Despite being independently wealthy and able to purchase any art we desire, I…

Oh wait. That’s not right.

Let’s try again:

Although we are abundantly blessed, we are still on a pretty tight (read: nonexistent) decorating budget. So I like to paint a lot of our home’s artwork myself. It gives me a creative outlet and our home a little color and polish.

Armed with a 40- or 50% off coupon for Michael’s Craft Store, a huge canvas–this one is 3′ x 4′–is supremely affordable, around $25. [Or find an old canvas at a yard sale or thrift store and paint over it!] And the little bottles of acrylic craft paint (available at Michael’s Hobby Lobby, even Walmart) are inexpensive and come in a plethora of colors. I use foam brushes a lot, too, because they’re easy to work with and cheap as chips.

Some subjects are so simple, even an novice amateur could tackle them with some confidence, like the little house canvases I did for our daughter: basically rectangles and triangles, non?

But for Li’l Bro, I drew inspiration from his sheet set. It is Pottery Barn Kids Home Run sheeting from a few years ago. It’s covered in baseball playing scenes. The feel is graphic and vintage. Perfect for this canvas! And if you feel you might lack the artistic hutzpah to tackle this freehand, see about getting your hands on an overhead projector (if you are actively involved serving at your child’s elementary school, they may let you use one of theirs??).

In most paintings, you paint back to front, so fill in what will be in the background and then move forward into what will be in the foreground… Um, yeah, I broke my own rule on this one… Since it was a totally random impulse to paint this, I wanted to see if I could actually rough in the baseball player to my satisfaction before proceeding…

Thankfully, he made the cut, so I filled in the background from there, and then went back over my figure, looking at the PBK home run sheet as I went for color & shading reference. Here he is in progress.

And here he is posing with me after completion… Wait, I have two questions: 1) Is that really what my eyebrows looked like then? 2) If so, what was I thinking?

Ahem, but I digress.

The painting went into Li’l Bro’s room where it stayed leaning against the wall right for some time…

{Aside: *sniff* He was still in a crib when I did this painting… He has since plowed through his time in a toddler bed and is now in a “big boy” twin bed. Where did those years go??}

 …But it resides now on this book (& toy) shelf, and has for some time. I absolutely love how it accentuates the tall (11′) ceiling height, and makes what could be an otherwise pretty basic room feel much more designed and important.

Isn’t it glorious how a few pots of paint, an inexpensive canvas, and a couple of hours can help transform a room with DIY art!?

So how do y’all decorate on a {tight} budget? Do tell!

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You might enjoy other art inspirations in the “DIY Art” section of the blog…