DecoratePaintings. January 10th, 2024

70 Best DIY Painting Ideas on Canvas for Beginners

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Canvas painting is the practice of painting on a stretched canvas made of cotton, linen, or synthetic fibers. It is a popular medium for artists due to its versatility, durability, and ability to create a range of textures and effects. The canvas is typically stretched over a wooden frame and secured with staples or tacks. Use acrylic paints, oil paints, or watercolor paints for DIY painting ideas on canvas to create a wide range of artworks.

Lets look at some FAQs before getting to the DIY canvas painting ideas.

Where to buy a Canvas?

When buying a canvas for painting, it is important to consider the type of paint and desired finish. Art supply stores offer a variety of types, grades, and textures, while online retailers offer a variety of sizes and materials. Value packs are also available at craft stores.

Which Paint to use on Canvas?

Acrylic, oil, watercolor, and gouache are the most common types of paint used on canvas. Acrylic is water-based and dries quickly, while oil has a slow drying time and vibrant colors. Watercolor is transparent and can be applied in thin layers. Gouache is more opaque and can be applied in thicker layers.

When choosing the paint to use on canvas, it is important to consider the desired effect and the surface texture of the canvas.

How do I start painting as a hobby?

Painting as a hobby can be a fun and rewarding experience. To get started, choose your medium, gather your supplies, find inspiration, start with simple compositions, Experiment with techniques, practice regularly, and seek feedback. Enjoy the process and express yourself creatively, and don’t worry too much about creating a masterpiece.

Basic Painting Supplies:

The most important painting supplies are paint, brushes, canvas or paper, a palette, an easel, a palette knife, paint thinner or water, rags or paper towels, painter’s tape, and an apron. Paint is the most important supply, as it suits the project best. Canvas or paper is more durable and can be used for larger paintings. The palette, easel, palette knife, paint thinner or water, rags or paper towels, painter’s tape, and an apron are used to cover the paint.

What should I Paint on my Canvas:

Here are the ideas to consider when deciding what to paint on a canvas: Nature, People, Abstract, Still Life, and Cityscape. Nature can be a beautiful landscape, a serene beach, or a majestic mountain range. People can be a portrait of someone, a famous figure, or a group of people. The abstract can be an opportunity for creative self-expression. Still Life can be a scene of everyday objects arranged interestingly. Cityscape can be a skyline of a city or a historical monument. Enjoy the process and let your creativity flow.

acrylic-painting-on-canvas-ideas

Acrylic Painting Ideas on Canvas For Beginners

There are so many fun options for beginners to paint on canvas whether large canvas or small for home decor or housewarming gift.

Canvas Painting Kits for Adults and Kids

Check out these variety of options to paint on canvas with some assistance with the convenience of all supplies packed in one box if you are not comfortable painting from scratch and don’t want to gather a whole lot of supplies.

I had so much fun painting by numbers and there are beautiful options to choose like this paint by numbers for adults with complete supplies on amazon.

WINNIES-PICKS-PAINT-BY-NUMBERS-REVIEW

Complete Paint Set with Tabletop Easel

Painting Set with Easel

Ultimate Artist Paint Set with oil, watercolor and acrylics.

DIY Oil Painting Paintworks Paint by Numbers

Beach Landscape Acrylic Paint by Numbers

Seasons Diamond Painting for Beginners

Basic Painting Supplies

Here are basic painting supplies you need to start painting. I will share more details on beginners acrylic paintings on the blog soon.

Blank Canvas

Winsor & Newton Acrylic Paints – Basic colors you need as a beginner at canvas painting include titanium white, quinacridone magenta, ultramarine blue, phthalo blue, titanium buff, cadmium orange, burnt amber, cadmium red, phthalo green, sap green, raw sienna, cadmium yellow, and yellow ocre.

Liquitex Basics Acrylic Paints

Paintbrushes – flat brushes for acrylics and round brushes for watercolor.

Acrylic Tube Paint Set

Disposable Paint Palette

Landscape Acrylic Painting Ideas on Canvas

  1. Starry Night with Acrylic Idea:

With Starry Night acrylic painting experience, expressionism can be enjoyed from the comfort of home.

Paint the Starry Night with Acrylic Paint

  1. Seaside Escape Painting with Acrylic Idea:

Beach vacation painting provides a relaxing experience with waves, sun, and umbrellas. See the demonstration of seaside escape painting.

Seaside Escape Acrylic Painting-DIY

  1. Birch Trees Acrylic Painting Idea:

Birch trees create a beautiful forest scene, perfect for those who love the outdoors. Here is how you can paint birch trees with acrylic painting.

Acrylic Painting Forest Birch Trees

  1. Tropical Beach Acrylic Painting Idea:

The artwork will look more dramatic by keeping the palette inside one color family, which makes combining colors easier. Check out the amazing tutorial on Tropical beach landscapes.

