DIY Art: Ombre Effect

I've found that art can get really expensive.  I'm a huge fan of framing prints (you can order large prints or posters pretty cheap from sites like Art.com or Posters.com) but I love a good piece of abstract art on a canvas.

We have a few hanging in our home that I'm obsessed with - we have one very large piece from Ballard that I'm still obsessed with two years later... it hangs in our living room.  And another piece of black and white abstract from West Elm that is in our dining room.

I believe everyone has a creative streak in themselves, so I wanted to start posting ideas about creating art for your own home. First up... an ombre art project...

Source

For this project you'll need:

  - A large stretched canvas (or small... if you want to test it out before going big)

  - A 2" foam brush (they are cheap, and you can toss it when you're finished)

  - A super saturated paint (any kind of paint would do... wall paint, craft paint, oil...)

  - White paint

  - Plastic tray or plate for mixing (something you can throw away - Tupperware works too)

Once you have all your materials, it's time to make some art!

Start with the darkest color first - squeeze out a bunch onto your plastic tray / plate / tupperware, and load up your foam brush.  Make a single long streak starting at the far left.  You'll probably need to load up your brush several times if you're working on a larger canvas.  I like that the edges here are more streaky, and the middle is solid - I'd start in the middle and work out to the top and bottom to be sure it's nice and textured on each end.

Add a bit of white paint to the mix, stir it around, and paint your next stripe.

As you go, continue adding white to lighten the color, up until you're finished. The final stripe should really be a wash of the color - nearly colorless.

I am loving the green they used above, but you could do blues, blacks and greys... really any color combo that suits you!

Fun, right??  I really want to try this out!