Summer Sketching

Around this time of year I always think about how enjoyable it is to do some drawing.  It is the most convenient way to take your art with you when you’re out and about.

All you need is a small pad of paper and a pencil.  With just these two items you can sketch.

There is no need to produce a complete picture – unless you want to.  In just a couple of minutes you can enjoy your hobby and draw a small picture.

Practice makes perfect.  Every sketch will help you to improve your drawing.

This is a great way for passing the time when you have to wait, whether it is for an appointment or perhaps at the airport waiting for your plane.


What to Sketch?

You can draw things that you see.  I find that I notice more detail when I am sketching things.  This type of picture can be a good reference when you want to add details to the foreground of a painting.  Examples of this type of sketching could be benches, people, clocks, foliage of plants.

Concentrating on the light and shade will help to make your drawing more three dimensional.  Try looking at the way the light affects a particular scene, this can help to add an atmospheric look to your artwork.  This will help your sketch as well as giving you ideas about how to add a particular mood to a more detailed picture that can be painted later. 

You can sketch whatever you feel like, maybe even designing your own superhero comic character.  You don’t need to sketch just the things you can see.


You just need Basic Equipment

The basic items are just a pad of paper and a pencil.  If you find you enjoy sketching you may wish to take other drawing materials so that the sketches could have some extra elements.  Perhaps a hard and soft lead pencil so that you can smudge the soft lead areas for shadows and contrast.

Some people like to sketch with ballpoint pens or felt tipped coloured pens.  You can try a range of drawing equipment to see which ones you like the best.

Should you decide to add watercolour paints to your sketching equipment you’ll need to use thicker paper so that the water in the paints does not make the paper cockle (or buckle) too much.

When you are just starting out you’ll only need a pad of paper and a pencil.  There are small sketchpads that are available in art stores that usually have good quality paper in a range of sizes.  However when you are beginning all you really need is a pad of unlined paper and a pencil.

Even when the weather isn’t good enough for sitting outside to draw this is something you can do, inside or out, and with only some paper and a pencil.

This is a good way to improve your drawing skills in a quick and easy way.  And a great excuse for sitting out in the sunshine too.

How to Send an Artwork Gift

With Christmas fast approaching you may be thinking about making a personalised gift and sending it. If you decide to send some artwork you will need to package it fairly well so that it will arrive in good condition. This is even more important for a present.

If the artwork is painted onto paper or canvas panel it will be the more suitable for sending. Stretched canvases need a lot more packaging.

However if you are sending paper, canvas panel or even a picture with a mount the easiest way is to use a board backed envelope.

Board Backed Envelopes

These come in a range of sizes. My local newspaper shop sells them singly so I can buy just one.

Ideally you want the size of the envelope to be about one inch longer and one inch wider than your artwork. If it is too large the picture tends to move about too much and can be damaged.

A board backed envelope can be cut down to size and the cut edges sealed with tape, parcel tape works well for this.

There are different qualities of board backed envelopes. If the one you buy seems too thin and flexes a lot you can strength it with another piece of thin card. I find that a cereal box can be a good size and thickness for this.

Cut the cereal box to the size of the envelope and slide it in to make sure it fits well.

It is a good idea to put the picture into a plastic bag to keep it dry – just in case!

Put a piece of spare paper, then the picture (in its plastic bag), and then another piece of card in a stack. Next slide this stack into the envelope with the good side of the picture facing the board part of the envelope.


Tip

Place the artwork so that it is facing the board of the envelope, so the extra piece of card to the back of the picture. This ensures that if the rear of the envelope is written on it will not mark the painting.



No board backed envelope?

If you cannot get a board backed envelope you can use a large envelope and make up a sandwich of packing to protect your artwork.

In this case you need to have two pieces of strong card both slightly larger than the picture. The cardboard needs to be about one inch longer and one inch wider than the picture.

Place your artwork into a plastic bag to keep it dry and then sandwich the picture between the cardboard layers. Tape the two cardboard layers together to keep the artwork flat.

This can be placed into a normal large envelope for sending.


Tips

Check that the cardboard is both strong and not too heavy. If it is heavy it will really increase the price of sending the packet.

Mark the outside of the envelope as “Fragile Please Do Not Bend” in large letters, on the front and on the back too.

Tips on Painting from a Photograph – Part 2

Here is Part 2 of Tips on Painting from a Photograph. It looks at the composition of your final painting and considers some of the options you have.

