Art for living room

I finally got some funky art in the living room behind one of the lounges! I thought of getting one of my favourite fabrics, stretch it over a long canvas frame and painting over it a contrasting motif. For this purpose, I chose the silhouette of a few poppies. Back in January 2007 I'd seen a poppy wall decal that I've never really been able to forget... and that was my inspiration.

Canvas: 153 x 61cm ($31.99 on sale, normally $50)
Fabric: Seaweed Stripe in Yellow/Pink 2.5 yards for $31.48 inclu shipping from BuyFabricsOnline.com
Fabric Paints: $12 for a set of 6 tubes from wholesalers (only used 2 tubes)
Staple gun: mother in law's and her staples :)

Total expenditure: $63.47

Process:

1. Grab canvas when on sale.

2. Drool when favourite fabric arrives at home. I was nursing a migraine but still had the time to drool in a darkened room hehehe

3. Stapled the fabric onto the canvas frame. Husband stapled about 5 cm apart with me holding the fabric taut.

4. Umm and ahhed for a few days while looking around for inspiration.

5. Once I chose my pattern, I played around with it in Photoshop, trying to decide where to position it...

6. Once satisfied, I ... put paint to canvas! Caution: when painting with fabric paint, it can be unforgiving... so it is worthwhile getting an old fabric and just painting bits out your pattern just to learn how to work with the paint and applicator...



I still love love love my fabric choice! Makes me feel happy.