Here’s my final creation! I’ve gotta say, I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I had a lot of fun and it turned out really beautiful.
How to Reuse and Base Coat and Paint Over an Old Canvas
I recently wanted to paint a rustic pumpkin and needed a huge canvas. I had one from when I painted a haunted house for this Halloween mantel project so I decided to repurpose it. It’s easy to reuse and paint over an old canvas, especially if you have art you don’t like anymore and it’s an inexpensive, mass produced print. I have a video below with a quick DIY, or some tips to get you started. The rest of the rustic pumpkin painting tutorial is here.
When reusing an old canvas here are a few tips:
Determine what kind of paint you’re going to be painting over on the old canvas. If it’s an old acrylic painting, you can prime it over with multiple coats of white or black gesso, let dry, and then paint as you normally would.
If it appears to have a glossy appearance, giving it a quick sand with sand paper just to rough it up helps the gesso stick. If it’s a really old painting, always check for lead paint first.
If your painting over an old, cheapo, mass produced canvas print, straight gesso or an acrylic primer generally does the trick! I do find they can be dusty, so giving them a wipe down with a damp rag and mild dish detergent can help to make sure the surface is clean. When priming,j ust put on enough layers, letting them dry between so they don’t bubble.
If you’re going to be painting over and old oil painting (how can you tell if it’s oil paint? It will normally have a thick, glossy, raised appearance, and may even have some cracking or “spidering” if it’s really old.), you can use an all purpose primer like Zinsser, Kilz or Bin. Let it dry, then go over with a few coats of gesso. I used black gesso on my haunted house acrylic painting.
It’s really important to make sure the right kind of gesso and primers when repainting over an old canvas. If you use acrylic paint on an oil painting, your paint could basically peel off over time. Especially since oil paint has binders such as linseed oil.
The Canvas Before
Here’s a look at the canvas before. She had it hung vertically in her bathroom, but I decided that I would flip it horizontally for my new piece of art. We really had no clue what we were doing when we painted the piece, but it sure was a fun afternoon painting away on her rooftop!
While I already had a pretty large stash of acrylic paints, from years of random craft projects, I needed to grab a few more items…
- Gesso
- Large Paint Brushes
- Small Paint Brushes
- White Acrylic Paint
- Acrylic Paint Set (if you don’t have any paint on hand, this looks like a good starting point!)
Amateur Tips to Create DIY Abstract Art
Here’s my big disclaimer…I am not a pro at this. I’m sure there are so many amazing artists out there who will cringe at my “techniques” and tips. But this is a good starting point and it just shows that if I can create DIY abstract art, then so can you! This is all about having fun, getting creative, and channeling your inner DIY spirit. So, just know that you don’t have to have any artistic ability to create something really special for your home. You got this!
Because I was flipping the canvas horizontally, I knew I wanted to create some sort of landscape painting. I browsed some of my favorite art sites and ended up finding this gorgeous piece of art (above) from Artfully Walls. I love how it’s a subtle sky and sea landscape and the colors are gorgeous.
I saved the image and printed it out so I could use it as my inspiration for my own DIY abstract art. I wasn’t going to be able to recreate it (Let’s be real, there was no way that could happen!), but I thought it would be nice to have something to inspire me as I got started and created a color palette. I highly recommend finding something online that inspires your own piece! If you’re a newbie, like me, it’s probably easiest to go with a piece that is more abstract as opposed to one that has defined trees or people in it.
Start with Gesso
When Jan and I did our painting project two years ago, so many followers chimed in and suggested that we start with gesso (pronounced “jeh-sow”). At the time, I had never even heard of the word! I now know that gesso works kinda like a primer and prepares the canvas for paint.
My first step was to apply a thin coat of gesso all over my canvas. I just used a thick brush for this and it was dry to the touch in about thirty minutes.
The gesso didn’t cover the color underneath completely, but that was okay with me. It was kinda nice to start with a bit of color and depth as the base of my painting. In fact, I’ve even seen people do a second coat of gesso mixed with a tiny bit of color to create a nice base for their artwork.
