Painted Pattern Artwork

Since I am a stay-at-home mother with 3 small children, living off of one income, I like to give gifts that require more of my time and thought than money. But I find it hard to make homemade gifts for adults...

Here was my solution for a birthday present for a dear friend this week: small canvas artwork.  Since art is so subjective I thought that a nice pattern would be a nice subject matter, And I picked  a size that could be hung anywhere, but not necessarily be the main piece of art in her house.

I had done some damask inspired paintings for my bedroom a couple years ago. They are 3 of them and actually they are quite big: 2 ft by 4 ft. I painted them onto thin plywood and screwed them into the wall.

Our bedroom is huge and the wall that you see when entering the room was just a huge blank space so these painting span the entire width of the room.

So I did these painting the same way I did the smaller canvas ones:

First I drew out the pattern on a sheet of paper.

Then you turn it over and using a pencil, color the whole back side.

Then all you have to do is lay it on the canvas and trace over the pattern. The lead from the back side will rub off onto the canvas and leave a faint mark. (of course if you are doing a bigger piece of art you will have to move your paper, relining it up and tracing again and again, I recommend tracing paper for that).

Now all you have to do is paint it in. Yes, it is a slow process with a little brush but the outcome is gorgeous!

I paired it with a bag I found at Target with the same pattern and a sewn fabric covered card.