PAINT A TROPICAL BEACH

  1. Beautiful Sunset Landscape:

You can observe the colors being combined thanks to the image of the palette included. Have a look at how to paint clouds and the sun’s rays.

Painting a Realistic Sunset in Acrylics

  1. Mountain paintings with Acrylics:

Mountains can vary so much! With trees, snowy mountains, fictional world mountains, Japanese mountains, Mount Kilimanjaro, etc. Check out the tutorial for painting mountains.

Paint Mountains With Acrylic Paints

  1. Northern Lights Forests with Acrylic:

This article will show you how to create the appearance of light and dark, which will make it much more enjoyable to experiment with dark and somber hues.

Northern Lights Forest-Aurora Acrylic Painting

  1. Lavender Fields with Acrylic:

Beautiful meadows and a gorgeous sky make this simple painting job very enticing. Here is the demonstration of Lavender Fields Painting.

Lavender Fields-Acrylic painting

  1. River or Lakes Acrylic Painting Idea:

Although painting water can be challenging. Choose a picture from your favorite trip and enjoy paiting.

Acrylic Landscape Painting-Shallow River

  1. Sunset over the Ocean:

This a pretty thorough tutorial that walks us through the entire painting process step-by-step, giving you all the information you need to follow along and paint.

Ocean Sunset Painting-Acrylic Painting

Nature Canvas Painting Ideas for Starters

  1. Sunrise In Acrylics:

Visualize the brisk air, the new sun, and the quiet of your city with this beautiful sunrise in acrylics.

Sunrise Over the Sea Painting

  1. Palm Tree and Ocean Acrylic Painting:

Paint beautiful trees using acrylic paints on canvas.

paint the ocean with a palm

  1. Acrylic Winter Sunset Painting:

The most important idea is to use different colors for different sunsets, such as yellow, orange, blue, purple, white, and burnt umber. Here is, how you can paint a winter sunset with acrylics.

Winter Landscape Painting

  1. Spring season landscape with Cherry Blossom tree:

Painting a spring landscape with a cherry blossom tree using acrylic paints is a fun and creative activity requiring time and enjoyment.

Acrylic painting of Spring season landscape

  1. Waterfall Acrylic Painting:

Find a waterfall inspiration online or a picture of a waterfall from your trips and start painting.

Waterfall acrylic painting

  1. Acrylic Landscape on Aluminum foil:

Acrylic landscape painting on aluminum foil involves layering thin washes of paint to create depth and atmosphere and can be crinkled or folded to create patterns and shapes.

Create an Acrylic & Abstract Forest Landscape with Aluminum Foil

  1. Spray Painting with Acrylics:

Spray painting with acrylics using a toothbrush is a fun and creative technique that can be used alone or in combination with other painting techniques.

Easy Spray Painting-with toothbrush & Acrylic color

  1. Acrylic Painting with Watercolor and Oil Color:

You can combine your acrylic paints in a specified ratio with oil paintings, watercolors, and other mediums to achieve the required effect.

acrylic painting-diy

  1. Dry brush Painting with Acrylics:

Use the tip of a brush to apply paint, use a stabbing motion to drive the paint into cracks, and move swiftly to brush the paint out.

dry-brush-landscape.

  1. Four Seasons Painting Idea:

Painting a tree with four seasons in one artwork is a great idea.

Easy Acrylic Painting On Canvas

Easy Acrylic Painting Ideas on Canvas

  1. Two-Minute Canvas Art:

A quick and straightforward canvas painting may be made by anyone in a few minutes with very little equipment. Grab a black canvas and start a two minute canvas art.

five-minute-artwork-diy

  1. Galaxy Painting with Acrylic:

Galaxy is intriguing and enigmatic, but acrylic painting is acutely simple. A dry brush or sponge can be used; it just takes five minutes to complete!

Easy way to make an acrylic galaxy painting

  1. Cheery Donuts with Acrylic:

A retro background with swirls and three doughnuts with frosting. Check out the tutorial for cheery donut painting with acrylic.

Easy Acrylic painting for beginners-Food Painting

  1. Easy Acrylic Bookmarks:

Painting on a smaller canvas might be an excellent way to develop attention to detail. It demonstrates step-by-step how to make these miniature works of art.

Easy acrylic bookmarks

  1. Easy Heart Acrylic Painting:

This is an easy acrylic painting idea for beginners. Create a cute little heart painting using cotton swabs.

Easy Heart Acrylic Painting

Creative Canvas Painting Ideas

  1. Cross Stitch on Canvas:

With this easy guide, you may print your favorite saying on canvas. It’s so simple to make and this cross-stitch quote is customizable.

cross-stitch-quote-on-canvas.

