern through the paper. I used pencil to draw around the design. I then inverted the tracing paper onto the painted canvas and drew around the design again. I found I had to press quite hard to get the design to transfer, and in some places I drew over the very faint line as soon as I had moved the tracing paper away to ensure it was visible.

I painted the lines to match the colours on the cushion. The colours of the lines were "Merlin’s Robes" and "Pretty as a Picture" both from the Valspar range.

From top left image clockwise: cushion, painted canvas, canvases and cushions, 3 painted canvases, sofa cushions

Once the canvases were dry I simply hung each of them on a nail.

Tips: 

• Displays look best in odd numbers
• The Valspar range has 2000 preselected colours of paint you can choose from and if you still can't find the right colour they can mix a colour in-store specially for you

Design Ideas: If you are feeling less adventurous but still want some more colour on your canvas have a go at being more abstract. Paint the canvas one colour then in pencil draw on circles/squares of different sizes, overlapping them if you want and paint each shape a different shade of the same colour, or different colours for a multi-coloured masterpiece. Household objects would be perfect to draw around to get different sized circles for free e.g. a saucer, a plant pot, a milk bottle top, a jam jar lid.

Happy Crafting x