Decorating With Children's Art: Part 2

One of my all-time favorite types of art is kids art. Especially if it was done by my kids. And since I can't bring myself to hang every coloring page they color, I have had to get creative when it comes to creating new artwork for my house.

Here is a project we did as a test for a classroom project. It's doesn't look all that flashy, but the more I looked at it the better I liked it.

First I bought a gallery-wrapped canvas. (I don't buy the extra thick ones because they are more expensive.)

This one is 18x24.

{I have been lucky finding inexpensive canvases at Big Lots lately (If you have a Big Lots) or by using coupons at one of the craft stores.}


Then I penciled in a grid to create squares on the canvas. It looked something like this:

You might notice that my squares on the actual painting are rectangles. 

Just go with it. Whatever works, I say!

Then I zeroed in on the center squares, to make them the base color for the project, or thereabout. I painted them myself, then showed the kids how I could take that color and mix it with a tiny bit of white paint to change it a little bit. Then I painted the next square. I told them to now add a little more white, then paint the next square, then a little more...you get the idea.

We did the same going the other direction but adding black. The black was getting too dark, so we had to improvise by changing the blue/ green balance and only using a little black.

Either way, you want to go progressively lighter in one directions...and darker in the other.

You can make these changes extreme or subtle, depending on your taste.

I stayed with the kids and helped straighten up the edge lines for the younger ones (not too much!). And because I like a lot of brush strokes, we went back in and touched it up here or there after the paint dried, creating a little more visual interest.

This is an easy project you could do with any color groups.

My kids love when they see their art displayed on the walls.

Now, let's see how this project might look in YOUR living room:

OR

Pretty neat, huh?

Don't be afraid to allow your children to explore their creative sides. 

You may be surprised by what they can do!