Color Field Painting

About

Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 4h00

Easy way to get a painting in the perfect size for your wall!
If you want a large piece of art for your wall the options tends to be limited. Either it's very pricey or it's not your style or the colors are not what you want. I decided to paint one myself using the technique described here: http://thenewdomestic.com/2010/03/weekend-art-project/

Buy a prestreched canvas or stretch one yourself (I couldn't find one in the dimensions I wanted, so I streched my own), decide on the colors and buy them too (also some white paint, see why further down), plus a roll of narrow masking tape. I made up my design using a computer graphic program; gimp. It's one of the best and it's free.

To avoid splashing paint all over, cover a table bigger than your frame with an old sheet. Put your frame on this, possibly with some wooden ribs in the corners to lift the painting up from the cloth and make it easier to paint the edges, and then start taping. (Painting the entire area white first is an option, I did this, but you don't have to.)

When the tape is on you might think it's time to start on the colors, but no. Here is a tip to make the final result that much better: Paint will always bleed in under the masking tape - this is a fact and can't be avoided. BUT you can start by painting a good layer or two of white paint over the tape's edges. That means the paint that bleeds is white on white canvas - invisible!

I used a small roller to paint the red areas and a very soft brush to paint the gold. However, this is a personal preference, use whatever you're comfortable with; brush, sponge or roller. Whatever your tool, if your brushstrokes go from the canvas onto the tape, the risk of lifting the tape and messing up your art is higher than if you stroke the other way. From the tape onto the canvas is the way to go.

How many layers you need to paint depends on your choice of color and paint, I needed two on my painting. Removing the masking tape while the paint is still wet makes it easier to get sharp edges. Ta-da, done!