Calling all Artists ! I need some ideas for a canvas painting.

[polm]

Actually I have just moved into a new apartment. I have a living room with blank walls painted a very neutral off-white.

I have just received some nice oversized furniture for the room, consisting of a sofa, chair, and 2 ottomans. They are all made of a fake suede and are mahogany (sp?) colored.

I wanted to put some art on the wall behind and above the back of the sofa. (90 inches wide)

I don't want to buy someone else's are, cuz I really don't know anything about it.

But, I would like to do something creative myself that will look nice, but be very simple in design.

Basically, I was considering mounting 3 stretched canvas's on the wall side-by-side. I'm thinking of each canvas being approx 1.5 - 2 feet in height X 3 - 3.5 feet in width.

Any thoughts on my canvas sizes ?

What about easy painting methods ? I would like to do, maybe, just a simple bold color on each canvas.

I have no art skills, btw...

 

[myusername]

Stretch your own canvas on 2x2's. If you can't cobble together your own frame, go find an art student that will do it for a couple bucks. Don't get that frederick's sh!t; it's tacky. With canvases that small you can hand stretch as well as you can, use a staple gun liberally on the back to hold it down. Get the raw canvas (no primer) and apply a base coat of gesso and let it dry. The gesso will cause the canvas to shrink and tighten up.

You probably want acrylic paints, as oil takes forever to dry and makes a bigger mess. For your purposes, to save on money (which is what it seems you are trying to do) you can buy the economy acrylic. I forget the brands, but basically it comes in bigger tubes with a more limited color selection. Get a couple tubes of some basic colors (black, red, yellow, blue). Get a couple nylon-bristle paintbrushes from wherever you can get them cheapest - usu. hardware store. Don't worry about quality as long as they look sturdy enough that they won't fall apart and leave bristles in your painting (unless, of course, you want bristles in your painting). You really don't need anything smaller than a 2" or 3" brush.

Tape the sides of the canvas so you have a clean edge (unless you don't want one), get a couple wide mouth glasses or bowls with water, use a piece of waxed paper taped to a board (or floor) as your palette, and go nuts. Go easy on the water - it's for cleaning the brushes when necessary, not for making washes. Also go easy on the black. Unless you have a strong idea of what you want, you would do well to not do any mixing of the black with other colors, just cutting it in on the canvas where you see you want it.

 

[polm]

Originally posted by: myusername
Stretch your own canvas on 2x2's. If you can't cobble together your own frame, go find an art student that will do it for a couple bucks. Don't get that frederick's sh!t; it's tacky. With canvases that small you can hand stretch as well as you can, use a staple gun liberally on the back to hold it down. Get the raw canvas (no primer) and apply a base coat of gesso and let it dry. The gesso will cause the canvas to shrink and tighten up.



You probably want acrylic paints, as oil takes forever to dry and makes a bigger mess. For your purposes, to save on money (which is what it seems you are trying to do) you can buy the economy acrylic. I forget the brands, but basically it comes in bigger tubes with a more limited color selection. Get a couple tubes of some basic colors (black, red, yellow, blue). Get a couple nylon-bristle paintbrushes from wherever you can get them cheapest - usu. hardware store. Don't worry about quality as long as they look sturdy enough that they won't fall apart and leave bristles in your painting (unless, of course, you want bristles in your painting). You really don't need anything smaller than a 2" or 3" brush.



Tape the sides of the canvas so you have a clean edge (unless you don't want one), get a couple wide mouth glasses or bowls with water, use a piece of waxed paper taped to a board (or floor) as your palette, and go nuts. Go easy on the water - it's for cleaning the brushes when necessary, not for making washes. Also go easy on the black. Unless you have a strong idea of what you want, you would do well to not do any mixing of the black with other colors, just cutting it in on the canvas where you see you want it.

Thanks ! This looks like really good advice !