You don't need to paint a picture to exactly match the photograph. In Part 1 we talked about choosing just a section of the original photo and not the whole of it. The composition of the final painting is the main subject of this article.

Although you're using the photo for your inspiration it's still necessary to consider the composition of the final painting.


Here are a few points to think about.

What is the focal point?
Where is it placed? (It is better to avoid putting it in the centre.)
You can move it to a better area if you want.

Are there objects to lead the eye into the painting?
These could be paths, branches, or shapes to lead the eye in.

What about the colours? You could change a landscape to a different time of day or a different time of year?
Instead of mid-day you could have a sunset, instead of the bare branches of winter you could have green leaves or even autumnal leaves.

Consider the contrast between the tones used in the different areas too.
Again you do not need to follow those in the photo.
Perhaps you want to highlight a contrast between some light and dark areas of the picture.

You can use the photo as a starting point for your painting.
But if the final painting is for someone else they may want and expect it to look like the photo.

However you still have the option to change things to improve the composition of the final picture. For example missing out a power line in a landscape or changing the background in a portrait.

Portraits and Caricature as a Second Income?

I recently had a query about drawing and painting portraits, perhaps as a second income. As you probably know I don't paint a lot of portraits but I have done a few.

One of the projects in Part Three of the Acrylic Painting Course is a portrait. I chose painting a portrait as I was trying to cover a wide range of subjects. Also, the painting is about working the whole of the picture at the same time. Usually in landscapes I paint in layers from the distance to the foreground. But in the portrait painting the whole of the subject is worked at the same time.


Top Portrait Tip

However one important tip I can give you is to make your subject look good. Pretty much everyone would prefer to have a portrait that flatters them. Don't go too far but make them look nice.

I was watching a program on the television about a famous portrait painter of the 18th century (whose name I cannot remember) and the commentator said that his portraits were sought after because he always made the sitter look a little better than they really did appear.

As the advert says - "You but on a really good day!"

If you want to do portraits as a business you may want to take this into consideration.


Caricature Video Clip

A variation on portrait painting is drawing caricatures of people. These are often a lot quicker to do and you can produce one for sale in a fairly short timescale compared to painting a portrait.

This is something I haven't done. I rather paint than draw! However if you're interested you can have a look at this short video.

It is an interesting video clip of Graeme Biddle drawing a caricature that you may find worth watching, I enjoyed it! He sells a course on how to draw them and has this video on his website. It's only about 6½ minutes long.

Here is the link so you can see it too

http://72c7adq0sfkhh4q2zabc1o7ya2.hop.clickbank.net/


I can imagine that once you master this skill that you'll be a very popular person with all your friends and family asking you to draw one for them.

I also signed up and received the free first part of his course. It has a further video link in it where he draws a more realistic face. This video runs for about 7 minutes and makes the whole process look quite straight forward.

You get further chapters at no cost too. I just received a video on using cartoon software to help with looking at the proportions of the face. I haven't tried it yet but it looks like it will be fun.





Affiliate Disclaimer:
From time to time, I will promote, endorse, or suggest products and/or
services for sale. My recommendation is always based on my belief
that the product and it's author will provide excellent and valuable
information or service. In some cases, I will be compensated if you
decide to purchase the product based on my recommendation.



.

What is in the Acrylic Painting Course?

How to Paint a Textured Background

Painting in backgrounds in landscapes is fairly straightforward. However when painting still life or animal portraits the background area is often a cause for concern.

Painting in backgrounds is a common problem. This post is about a way to use cheesecloth to give a lightly textured background.

The following background techniques would usually be painted before the main part of the picture.


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How to Paint a Textured Background using Cheesecloth


I like the background of a picture to have some texture or subtle colour. This has two benefits.

Firstly, by breaking up a flat background the painting is more interesting.

Secondly, if you smudge the main area of the painting it is a lot easier to repair the background area. When the background is a flat colour, all the background would need to be over-painted. With a textured background you can (often!) touch up some areas without needing to repaint all the background.


Using Cheesecloth is Easy

For an interesting background texture you can use cheesecloth or muslin. This technique can also be effective with voile and lace fabrics too. Try to experiment with whatever loosely woven fabrics you have.


Use the Fabric like a Stencil

Start by spraying your painting surface with water and then place on your fabric.

Next, brush or use a sponge to apply a thinned paint over the fabric. Try not to use too watery paint or it will run underneath it and you won’t get a texture. If this happens just dry everything off with some paper towel and try again.

Let the paint dry for about 10 to 15 minutes (depending on conditions) and then remove the fabric before the paint is completely dry. The impression of the fabric will be left in the painted background.


