Easy Canvas Painting Using Vinyl Stencils

Who says you're not a painter?  If you have an electronic cutter and vinyl, you can create a beautifully painted painted canvas quick and easy!  Follow my step by step instructions below to create this fall canvas or something similar for yourself.  And when you do, I hope you'll enter it into the current "Fall" themed Challenge over at Creative Cutting Challenge.  (Even if you don't, click over there for some awesome inspiration!)

So let's get started!  Please read all the instructions first.

You'll need the following supplies:

• 8" x 10" stretched canvas
• Indoor vinyl (Oracal 631) & transfer tape
• Electronic cutter, SVG files
• Acrylic paint and brushes
• Painters tape

Step 1:

  Paint canvas.  I used a light brown for the background and flecked on dark brown, a dark red and  cream colors of paint.  Let paint dry thoroughly...I would recommend overnight.   

Step 2.  

Using SVG files and your software program (SCAL, MTC,etc), arrange the elements to fit the canvas space.  For my canvas I used five files:  Autumn Days Saying, Fall Heading and Acorn (these first three are currently FREE), Fall Leaves and Fall Set.  I cut them from indoor vinyl and "weeded" them as shown.  There is no need to cut the top file layers.  (I did cut the pumpkin top layer thinking that I would place it over the painted pumpkin.  I later decided not to use it.  You could use it if you wanted to.)

IMPORTANT:  The lettering is weeded as normal but the areas to be painted are done the opposite way.  You want the heading, leaves, pumpkin and acorn to only be the base of each file.  

Step 3:  

Once your canvas is completely dry and you have cut your vinyl, apply just the heading and elements to the canvas using transfer tape.  Use a squeegy to get a good adherence of the vinyl and carefully remove the transfer tape.  Use the squeegy or your finger to make sure all the openings are pressed down well.

Step 4:  

Add painters tape around the vinyl to keep any stray paint from the canvas.  (I could have cut the vinyl wider to eliminate this step but I reuse painters tape several times and it's cheaper than vinyl!)

 Step 5:  

Paint the heading and elements.  The paint colors I used were cream, yellow,  orange, dark orange, dark red and dark brown.  By using this stencil, you don't have to be neat...you can "slip slap" your paint on to get a very artistic look.  

Step 6:  

Do not wait for the paint on the heading and elements to dry completely.  As soon as you are happy with the painting colors carefully remove the painters tape and vinyl.  Fix any areas where your paint has bled through or pulled away.

 Step 7:  

Using dark brown, outline the heading, leaves, pumpkin and acorn.  Add leaf veins, pumpkin lines (if not adding the vinyl on top) and acorn cap.  I also started adding just a few vine accents to pull the elements together.

Step 8:  

Using the same transfer method, add the saying to the canvas.  You can use a t-square to make sure lines are straight.  

Step 9:  

Add more vine accents, shadows, and highlights as desired to fill the canvas.  Sign your name and seal if desired.  And there you have it...a lovely painted canvas!