Painting Your Own Pictures, Art, Canvas and Custom Wall Art.

After buying my first house, I had to decorate the walls! Bare walls are anathema to me. A house is not a home without good art to look at and compliment your lifestyle.

I had always admired good art and coveted many pieces that I could never afford in my lifetime. I am especially fond of Frederic Remington an artist that works in bronze as well as oils. Then I discovered photography!

Although most museums will not allow a camera in the hallowed halls, the museum store quite likely supplies well photographed examples of their art in the form of post cards. These post cards can be used to create a collage or they can be used to make copies as I will explain in a bit.

Poster art is available for almost any painting in the world. I collected a few posters that I loved and framed them to place on my walls. You can even get the Mona Lisa! The frames are not cheap unless you learn to do that yourself too. But at least it is affordable. I have seen many framed posters where the framing costs a good deal more than the art inside it! No one has to know.

At first I was quite happy with a few posters of art that were tastefully framed and carefully hung. I wanted more, or I changed the furniture and the art no longer matched my décor. I had to find another way to deal with my walls.

I wanted interesting and one of a kind art that couldn't be found anywhere except in MY house! There was only one way to accomplish that. I had to learn to paint my own art, frame my own photos and produce custom pieces just for myself.

I had no idea how to paint or how to draw. There was a small art course at the local adult learning center and several classes available at Michael's. It was much easier than I thought! Although my first attempt to draw and paint my own art looked very childish to me, many people really liked it. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

This is not exactly a good way to learn to draw and paint. However, if you really want a particular piece of art and you can't afford to pay the artist their due, you have the option of copying the art.

Truthfully, it's a copyright infringement. The artist may even want to sue you should he or she find out about what you have done. But imitation is also the most sincere form of flattery and you can never really duplicate someone's art anyway. You can trace it, you can photograph it, you can try to forge it, but unless you are some kind of genius, you'll never get the true original, just a copy.

There is a little gizmo called a "Tracer Projector". It's available from any good art or craft store. I have provided a link here to the one available at Amazon.

I've used it most effectively on line art. That is like the kind of picture you see in a coloring book or a black and white illustration. You can outline the picture on a canvas using the Tracer Projector and then use oils or acrylic paints to "color" it in. This can be a very simple project or a very complicated one. Take your time and this technique can provide you with thousands of pictures to paint and make your own.

Getting permission to use a line drawing is just a matter of contacting the artist and asking for permission. I've never known them to say no, especially if you are using drawings for your own pleasure and not for commercial resale.

Now you know that great and traditional art can cost upwards of thousands or even millions of dollars! Not to mention the insurance money you have to pay to protect that art.

So why not learn to paint your own canvases? It's really easy and fun and truly custom made. The supplies are very easy to obtain at any Michael's or Hobby Lobby. I've saved 1.5 million by NOT buying an original Frederic Remington!

Should you happen to have an artist friend, perhaps they will do an original canvas just for you. I have done this for friends of mine. Either they don't have the time or think they don't have the skills needed. I usually do really simple things for a nominal fee.

I don't think I'll ever be a famous artist or even learn to paint and draw well. I do it for fun and to save money! My walls look great too.

Garage sales, flea markets and yard sales often have unknown and undiscovered artworks for sale. It's an amazing day when you find a good canvas for a few dollars. Even if it's not a famous artist or a well known work of art. If you love it, it's priceless!

A couple of other places to try for art are The Salvation Army Thrift Stores and Goodwill Stores. Many a small treasure have been found in these stores. You might even find the perfect home made frame for a rustic piece of art.

Then there's always the story of a regular guy or girl finding a Salvadore Dali or DaVinci painting just laying around in a barrel of knick knacks.