Alternately use the Fabric for an Impression

Another way to use the fabric is to paint the background and then press the fabric into the painted surface for a different look.

In this case the fabric will soak up some of the paint giving thicker and thinner areas that will provide some texture.


When I Paint in the Background

When I paint pet portraits I have found the easiest thing is to lightly draw in the pet portrait shape and then paint in the background area. When using a stretched canvas I paint around the sides at this stage too.

This way I can leave the majority of the portrait area unpainted. A really textured background would need a thickly painted portrait to cover it otherwise.

Then towards the end of the picture I tidy up any background areas that need it and finally paint some of the fur over the background paint. This blends both areas a little and adds to the texture of the pet fur.

This would work equally well with flowers or other subjects that are the main focus of your picture.


Abstract Themes

These painting techniques will work well for abstract pictures too. However in abstract pictures these techniques could be used at any stage.

They would be handy to use after the whole picture has been painted to add some extra interest. Then you can just define a few of the areas to bring them forward.

That is, paint most of the picture, apply the texture, and then emphasis a few of the areas once the texture has dried.

These highlighted areas would be a good place to use some acrylic mediums to give either a gloss finish or perhaps metallic highlights.


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I hope you find this helpful.
There is no right way to paint, just different ideas for achieving the look you want. :-)

Painting Tips for Painting Effective Forest Areas

Here's a couple of handy tips for painting forest and woodland areas. Like so many tips once you think about it, and consider the reasoning, it is obvious. I always find that when I understand the reasoning behind a tip or technique it is a lot easier to remember it too.


Forest Lighting

When painting a woodland or forest area the darker shades are towards the centre of the wooded area. Therefore the lighter shades are on the outside trees, which are away from the centre of the forest. This is the obvious part!

When painting a forest scene if you just concentrate on the main source of light (probably the sun) you will usually have a lot of shadow areas all to the same side of the trees. However once you remember that the trees to the outside are lighter it will remind you to paint any trees further into the wooded area in darker tones. It will be murky in there.


Scrape out the Tree Trunks

Once you've painted in the trees, and the paint is still wet, you can scrape off some of the paint to indicate tree trunks or branches. A cocktail stick can be handy and a good size for this.

It usually is more effective if you only scrape a few trunks or branches. Too many trunks can add too much detail into an area in the distance. Remember there is less detail as you get further into the distance, when things are farther away you cannot see so much detail. So just doing a few scraped trunks and branches will be more effective.

Scraping away the paint will leave a light area; this is particularly good for silver birch tree trunks. You can always paint in some lighter trunks later if you want to as well.


I have heard…

I read that one artist uses a pencil sharpener to sharpen the end of his paint brushes. He uses this sharp end to scrape out the trunk shapes. I can see that it could be convenient but I think I'd end up poking myself in the face. (Ouch!)


Tree Shadows

If you have shadows from the trees that fall onto grassy areas at the edge of the woodland be sure to paint the shadows to show the angles of the ground.

If the land is sloping away from the tree then paint the tree shadow on an angle to show how the ground is dropping away. This is a great way to add interest to your picture as well.

Painting Tip for Checking the Colour of the Paint

This post contains a handy tip about testing paint, to check the colour, before applying it to your picture. I have to admit that I don't always do this, but if you can get into the habit of checking the colour first it can prevent some ugly mistakes.

I recommend testing colours on a spare piece of paper before applying it to your painting. This can save you both time and stress. Mainly because acrylic paint can dry almost immediately, so often you cannot just wipe it off. Here's a tip that you might want to try.

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Painting Tip especially for Square Paintings


This is a handy tip for pictures painted on paper. Often you'll be painting a picture that will not fill the size of paper you are using. A good example would be a square picture on a rectangular piece of paper.

Mark off the painting area

It can be useful to draw in a light line to mark the edge of the picture.

When you do this you can use the spare section to test colours on. You'll be trimming the paper once the picture is complete anyway, so you can use this part as a colour testing section.

One of the main benefits of this tip is that the tested colour is very close to the painting and it is easier to see how it will look. Also, as it is on exactly the same painting surface there is be no variation.

Mainly for paper surfaces

Obviously this tip will be best for paper surfaces that are easy to trim. It wouldn't be suitable for stretched canvases. But you could probably use it on a canvas panel if you were going to trim it anyway.

However it's usually easier to trim a canvas panel before starting to paint. When you trim a canvas panel before it is painted you don't need to worry about marking the painted surface.

