Hello fellow sports fans!
Today I’m kicking off a new series of team spirit DIYs, for an easy way to show your love for your favorite sport(s). And while I did start with football (because I’m a just a teeny bit addicted), I will also get to baseball, basketball, soccer, volleyball and hockey over the next month or so.
Painted canvas wall art is a lot easier than it looks, so please don’t be intimidated! I’ll walk you through the process step by step, and you’ll soon have some new sports décor to add some pizzazz to your walls!
Are you ready to get started?
Step 1 – Gather the Supplies
Here’s what you need:
- Stretched canvas in the size of your choice (get the ones primed with gesso)
- Paints in brown and white (I recommend acrylic for easy clean-up)
- Masking tape (I used ½” wide and ¼” wide)
- Wide paint brush – a 2” brush is great for the background
- Small paint brush – a ¼” is good for the detail
- Scissors (to cut the tape)
- Newspapers (to protect your work area)
- Note: I bought a 10-pack of canvases in the 10”x10” size I wanted, but you could just buy 1 if you don’t plan on making more than 1 piece of sports wall art
- NOTE: See the PS at the end of the post if you plan to make the whole series
Step 2 –Preparation
- Lay some sheets of newspaper on your work area, along with your supplies
- I used masking tape to cover the areas that will be white on the finished “football.” This helps with laying out the design, and makes it easier to paint the white areas later.
- Use the wide masking tape to make the white band that is at one end of the football, curving it gently to give the appearance of a rounded ball (use the photo as a guide).
- Use the narrower masking tape to cover the area where the football seam and laces are, curving gently (use the photo as a guide)
Step 3 – Paint the football brown
- Shake your brown paint well before starting.
- Squirt a little paint on one edge of the canvas, and use the wide brush to spread the paint to cover.
- Repeat with the remaining 3 sides.
- Lay the canvas flat on the newspaper.
- Squirt more paint on the front of the canvas, and continue using the wide brush to cover the entire front surface.
- You will probably be able to see the brush strokes on the finished art, so you may want to brush in the direction from the bottom left corner toward the top right corner, to follow the top surface of the football. This is really a personal choice!
- Let dry (read the directions on the paint for dry time).
- Wash your brush (acrylic paint washed up with soap and water, but read your directions).
- Apply a second coat of brown paint if desired, and let dry.
Step 4 – Add the detail
- Carefully remove all of the masking tape
- Don’t worry if some of the brown paint seeped under the tape, and you don’t have perfectly straight lines! You’ll paint right over it.
- Shake your white paint.
- Working in one area at a time, squirt a small amount of paint into the white areas, and use the small brush to paint over these areas.
- Let dry.
- Wash out your brush.
- Add a second coat of white paint if desired, and let dry.
- Touch up with brown, if needed to fix any smudges or white areas that got too big. And yes, I smudged a few times (see the bottom picture below).
That’s it! Your work of art is ready to hang on the wall!
I’m hanging mine in my office / art studio because I’m such a sports nut, but wouldn’t it also look great in a man cave, or in a football loving kid’s room?
Stay tuned for the rest of this series, and make sure you are following the blog so you don’t miss out!
Until next week,
Carrie
P.S. If you plan to make the whole series, you might want to buy all of the supplies at the same time:
- 5 stretched canvases in the size of your choice (primed with gesso is best)
- Paints in brown, white, black, orange and red (get acrylic for easy clean-up)
- Masking tape (½” wide and ¼” wide)
- Paint brushes (2” wide for the background and 1/4” wide for the detail areas)
- Scissors (to cut the tape)
Team Colors By Carrie 