Painting on canvas: The Facts

Ok, so you have just redecorated your front room and it's looking great. In fact, all that is missing is some quality living room art. Problem is there is no such thing as cheap art and art prints can often lack real effect. One solution is creating your own paintings on canvas and this article is going to help you get started.

The Basic Materials.

Brushes/Paints The first things you are going to need, of course, are brushes and paints. While a lot may depend on your particular budget, buying good quality artists' brushes can turn out to be worth the extra money in the long run. Although cheaper beginners or student brushes can do the job they don't last as long and often leave hairs behind. So going to a good art store to search out some quality hogs hair brushes is sound advice. The same thing unfortunately applies to the paints. Again, whilst cheaper paints can do the job, by paying a little extra for some quality artist paints the difference to the end result can be quite significant. As a rough guide expect to pay between 4 to 5 euros for a 75ml tube of oil paints. For acrylic paints expect to pay half as much, although these can be difficult for beginners because they dry so quickly.

The Painting Surface

Canvas While it is true that wood or hardboard can be used for the painting surface (indeed many great artists have done so) a canvas picture can often look so much better. There are many options for buying canvas and although they can be relatively expensive in the major art stores there are outlets available that offer some fairly inexpensive alternatives. In fact, often the best place to look for cheap canvases is online. A great alternative, which can both add to the fun and save on costs, is to make your own. Cheap canvas sold by the role is always available either in the stores or online. A custom made canvas, large or small, can then be easily put together with the addition of a few pieces of old wood. These are used to form the 'chassis' while the stretched canvas cut from the role is simply stapled to it. End note Having got all the basic materials you are now ready to begin your first painting. A good place to start here is by painting from photographs; that way you can spend all the time you need on getting it right. Once you are happy with the finished product the only thing remaining would be to get your art framed, but its probably best to leave that for another day.