Try to get into the habit of testing the paint colour, it can save a lot of time and make your painting more enjoyable!

The Easy Way to Mask off an Area in a Painting

There are often sections of a painting that will need a hard edge. Although you can paint up to the edge, keeping a definite line can be difficult.

It is usually a better idea to mask off an area, paint the section that borders it, remove the mask and complete the painting.

Masking Options

When masking an area you have a few choices.


Masking Fluid

You can use masking fluid which is like a liquid plastic and is painted on.

Top Tip use an old brush to apply masking fluid as it can be difficult to clean completely from the brush.

Let the masking fluid dry then paint the surrounding area. Once the paint is completely dry remove the masking fluid. Do not leave it on overnight or it can be hard to get off without damaging the painting surface.

Masking fluid is handy for curved and irregular shapes.


Masking Tape

I like to use masking tape. It is especially good for horizon lines in seascapes. The best part about masking tape is that you can remove it once you are confident that the paint is dry enough not to run.

However if you are painting on a paper surface it can sometimes pull the painting surface if you are not very careful when you remove it. Be careful when removing it.

I find it works very well on canvas and canvas panels. In this sketch I used it around the edges to give the finished painting a clear border.


Card Mask

Another method, and probably the easiest one when you are using a paper painting surface, is to use a piece of card. I usually end up using a piece of card from the breakfast cereal packet!

This method works best when you are using a dry brush technique, you do not want the paint too thin or it will flow beneath the card mask.

You could use it for painting in hedges in between fields in a landscape. This makes painting in hedgerows really quick. Just place the card, paint in the hedges, remove the card and paint in the field. Paint in the field while the hedge is still damp and you can blend the bottom of the hedge with the field colour for a lovely effect.

Another good example is using it to mask off the roof when you are painting shrubs and trees behind the roof line of a building. (This is shown in the illustrations).

All you need to do is cut a piece of card and hold it to mask off the roof while you use quite a dry paint to indicate the trees to the rear of the building.

Tip I find that that a card mask works best for short distances, using a large piece of card can be a bit awkward. I prefer to use a shorter piece of card and move it along as I paint.

Both of these examples use a straight edge on the card; however you could also cut the card into any shape you want for different uses. The key is not to use too wet a paint which would bleed behind the card and ruin the effect.


Which is best?

Your final choice will probably depend on the painting surface you are using.


A Word of Warning

Remember that acrylic paints are adhesives once dried. If you use a mask with very thick paint it may be stuck into the painting. Perhaps not the look you were trying for!

This is most likely to happen with masking fluid because it is removed once the paint is dried.

However, masks are very useful when using the paints more thinly and especially when using watercolour techniques.

In this quick sketch I used masking tape around the picture.

I used a card mask (second picture) for the hedges in the fields and for the building to keep the paper where the building will be clean. This is very handy when using the paint in thin washes of colour.

How to Draw a basic Daffodil

I saw this really easy way to draw daffodils and wanted to share it with you.

Steps

1. Draw a circle the size you want the flower to be

2. Draw a triangle in the circle

3. Draw a second triangle as shown

4. Draw a circle in the centre

5. Draw around the points of the triangles to give the petals. Use an uneven line to draw around the circle and add a second ring for the outside edge of the trumpet.

6. Depending on the size of the daffodil you may want to add stamens. You would not see these if the daffodil was further away.

If you want to draw a daffodil that is not ‘straight on’ here’s how to do it.

Draw a Daffodil on the angle

Steps

1a. Start with an oval instead of a circle. Draw in the 2 triangles as before. Draw an oval instead of a circle in the centre.

2a. Use the top and bottom of the small centre oval and draw short straight lines to form the trumpet. The end of the trumpet is a slightly larger oval.

3a. Draw around the points of the triangles to give the petals. Use an uneven line to draw around the ‘trumpet end oval’ and add a larger second ring for the outside edge of the trumpet.

4a. Again adding stamens will depend on how far away the flower is.


Important Points and Tips

These steps are for a basic daffodil shape. Notice that all the petals of one of the triangles are to the front of all the petals on the other triangle. In other words every second petal is to the front and drawn to the base of the trumpet part.

Daffodils come in a wide variety.
Things you can change for different looks are –

* The shape of the petals

* The width of the petals

* The diameter of the trumpet

* The length of the trumpet

* The colour of the flowers. Daffodils can be white, shades of yellow, orange and combinations of these colours. Have a look at some gardening books or catalogues for ideas.

