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DIY Abstract Ocean Painting
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Happy hump day friends!
Recently I have been focusing some of my time doing up Cooper’s Nursery. He’s now 10 months old and up until about three weeks ago the poor little guy had zero decorations in his room. I blame this all on our international move. I’ve now finally started to get my act together. I’ve decided to go with a nautical/ocean theme. To be honest with you it’s actually not a theme that ever really caught my eye but living about 1.5 hours away from the beach as opposed to 10 minutes like we did back in Australia is making me really miss the ocean. The boys love the beach and so I thought it would be a nice theme for his room. All round I’m really loving the coastal look and feel.
I wanted to create a painting that resembled the ocean but nothing to realistic. The mix of colours was the most important aspect. I searched the web for inspiration and found a few images of the ocean that I liked and used them as references for my painting.
This painting is going to go on a chest of draws in his room so it will be a focal point.
I chose vibrant colours yet still trying to keep it soft by mixing white through it. Coopers room isn’t going to be overly bright so this will certainly add some fun into the mix alongside some other key pieces I’ve chosen.
To recreate this DIY Abstract Ocean Painting you will need:
- Acrylic Paints in desired colours- I used blue, turquoise, white, tan, peach, light green and yellow
- Acrylic Paint Brushes in assorted widths
- Thin Canvas- I used a 40 x 50cm canvas that was already pre-primed
- A large bowl filled with clean water to clean your brushes
- Paper Towel- to wipe excess paint
- Old cloth or newspaper- for under your canvas
- A reference photo of an ocean scene or you can use my painting as your reference image
Now lets get to the good part and paint this bad boy!
Step 1
If you’re canvas is not primed or you are painting over an existing painting then paint over it with white paint making sure to cover the whole surface. Let it dry for a few hours or until you are sure it is very dry.
Step 2
Grab your chosen colours and roughly dot them onto the canvas. Look at your reference photo or this tutorial and work you way up the canvas adding each new colour until you reach the top. I dotted white all over the canvas as I wanted to soften my colours and then added the vibrant colours gradually building it from the sand, to the sea foam, the ocean water, an island in the horizon and up to the sky.
Step 3
Once you have dotted your whole canvas it’s time to get painting! On a separate piece of paper dot some colours and have a quick practice run of your brush strokes. I did a curvy X type of stroke to get the effect I wanted. I also used assorted brushes and thicknesses for this painting. Use your water and paper towel to clean your brushes in between each line of colours particularly if you only have a couple of brushes to work with.
Step 4
As you work your way up the canvas make sure no to worry about blending the colours too much and keep your strokes rough. Make sure your brushes are as dry as possible as you work with them to give your painting texture. You can come back and add more white or colour to certain areas once you have finished blending all the paints on your canvas. I wanted more white as I felt it needed to be even softer so I went back and added it to the spots I felt needed to be reworked. I’m happy I went back and did this. I felt the shades are more appropriate.
Want to pin this project for later? Add the image below to your Projects/DIY Pinterest board for future reference!
So there you have it! How easy is that! Art doesn’t have to be hard and certainly not perfect. But it can be lots of fun and make your home so much more beautiful with a few key pieces created by your own hands. I can’t wait to put this in Coopers nursery. Right now I’m searching for the perfect cupboard for his room so now this painting is sitting on my fireplace mantle reminding me of how much I love the ocean.
What have you made lately? Do you think you could easily master this simple art piece?
This is so pretty! I can’t wait to try it!
Thanks Lily! Hope it turns out fabulous for you 🙂
This is such an amazing idea! Thanks for sharing it. I’m Anita visiting from Showcase Your Talent Thursday.
Hi Anita! Thanks for popping by. Thank you for your lovely compliment! x
Your painting looks wonderful and definitely invokes a wonderful beach vibe. I would love to have this in my home!
Thank you Raquel. What lovely compliments. x
This is gorgeous Maria and I love those colours. I can practically smell summer just by looking at it xx
Hi Sonia! Thank you so much 🙂 I love the colours also. Can’t wait to see it in my baby’s nursery with the rest of his nursery all finished! 🙂 xx
Ooh fun! I want to try! Thanks for such a detailed tutorial! Found you via Sundays at Home. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Sarah and glad you like the tutorial. It is very detailed isn’t it. haha. x
Maria, this is completely and utterly FABULOUS! I adore the colours and your tutorial is excellent! I wonder if you’d come over and share at Five Star Frugal? After all, what could be more Five Star or Frugal, than creating your own artwork? We share ways of living elegantly for less, and a DIY is always a favourite theme. Love, Mimi xxx
http://atrayofbliss.blogspot.com.au/2015/08/five-star-frugal-16with-pearls-and-candy.html
Thank you very much Mimi! 🙂 I’m heading over to link up 😉 Thanks for sharing your linky party with me. x
I just love this…thankyou for coming over to share at my linkup, Maria. Love, Mimi xxx
Thanks Mimi! Look forward to linking up next week with lots of new creations and ideas! xx
Oh, I love it Maria! I’m in the process of making over a couple rooms in my home and I’m looking for some ocean themed wall art. Thank you so much for linking up to Thriving on Thursdays. It was a real pleasure to have you join us. I’m featuring this post at tomorrow’s party. Hope to see you again. Your blog is beautiful.
Anne @ Domesblissity xx
Hi Anne, thank you so much for all your lovely compliments and for featuring me! I really appreciate it 🙂 Have a great day xx
This looks amazing and the tutorial is outstanding!! Your post has been Pinned,Tweeted and shared on Facebook! It will be featured this week on the Friday Favorites Link Party at Mustlovehome.com. Come by and see your feature and share what you have been working on this week! The doors open Thursday at 7PM. Hugs – Christine at Must Love Home
Thank you so much for featuring this DIY! Glad you like it Christine 🙂
That is absolutely stunning. I just love the colours.
Thanks Eva 🙂
I’m going to the beach soon and totally need to do this. Such a great idea and it makes painting seem so much more doable.
Enjoy your time at the beach. Love anything ocean inspired at the moment. I miss it so much 🙂 x
I adore creating my own abstract paintings! Thank you so much for the awesome tutorial and the inspiration to make my own.
I’d love for you to share this project at The DIY Collective party that I co-host. My readers would love it! The party goes live each Thursday at 6am EST.
Thanks Ashley! Would love to share it at your party! Thanks so much and glad I’ve inspired you!
Absolutely stunning! I just took up water coloring and I am very impressed with your technique. I wish I lived closer so you could help me out 🙂
Have a great week!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I’ve always wanted to try an abstract painting, so love seeing how you did it! It’s stunning!!!
Thanks so much Samantha! Glad you like it 🙂 x
This is really pretty Maria! A great tutorial that I may use for my next painting project, thanks for the tips!
Thank so much Mary! You can create some really great colour combinations! I’ll be getting this painting back out for summer 🙂
Love this! Definitely want to put this on my ‘to do’ list! Would love for you to share some of your projects at our link party! http://www.thestonybrookhouse.com/2016/03/dishing-it-digging-it-link-party-89.html
What a wonderful easy to do piece of abstract art. Love it!