  1. Fun Acrylic Painting:

I advise you to try other household equipment around your house, such as metal scrubs, q-tips, chains, bits of felt or foam sheet, pom-poms, fruits, veggies, cutlery, etc. and have fun with this painting.

how-to-painting-wall-art

  1. Snowman Painting with Acrylic:

This beautiful artwork of a snowman can be simply duplicated. I adore the use of white circles for the lighting. Here is how you can paint a snowman with acrylics.

snowman-acrylic-painting-snowman-couple.

  1. Easy Dot Acrylic Painting:

Dot art is a simple way to paint with a round brush, without mixing paint or painting objects and details. Here is to have a look at easy mandala art with acrylics.

draw-paint-dot-mandala-art

  1. Watercolor look with Acrylic Painting:

Thin acrylic paint with distilled water turns it into watercolor art.

HOW TO MAKE ACRYLIC LOOK LIKE WATERCOLOR

  1. Easy Rain Acrylic Painting:

It can be challenging to paint rain and water since you need to use practically translucent paint. You can see how you can paint a rainy night.

Rainy Day Acrylic Painting on Canvas

Simple Acrylic Painting Ideas On Canvas

  1. Painting Fireflies with Acrylics:

Create a glowing aura by using the full spectrum of lights and dark. Check out the tutorial for fireflies painting.

firefly Easy and Simple Acrylic painting

  1. New Year’s Cheers Easy Acrylic Painting:

This painting is quite forgiving because of the solid black backdrop; just paint over any errant brushstrokes, and nobody will ever know!

New Year’s Cheers’ Easy New Year’s acrylic painting

  1. Birds Painting in Acrylics:

Painting a bird in acrylic is a rewarding process that involves selecting a reference image, painting it, and adding finishing touches.

Acrylic Painting-A Bird

  1. Easy Geometric Abstract Painting with Acrylics:

Like origami canvas art, three-dimensional artwork can be created with appropriate lines and color tones.

Geometric Acrylic Painting with Masking Tape

  1. Easy Portrait Acrylic Painting:

Painting a good portrait requires knowledge of anatomy, light, skin tone, and color, and using tricks and techniques, not trying to be photo realistic.

REALISTIC PORTRAIT PAINTING ACRYLIC

  1. Quote Painting with Acrylics:

This stunning quote wall art is perfect for kids’ rooms. I love how the lettering has been done on the canvas.

CANVAS PAINTING USING ACRYLICS-PICTURE QUOTE PAINTING

  1. Scrape Painting Art with Acrylics:

This guide teaches how to use a scraper to make art, and how a good frame can alter the appearance of the artwork.

scrape-painting-art.

Fun Painting Ideas on Canvas

  1. Moonlight Couple Painting with Acrylics:

What about love? We both agreed that painting people and animals can be difficult, therefore we will apply the silhouette technique once more.

Amazing Easy Couple Moonlight Painting

  1. Underwater World with Acrylic:

The aquatic realm is a wonderful and beginner-friendly environment to paint. Here is how you can paint the underwater world with acrylic.

How to Paint Ocean Life

  1. Sunrise Seascape Acrylic Painting:

Painting a sunrise seascape with acrylic paints is a great way to create a beautiful piece of art. Start by painting the sky, sun, clouds, sea, and beach, then add finishing touches such as birds and rocks.

Sunrise Seascape-Acrylic Painting

  1. Milky Way Galaxy Scenery with Acrylic Paint:

Here, we look at a step-by-step tutorial for painting a galactic sky, sunset, and lake landscape with acrylic paint.

MILKY WAY GALAXY-ACRYLIC PAINTING

  1. Deer Forest Acrylic Painting Idea:

This demonstration uses acrylic paint on a mini canvas to create this beautiful forest scene.

Painting a Deer in a Forest

Acrylic Pour Canvas Painting Ideas

  1. Acrylic Painting with Paper Towels:

Pain, expertise, and a paper towel are all needed to create beautiful lilies and other flowers using the acrylic painting technique.

How to make a flower painting with paper towel

  1. Acrylic Pour Butterfly Painting:

I would like to demonstrate an enjoyable acrylic pouring technique that is not abstract. Take a look at the tutorial.

Acrylic-Pour-Painting.

  1. Easy Acrylic Pouring on Canvas:

Pouring acrylic is popular due to its simplicity, quickness, and attractiveness, without the need for brushes or palettes with this fun idea.

Acrylic Abstract Painting

 

DIY Canvas Ideas Using Acrylic Paints

  1. Easy Acrylic Painting with a Palette Knife:

Palette knives are used to apply paint to landscapes, abstract art, floral arrangements, and portraits.

