DIY Plywood Art

Hello readers!  Today I want to share with you a super simple piece of art that I created last week.  I promise that anyone can do it.  It is so simple and fun!  All you need is a cut-to-size (whatever size you'd like) piece of plywood, some leftover paint, and letter stencils.  I picked up my plywood at Home Depot, used the leftover paint colors that I had from when we painted our living room, kitchen and dining room 2 years ago and picked up the stencils at Michael's.  Total cost: $14.  Here's how I did it:

1. Take your piece of plywood and whitewash it with paint color of your choice.  I used white paint, mixed with some water to achieve the whitewash look.

 

2. Once the whitewash is dried, take out your letter stencils and arrange how you would like your quote to layout on the board.  Start painting stencil with a stencil brush, making sure to dab the paint on, don't brush it, to achieve a smooth look.

 

3. After I was finished with the stenciling, I decided to add some more interest by taking the paint stir sticks from each of the colors I used and drizzled the paint all over the board in a random way.

 

 

After this step, all you have to do is let the paint dry and figure out where you will put your new art!  See, I told you it was easy.  If you want to hang your new painting, buy a picture hanging kit found at almost any store and attach it to the back to hang on the wall.  If you don't want to hang it, you can easily lean it against the wall on a shelf or bookcase.  I chose to temporarily lean it above my kitchen cabinets since I have 12' ceilings.  I love the interest it adds to my otherwise still bare walls up there.

It would also be fun and easy to add graphic objects to your board as well such as a bird stencil or the outline of a city skyline or circles and squares for a geometric look.  The easiest way to do this is to find an image you like online and print it out and cut out the inside of the image to create your own stencil.  You could also add texture to your art by layering on images cut out of balsa wood or some other thin wood veneer which can be painted or left as is.  Have fun being creative and come up with your own ways to make your piece stand out!

Happy creating!