Herringbone Art (Tutorial)

Here is the tutorial on how to make this Herringbone art.  I have had this giant canvas that will be going in our bedroom since Thanksgiving (because I got it on sale, of course!)  I wasn't sure what I wanted to paint on it until I found this amazing inspiration on Pinterest here.  I knew this was what I wanted to do with my canvas.

First up for the tutorial is you need to cover your canvas with paint in the colors you want.  Pretty, huh?

Then I just covered a couple more times until I could not see any white under the paint. 

Next, take your colors and start layering splotches of paint all over.  I think our room is going to be gray with a purple accent, so those were my main colors.  Then I added in a couple blues and a green to add a little spice to it :) 

This is my final product before starting the herringbone process, which quite honestly was the easiest art ever.  And I actually could have left it like this because I really liked it like this too! 

I used Edge Lock painters tape to do my strips.  I laid a few pieces out on my cutting sheet and used my rotary cutter to cut straight 6-inch pieces.   

Then I started to lay them on my canvas.  I didn't know it when I started, but I literally had to measure each piece of tape to make sure my design wasn't going to get all wonky. 

This process too FOREVER!!  Like we're talking 4 hours FOREVER!  It was hard and painful on the old back, but totally worth it! ;)

Finally covered in tape. 

Next I took a few of the tape strips away to have some extra white boxes in the painting. 

And then it's painting time!  I had to do a few coats of the white to get it to cover over the purple.  The only problem with that is I think that lead to a little more bleeding of the white.  One super thick coat of white may have been better. 

Then peel the tape off and voila!!!  A finished canvas!   

Well, almost finished.  I still need to do a final coat around the edge before we can hang it.  There are some imperfections that, of course, I would love if they weren't there, but it gives it character; right?  I think it turned out great and I can't wait to hang it!!