Canvas Painting ideas

Many of us follow the astute saying- “Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can on it.” A picture may speak a thousand words but paintings may express a thousand more. Every stroke of your paintbrush can change the entire message conveyed by 360 degrees. The cavemen exhibited their gallant hunts through paintings made from berries and plants. Today, artists splatter their picturesque imaginations with the most striking colours onto a canvas. Painters usually use acrylics or oil paints to create their canvas masterpieces. Canvas painting is a beautiful art and a terrific hobby. Just like some positively channelize their emotions and energy by plucking guitar strings, others seek solace by splashing a fusion of acrylics or oil paints on a fresh canvas board. The trouble begins when a budding artist runs out of original ideas. Worry not, below are a few valuable ideas to enhance your canvas painting abilities, and to get your creative juices flowing like an unstoppable water fountain.

Ideas For Canvas Painting

Explore Your Deepest Passions
So what do you love the most? Or what interests you the most? Is it cars? Is it nature? Or Angelina Jolie? Perhaps, you could start with your strongest obsession. Humans have the tendency to scrutinize every inch of their favourites. For instance, a Ferrari fanatic would be able to duplicate a tantalizing portrait without investing too much of effort. If you love nature, sit in a park and paint the flower closest to you. Get practice and start from the roots.

Dimensions
Employ multiple and unusual dimensions to your canvas. Some can be long and narrow, while others short and broad. Stretch your painting over separate adjacent canvases and create a series of attention grabbing images. Be creative, Go wild! If you paint a broken heart, split the two halves between two separate canvases to signify the rift.

Collages
Gluing and sewing variety of materials onto canvases has become widely popular and is indeed captivating. Items vary from newspaper articles, evocative poems or fliers which serve the purpose of juxtaposing your initial painting with an underlying meaning. Before priming the canvas, you could sew cloth onto it or even staple it. Materials like paper may decompose over time with the mixture of oil paints.  It is hence advised to paint over the paper with a clear glaze or gesso beforehand.

Canvas Distressing
As bizarre as it may sound, destroying the canvas post painting produces the mysterious effect of distress and chaos. However, think before you go ahead and cause mayhem in your painting studio. Ensure that the deliberated damage matches with the design and flow of the image. Put in sufficient thinking into your potential masterpiece.

Think Crazy, Go crazy
The craziest and most spontaneous of thoughts materialize magnificently on canvas. Think out of the box. Everybody’s bored of the clichéd roses and flamingos. Venture deep into the labyrinths of your brain and exercise creativity. It could be a dead mosquito in your cookie jar, or a crow dipping its beak towards the soil to feast on a slithering lizard. Paint the impossible. 

Experiment With Colors
Each colour exudes a different emotion. The core of your painting might take a complete different twist if re-painted in a different colour. The old and new interpretation could be poles apart. Experiment with newer shades. Let your palette introduce you to an intriguing colour that may inspire you to try something off-beat. You will surely experience a change from your usual output. Incorporate the left over colours from your previous painting. You never know the results until you pursue the idea! Alternatively, you could create a color block pattern of different shapes and colors by using complementary tones.