In my garden

I have some small yellow alpine daffodils open in the garden just now; they have very narrow petals with a round end. There is hardly any overlap of the petals. The trumpet is narrow but quite long.

On the other hand I have some taller daffodils that have short wide petals and a very short wide trumpet. There is a great variety in both shape and size. This makes them easier to draw.

If you wanted to add leaves to your drawing just add some straight narrow leaves with rounded ends.

Top Tip

For a more natural look - angle the flower so that it is ‘looking’ to the ground slightly. The weight of the trumpet usually causes a lot of the flowers to be on this angle.

Try drawing a bunch of daffodils and see how easy this is to do.

A Different Way to Paint Trees, Ideal for Beginners too!

I was watching a TV programme where the man was painting trees, or tree shapes to be more accurate. It was a technique that I hadn’t seen before so I thought you would find it interesting too.

He started by painting in the trunks and some branches then added the leaves using a piece of towel. Just a normal fabric towel, the kind you dry your hands on. He bunched it up in his hand and used a smooth section, not a crumpled part.

As you can imagine by dipping the surface of the towel into the paint and then just touching it onto the painting surface gives a random texture. The result was very effective too.

The key point is to keep within a tree shape with the towel texture. You can add some detail with a brush to tidy it up if necessary.

Be sure to try it on a spare piece of paper with an old bit of towel or an old face cloth to see if you like the look before you add it into your painting!


Making Green for the Trees

We discussed this before but it seems relevant to revisit this handy colour mixing tip here.

If you have mixed up a blue and yellow to make a green, or used a premixed colour, you can often find that it is too bright. Try adding a little red to the green to make it more subdued.


Why this works

When you mix two complimentary colours together you get a neutral colour. A complimentary colour is the colour on the opposite side of the colour wheel, to your original one. An example would be yellow and purple.

So by adding just a touch of red to your too bright green you are making it more of a neutral colour and therefore less bright.

This type of colour mixing information can be found in the Colour Mixing Tips and Thoughts Special Report at the Learn and Do website. At present it is a bonus with The Acrylic Painting Course. :-)

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New Beginners Acrylic Painting Report and Video File on CD

I have a new item on CD that is suitable for anyone ready to learn how to paint.

(If you already have The Acrylic Painting Course this is NOT for you.
You will have all this information in the course.)

The Acrylic Painting Tips and Techniques for the Beginner Report tells you what equipment to buy, how to set up your painting supplies and there a couple of easy projects to start you off.

And there's more…

As well as the Acrylic Painting Tips and Techniques for the Beginner Report there is Acrylic Painting Equipment and Techniques computer video file that runs for about 19 minutes. It shows how to set up your palette, how to load artist brushes and a bit of colour mixing too.

Both these items are sent to you on a CD so there are no downloading worries.
This information will be available for the next month or two before I remove it.
Visit the link below to find out more.

http://www.geocities.com/cathcald

Painting Technique - Painting the Negative Space

When using acrylic paint you can add layers of light colour to increase the definition of a pale area. However another option is to paint in the negative area to highlight the pale area.

This is a very good technique and can make your paintings more interesting. It is also an easy way to add detail to a flat area of colour.

The example is just a small section of a painting but it shows how this simple technique can quickly add interest with the minimum effort!

In this example

Always try to contrast light and dark areas in a picture. When you have this kind of contrast it is easy to paint in some of the negative areas because one of the adjoining sections will be in a darker colour.

(I think that it is more successful to paint in negative areas with a darker colour, but if you want to try to use a lighter colour over a darker one be sure to use the paint more thickly.)

In this case the dark colour is used to make the top of the pale area jagged; this makes the pale area look more grass like.

In the example the darker colour was used to paint in the negative area behind the grasses and then faded into the background area. The unevenness of the stone wall made this easy, but if the negative area was smooth you can just blend the colour using water to thin it. By leaving a darker edge next to the pale colour you get a nice contrast too.

Use this technique

To add definition to any areas you feel needs it. It would be good for darkening the area to the side of a tree trunk and make the trunk stand out a bit more. Ideal for the trunk of a silver birch, just add some extra dark shades to the area at the side of the trunk to give the trunk more contrast and this helps to make the trunk more three dimensional too.

It is great for forest paintings as you can hint at more trees in the background without giving them too much detail.

Top Tip – the greatest contrast areas are always in the foreground of a picture. Make sure you have the contrast between the colours suitable for the distance in the painting, i.e. not too much contrast for areas in the distance.

