Ya gotta have ART...

Gotta love Pinterest. 
That's where I discovered the myriad of uses for the economical canvas drop cloth. If you've been using them to just plop a can of paint on and catch paint drips, you are definitely missing out.

I had an ottoman that needed a new slipcover (because I shrunk that last one in the dryer) and I saw plenty of Pinterest posts that used these drop cloths for upholstery and curtains. Since the natural color of the drop cloth was perfect for my ottoman, I popped into Home Depot and snagged a large medium weight one for the ridiculously reasonable cost of $14. And I knew that after sewing the slipcover I would have plenty of cloth leftover for another project.

After rearranging my dining room, I had recently vacated wall that needed BIG ART. But BIG ART = expensive.
And I am cheap budget conscious. I was also up for the challenge to inexpensively create some big art myself.

On Pinterest, I searched for "large abstract art" (because if it's abstract, no one can complain "Hey, that doesn't look like anything) and I found a painting that I thought I had a chance of sort of  recreating. My husband (of little faith) was skeptical, but since it would only cost us the materials for the wood frame that the canvas would stretch over and my time, why not go for it?

Have I ever mentioned that I have a boatload of leftover paint? I believe I have. Anyway, I wouldn't even need to purchase any paint for this project. If I didn't have the color I needed, I could probably mix it from the stash that I had.

I stretched and stapled the drop cloth over the 3' x 5' wood frame my husband made (total cost $17), then primed it with 2 coats of leftover flat white latex paint.

Then the fun began! Armed with a color copy of my inspiration painting, courtesy of Pinterest, over the span of a week, I painted, waited for paint to dry, then continued painting. And I was able to just use brushes I already had from other house painting projects. At some point I realized the painting looked too angry, so I eliminated some of the more jagged bits.
But now, I'm super happy with the way it turned out (even if it bears little resemblance to the painting I was copying). And my doubting husband is pretty impressed with it, too.
So, here it is, hanging in my dining room!

What I learned from this project:

1. It's fun to push yourself to try something new (especially when you know any failures won't cost you that much).

2. Got my BIG ART for $17. (I don't count the cost of the drop cloth since I had to buy that for my slipcover project, and I figure any leftover material, like paint, is just bonus. 

3. Not sure how I lived without Pinterest.