Upcycle Your Art

Canvases are expensive. Not like they used to be, but still...that big painting hanging behind your parents’ couch costs a bit more than the 5”X5” you did at the “Paint and Pinot” Bar with your girlfriends.

Did you know you can paint over canvases that you’ve done before? Or in my case, I pick up canvases at garage sales and thrift stores super cheap. The “masters” did that way back in the day to save money. Why shouldn’t I try it too?

Here’s where I started. You can see how dark the oil painting is. I used some rubbing alcohol to take off any finish and grime built up from wherever it was previously hung. 

Then I applied a few coats of gesso to prime the painting. On this particular one I used Golden’s Absorbent Ground after the gesso. It took 3 or 4 coats before I was happy. Basically this gives the canvas a more paper-like finish. My first love is watercolor and that’s what I planned to use here. 

I used tape to give the trees some better definition and finally finished them with an old gift card. I had done this project with my first graders on a watercolor paper. I love how it turned out ona bigger scale. 

I’ve done a few more upcycled paintings since this one, including another birch tree painting and a Christmas themed folk style painting both done with acrylics. Each of these paintings had more texture on them from their previous life. I sanded the texture down with a sanding block as much as I felt able without ripping the canvas. It’s barely noticeable now and I love how they turned out.