Personalize Your Artwork

Are you an art lover but just don't have the budget to pay thousands of dollars for original art? Are you sick of white walls and need some pizazz to spice up your home? You don't have to spend a fortune to create an art gallery in your own home....and you won't even have to pay a security guard to keep watch over your valuable collection! Here are some easy ways to spruce up those walls.

Paint your own canvas - You don't need to have any artistic skills to paint. Take stock of what furniture you have in the room that you want to display the artwork in. Pull out three or four colors from the fabrics & existing colors in the room. Buy quart sizes cans of paint in those colors and a canvas. You can create a Jackson Pollack type piece or be more controlled by just painting large horizontal stripes of varying sizes. Hang two or four smaller canvases together to create an interesting grouping.

Pop Art - There are many websites that will take your photos and print them onto canvas for you. They can create a special Andy Warhol pop art effect for some drama. You can use family photos, pet photos or get creative and take some close ups of a flower petal. Check out PhotoWow or AllPopArt . You will be amazed at the prices!!!

Photographs - One of the least expensive ways to create art is by taking some photos yourself and framing them. Take some close up shots of your children's faces, feet or eyes. You can print them out on 8 x 10 sheets for less than $5 and buy a ready made frame from Michaels, Aaron Brothers or even Target and ....voila....instant art! Try printing them on Shutterfly in black and white or sepia. One of my favorite things to take black and white photos of in San Francisco are all the iron work gates and railings. This makes for an interesting and intriguing group of photos when you combine a few shots of different styles together.

Wallpaper or Fabric Covered Canvas - Do you have a favorite fabric that you bought because you fell in love with it but never really knew what to do with it? Why not stretch it across a canvas or mount it inside a picture frame and hang it? Check out Joann's Fabrics and select a yard of your favorite silk, embroidered or woven textile.

Online Art - Art.com has some beautiful posters that you can buy inexpensively either framed or unframed. Maybe you already have an old framed poster that you are sick of but the frame is still in good condition. You will save money by just buying a poster from Art.com and reusing your existing frame. Don't like the color of the frame? Paint it! Another great resource online is Etsy. This is a marketplace for handmade crafts of all sorts. There are tons of original artwork pieces at unbelievable prices! I am convinced the next Van Gogh is on Etsy just waiting to be discovered.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope this posting has helped spark some ideas of your own. Do you have any ideas or tips you want to share? Add them to my comments!