Visit the Learn and Do website at http://www.learnanddo.com/ to find out more about The Acrylic Painting Course. Check out the free preview of the course too.

Titanium White and the Meanings Given to the Colour White

This post is a look at Titanium White and the meanings given to the colour white.

It is interesting to see that we have probably all eaten this colour’s usual pigment!

Titanium White

At Wikipedia it says – “The main modern white hiding pigment is Titanium dioxide. (A naturally occurring oxide of titanium)

Some pigments are toxic, such as the lead pigments that are used in lead paint. Paint manufacturers began replacing white lead pigments with the less toxic substitute, titanium white (titanium dioxide), even before lead was functionally banned in paint for residential use.

Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania, is the naturally occurringoxide of titanium, chemical formula TiO2. When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891.

It is noteworthy for its wide range of applications, from paint to sunscreen to food colouring. It is employed as a pigment to provide whiteness and opacity to products such as paints, coatings, plastics, papers, inks, foods, medicines (i.e. pills and tablets) as well as most toothpastes.

Used as a white food colouring, it has E number E171. In cosmetic and skin care products, titanium dioxide is used both as a pigment and a thickener. It is also used as a tattoo pigment and styptic pencils

This pigment is used extensively in plastics and other applications for its UV resistant properties where it acts as a UV reflector.”

White paints can also be made from other white pigments such as chalk (not in oil) and zinc white, as well as titanium white.

This explains why white acrylic paint is opaque and not suitable for a lot of the watercolour techniques, as discussed in The Acrylic Painting Course. And how it can be used to over-paint any areas that do not turn out!!

Do you want to learn to paint? Find out more about The Acrylic Painting Course at

http://www.LearnAndDo.com/acrylic.asp

Some Meanings for White -

The white flag is the universal symbol for truce.

The ancient Greeks wore white to sleep in so that they would have pleasant dreams. The ancient Persians believed that all gods wore white.

A white sale is a sale of sheets, towels and other bed and bath items.

In the 20th century western brides have worn white to symbolise innocence and purity.

In China white is the colour of mourning.

It is worn by doctors and nurses to show that cleanliness is important and to ensure that their garments are clean and dirt-free.

A white knight is a rescuer.

To whitewash over something is to make it seem presentable when it is not!

White reflects light and is considered to be a summer colour. It is popular in fashion and decorating as it is light and neutral.

Making Your Own Custom Artwork using Aperture Frames

Original painting and the final framed picture

Some of the options that could be used from the original painting.

Making artwork to match your décor is an interesting and easy project. This article looks at different options when using aperture frames. Aperture frames are widely available from home furnishing shops and other household stores.

An aperture frame comes complete with a mount (mat) cut to display photos. The size of the aperture can vary but usually they are photograph size, often 6 by 4 inches. The frames can be suitable for a single photo or for a number of photos to be displayed in the one frame.

These frames are a handy way to make your own artwork to display in your home. There are a number of options when using these frames, not including the intended method of using photos!

Landscape Option

For this idea you paint one piece of paper that will fill the whole of the frame. This works particularly well with frames that have more than one aperture. Once your painting is placed behind the mount it will give the effect of a range of matching landscapes.

You don’t need to get too worried about the actual landscape because the final piece will only show a few sections of the painting. I like to use a horizontal looking landscape with the sky, distant hills, closer areas painted in very simply.

Once the paint is dry you can place the mount on top to check the result. You can always add more detail if you want.

Top Tip – Make your painting larger than the final picture. This will allow you to move the pre-cut mount around your painting to give you a range of options to choose from.

Abstract Version

Using the same technique you could use just horizontal stripes instead of a landscape. If you include similar colours to ones used to decorate your room you will have a quick and easy method for creating matching artwork.

Paper Version

If you don’t want to paint anything yourself you could use a piece of gift wrap instead. Find a wrapping paper you like and use it, in the same way, in the aperture frame instead.

You could always try a piece of wallpaper from the room.

Fabric Option

It doesn’t have to be paper! Try using a thin fabric behind the mount for a different effect. Perhaps you could try some of the upholstery fabric from your room if it is not too thick.

Another option is buying an off-cut of a fabric you like or that has the colours you want to include in your picture.

The Final Finish

These ready made frames provide a range of possibilities for making your own unique artwork. The frames come in a good range of colours and woods too. Select the frame that will match the style of your room for a pleasing result.

The best part is that once you put the frame back together it is beautifully presented too. Amaze your friends with this easy way to make an original display. This would make a great gift too.