In the past few years, it seems many of us have sought to unleash our inner artist – and save some money – by producing our own artworks to add personality to our homes. Don’t feel shy or mutter you’re really not an artist. You may be amazed by what you can achieve by choosing some favourite colours, picking up a brush and seeing what happens.
Canvasses
While experienced artists would no doubt say you get what you pay for when it comes to buying canvasses, if you’re a novice there’s no harm getting started with the ones that are available from chain stores in a huge range of sizes and at surprisingly low prices.
Paint
Ditto your paint. Test pots from well-known paint shops are a great tool for budding artists and if you check the back of your supermarket receipts, you’ll often fi nd two-for-one offers to bring the price down further. Later, when you’ve hit your stride, you might decide to visit a specialist art supplies store to explore their options in terms of oil paints, watercolours and other related materials – but there’s no need to run before you can walk!
Brushes
When it comes to brushes, it is probably worth equipping yourself with some that are a reasonable quality if you think this is a hobby you’ll be dabbling in for a while. That’s simply because cheaper brushes tend to shed fibres like crazy. This will mean you are forever picking them off your masterpieces, which can get rather irritating!
One of our family’s favourite paintings at home is one my brother Philip made for me a few years ago. He is an artistic
person at the best of times and for this he simply flicked and threw paint at a canvas in my signature colours of red, green and silver to come up with a striking Jackson Pollock-style piece that I will always treasure.
While abstract is popular right now – and bold, bright colour is king – lots of us aspire to producing art that’s slightly more realist in nature – such as a garden scene . Pick a sunny day and sit outside for a while thinking, looking and sketching before you finally pick up your brush and start painting. If things don’t look as sharp and distinct as you planned, just go with the flow and call yourself an impressionist!
