Big, Huge, DIY Art

Edited To Add: FOR SALE! Email me if interested!

I wanted to share a super huge, but simple art project I created about a year and a half ago. Some background, Billy & I currently rent a loft style condo in Chicago. That means, big open wall space, high ceilings and white walls. I really wanted a giant statement piece for the wall, rather than doing a gallery wall. But big art is expensive! And so are big canvases.

I decided to experiment with raw, cotton canvas. This type of canvas is made for artists to stretch their own canvas. The canvas that I bought is 6x6' square. Huge! I of course can't remember the exact price right now, but I know the material was not more than $15.

I hung the canvas onto the wall with 4 big, bulldog clips (also from Blick).

I bought acrylic paint in colors that were bright, and would match our orange couch. I settled on pink, orange, yellow, red and a little bit of purple. I also had white on hand to mix in as needed.

And then I just started painting. I didn't really have a plan, I just wanted to blend the colors together and make something abstract and nice to look at. I wanted it to be a big statement, but not the only thing you saw in our apartment.

Painting tip: When you are mixing colors like this, start off light and gradually add in the darker colors. For example, I started with the yellow and worked my way up the color wheel to purple. You can always add paint to make the shade darker, but it's very difficult to lighten a shade once you've got the paint down.

This project can be super simple. It definitely has a raw look - the edges are unfinished, the lines are not straight, and the paint rippled the canvas a bit when it dried. But I love it. It's exactly what I had in mind for our big, open wall space.