World Map Splatter Painting

I minored in Art History in college, which is ironic considering I don't have an artistic bone in my body. One thing I liked about the works of "action painters" like Jackson Pollock and James Brooks was they looked an awful lot like children's paintings. I always thought, "hey I could throw some paint on to a canvas too!" So that's exactly what I did...well, kinda.

I didn't want mine to look just like a splatter painting, so I thought I'd add a design to it to add some dimension. My husband is a bit of a map fanatic, so I chose to do a world map design.

First step - what you'll need is a couple of canvases (I got mine with a 50% off coupon at Michael's, so it was about $10 for two), a design template, paint brushes or sponge brushes, and paint. All in all, the supplies cost me $20.

Now this next step you can certainly skip if you want more contrast, but I chose to first splatter on a layer of light cream paint.  

After the paint dries, tape your design onto the canvas. I went waaay too detailed with the map and cut out little islands and stuff like that. You couldn't even really see the small island countries in the finished product, so if you do a world map, skip the detail (sorry, Iceland!). This part definitely took the longest and was the least fun. 

Next, splatter on that paint, baby! You can choose whatever colors you'd like. It was really messy and fun, and I released a lot of pent up frustration. Your kids can even help you with this part. Different brushes leave different marks. Don't be afraid to experiment because there's no way you can mess this up. I got mine on nice and thick in some areas and then added a little water to the paint to get more of a spatter effect and less of a globby effect.

Let the paint dry a little, but not all the way, or else your paper will stick to the canvas when you peel it off. The thicker the layers of paint, the crisper your edges.

So there you have it! So easy a kid could do it (or me, same thing, really), and your friends will be impressed with your custom "Jackson Pollock art".