No Art Skills Required DIY Pulled Paint Abstract Painting

Would you believe me if I told you that creating abstract artwork is easier than you think and that if you didn’t have a creative bone in your body you could still paint one? I promise… it’s no lie! I recently was playing around with an old technique and decided with a little update, it was a great way for anyone to paint abstract art on a smaller scale.  This is a little different than string pull painting. To create this DIY Pulled Paint Abstract Painting, you just need some acrylic paint, either regular tube-style artist paint, or craft paint bottles, canvas size of choice and stiff cardstock or cardboard. There’s a video below you can watch on how to paint the paint pulled abstract canvas, or you can skip right to the step by step images below.

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For this project, you’ll need these supplies: canvas, acrylic paint colors of choice, medium or heavy body titanium white acrylic paint, and either cardboard or heavy cardstock. Either one works, they just give two different looks. I painted this project on small canvases, but this would be so fun to do on a huge canvas! You’ll also want the medium or heavy bodied artist paint for the last step; that’s what gives it the “artist canvas” feel.

 

Start by adding either random drops of paint on the blank canvas, or as you can see in the video, make lines across the top. There’s no wrong answer, it just depends on the look you’re going for.

Use the edge of a stiff piece of paper or cardboard to “paint with.”

Pull the acrylic paint across the canvas in one direction. The pressure you add will determine the look of the piece. Lighter pressure will leave more paint on the canvas and heavier pressure will remove more. With heavy enough pressure you can “scrape” the paint off completely, exposing the canvas underneath for a different look. For this piece, I kept fairly even, medium pressure the entire time. I went back and gave the edge of my painting a dab of left over paint on my cardboard to add interest.

Don’t worry about any drips along the edges. After the DIY Pulled Paint Abstract Painting is dry, the edges are painted white with a brush up to the abstract area to add texture and cover any drips.

Let dry, and then you can frame your masterpiece, or just leave the plain canvas. I like it either way. This is also a good “base” art technique because once the first layer is dry, you can layer and add on top of it, including mixed media.

I hope you loved this fun technique and create beautiful art! If you love the no art skills required painting posts. You can also see how to paint a bird’s nest.