Make an Abstract Painting

4 Materials
Even if you don’t have much experience in painting, I am confident that you can make art. You can easily Make an Abstract Painting, which is a great place to start…there is no right or wrong…it’s just what YOU like.
I have a penchant for creating art when I see the need to fill a need on my walls. Over the years, Terry and I have accumulated the art of several artists we admire; however, there has always been a gap in my desire for art for our walls and the funds I have to spend on that art. It’s that whole ‘buy a painting?’ or ‘feed my kids?’ contemplation. As a way to fill that gap, I began creating my own art.
What you Need to Make an Abstract Painting:


Large Canvas. I think you need a largish canvas for this painting…I used a 30 by 40 inch. (Don’t forget to get your Michael’s app…40% of any item everyday)


Acrylic paint in your desired colors. I used Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic in Ultramarine, Liquitex Acyrlic in Ivory Black and Liquitex Acrylic in White


Gold Leaf Sheets


Leaf Adhesive Size


Pallet Knife, Putty Knife, Large 2″ paint brush


Something for texture. I found an old roll of drywall repair mesh in the garage. My sweet hubby drives me a little crazy in that he really hates to throw anything away…’you just never know when we’ll need it’. This is one of those cases where I was glad for his ‘hoarding’ tendency.


How to Make an Abstract Painting:


I first placed a couple pieces of the drywall mesh on the canvas. I chose to put mine only where I was going to paint, but I guess there’s no reason why you couldn’t put it where the gold would be. The only thing to be aware of is that I planned to pull the mesh off so I didn’t adhere it to the canvas. If you were planning to put the gold leaf over the mesh, you would definitely want to adhere the mesh.
The ultramarine right out of the tube was a little too bright blue, so I mixed it with about an equal amount of black to get the dark blue.
I painted that dark blue on most of the canvas above where I would put the gold. I used a putty knife and a palette knife, making it thick in some areas and thinner in other area.
Once the blue was almost dry, I removed the mesh. It pulled right off.


Once that blue was dry I went in with a blue closer to what comes out of the Ultramarine tube. But this was still way to blue for me. While that was drying, I painted on the gold leaf size as it needs to dry for about a half hour.
After a half hour, I laid on the gold leaf and went back over the brighter blue with my dark black blue. I also laid down a little white
Then I went back in while the paints were just a wee bit wet and moved them around with a dry brush, making the white more subdued. Wipe your brush on a rag or paper towel often to keep it clean.


When all the paint was dry, I went back and added a wee bit more gold leaf up in the blue.
Suggested materials:
  • Acyrlic paint
  • Canvas
  • Texture
See all materials
Lynn @ Nourish and Nestle
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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