How to Paint Seascape using a Palette knife

  1. Cool Octopus Painting with Acrylics:

This painting of an octopus is amazing! I have to give her video’s glue gun technique a shot. It’s ideal for producing textured art.

This Octopus Painting is so EASY to do!! Acrylic Pouring + Glue Gun

  1. Embroidered Acrylic Canvas Painting:

Create these embroidered canvas paintings by combining stitching and painting. Simple florals and muted pastels transform basic canvases into works of modern art.

Embroidery on canvas

  1. Stencil Acrylic Painting:

This stenciled canvas gives the decor of any room a lovely splash of color. For this canvas art idea, no painting experience is necessary.

How to Stencil on Canvas

  1. Easy Textured Wall Art with Acrylics:

Textured wall art with acrylics creates three-dimensional designs on a canvas or wall, which can be customized to suit any style.

Textured Wall Art with Gold Leaf

  1. Acrylic Painting With Resin:

Acrylic painting with resin is a technique that adds a layer of resin to an acrylic painting to create a glossy, glass-like finish for a variety of effects.

How to finish an acrylic painting with clear resin

  1. Girl Double Exposure Acrylic Painting:

Another acrylic painting of double exposure is interesting. Check out the tutorial for double exposure painting with acrylics.

Girl Portrait-Double Exposure Painting

  1. Acrylic Calligraphy on Canvas:

Here is the tutorial for Gold leaf Arabic calligraphy with acrylics.

Gold leaf Arabic calligraphy with acrylics

 

  1. Autumn Canvas Art with Pumpkin seeds:

Find out how to create an autumn canvas with the odd material of pumpkin seeds! This task is simple and produces excellent fall-themed artwork.

Pumpkin-Seed-Canvas.

 

Flowers Acrylic Painting Ideas on Canvas

  1. Painting Bright Succulents with Acrylic:

The succulent painting kit is vibrant, bold, and fresh, with room to add your touches and develop your image.

Acrylic Painting Tutorial Succulents

 

  1. Tulips Acrylic Painting:

Learn how to paint tulips with this easy technique, perfect for an easy acrylic painting.

Tulips-Easy acrylic painting

  1. Dandelion Flowers Painting:

Dandelions are a fun easy canvas painting project, and the tutorial has a beautiful colorful background.

Dandelion Wish-Easy Acrylic Painting Dandelion Flowers

  1. Funky Flowers:

Creating a mood with color, brushstrokes, and textures with a palette of pinks, blues, purples, and yellows. It will bring a smile when you see its amazing floral pattern.

How to Paint Flowers-Acrylic Painting

  1. Balloon Flower Painting Technique:

This floral painting is a must-try! A fun experiment that you can do with kids too.

Amazing Peach and Plum Balloon Dip Technique Painting

  1. Wildflower Meadow Acrylic Painting:

Try the canvas painting of a wildflower meadow if you enjoy contemporary flowers. Easy and enjoyable to make.

How-to-paint-a-wildflowers-meadow

  1. Red Poppies Acrylic Painting:

Paint the beautiful field of poppies following the step-by-step instructions in the tutorial.

Red Poppies-Acrylic Painting

  1. Butterfly with Flower Acrylic Painting:

This composition is stunning due to the complementary colors of blue and yellow, which make the sunflower and blue morph butterfly stand out.

Easy Flower with Butterfly Painting

  1. Easy Daisy Painting with Acrylics:

Flowers are a simple subject to get started with. One stroke daisies can be used by beginners to learn how to paint flowers.

Daisy flower painting

  1. Hydrangea Mason Jar Acrylic Painting:

Learn how to paint hydrangeas and a clear jar with the help of an easy step-by-step tutorial.

How To Paint Hydrangea Mason Jar

Abstract Acrylic Painting Ideas on Canvas

  1. Easy Acrylic Painting with Blending Technique:

You can learn easy blending techniques from the tutorials. If you are a beginner then it’s perfect for improving your painting skills.

Complete Guide on Blending Techniques

  1. Easy Abstract Acrylic Painting:

To create an abstract acrylic painting here is to have a look at the demonstration.

Abstract Acrylic Painting

  1. Acrylic Painting Abstracts:

Experiment with colors, gradients, and textures with these acrylic painting ideas. Here is how to create acrylic painting abstracts.

Acrylic Painting Abstract

 

  1. Abstract Painting in Acrylics:

Art is a free-form process that allows artists to express themselves through color, shape, and texture.

Abstract Painting Demo in Acrylics

  1. Acrylic Abstract Christmas Tree Painting:

It is a unique and contemporary artwork that depicts a Christmas tree in an abstract way, often inspired by modern art and expressionism.

Let's paint a christmas tree

Author: Sarah Samad

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Hi, I’m Hani

I’m a mom of 2 decorating and soulfully designing our home. I love to share crafts and simple ideas for home and garden.

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