Put a deer on it!

I'm sorry, I don't understand. What's the point? You can buy blank mounted canvas at any craft store. Or, you can make a frame out of scrap wood and stretch the fabric over that.

From my experience, canvases are pretty expensive. More so than cheap thrift shop paint-by-numbers.

Oh, I thought this was going to be about upcycling old couch paintings by adding new modern elements.

There's one artist who is fairly well known for great versions of this, but I can't remember the name. :(

If only the end result were as charming and unique as the original.

Oh well.....

Hmmm. Maybe the title of the post is just a little misleading. The thrift store painting wasn't really transformed, it was just covered by a different painting.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the "add some weird quirky things to an existing painting" to make it unique.

This, not so much, as there's no difference between this and getting a blank canvas at a craft store, except possibly money.

Seriously!! Is this what AT has come to? How about mine -
Before - Empty Jar; After - I filled it with pebbles.

I preferred the original painting, more character than the generic silhouette deer but glad the painting is still living on in some way!

I have to agree folks- I know that coming up with daily content must be difficult, but this is pretty silly.

Hi Stephanie,

Thanks for the post, because it just gave me a great idea.

Paul

Does anyone else find it sad that this painting (while no Michelangelo) that someone put all their skill into and hours of their time is getting covered up with some trendy, soulless silhouette?
I wouldn't hang it on MY wall, but surely you could spend the money for a cheap canvas and let the work sit at the thrift store to possibly be picked up by someone who might appreciate it.

Erm... you ARE aware somebody probably made that painting with a lot of love and passion, right? Just covering it up like it's some piece of trash seems very disrespectful to me! If you can't appreciate somebody else's artwork, give/sell it to somebody who will! (and just buy or make your own canvas!)

i don't get it. where i live the blank canvas is cheaper then a thrifted painting.
@brocoli: thank you. i rofl'd
@keate: did you mean Banksy?

I taught art. I shop thrift and flea markets a lot. I also was assistant curator in a midwestern art museum for a while.

I have no compunction whatsoever in repurposing unfinished, bad, student, or other unwanted artworks. (I've made some pieces that got repurposed by other people -- if I cared, I wouldn't have dumped them in the first place!) This is merely recycling. Just because someone was trying to do something creative doesn't mean they succeeded or were happy with the results. Don't imagine that everything on canvas requires respect or affection. That's just silly.

However. I think I'd have tried to use parts of the original painting along with new paint and glued on fabric and paper bits to make a new collage. Depending on the materials used, simply overpainting can result in bleed-through in a few years, ruining the new work.

If you happen to have something like this hanging around, no problem with modifying it. If you want something specific, though, I'd shop a craft store sale for a new base rather than a thrift store for a used canvas.

(I have at least five watercolors and five oils/acrylics from thrift stores or flea markets in my home right now -- and they are all rather fun! One has a newspaper article about the local artist attached to the back. I prefer even slightly amateur art over commercial prints or posters.)

@ broccoli: Heehee. I was thinking the exact same thing.

That's it! Thanks, zimtzucker. :)

you could have done the same thing with four 99 cent stretcher bars from an art store:
http://www.utrechtart.com/dsp_view_product.cfm?item=38470

you snap the four sides together and bob's your uncle. it's very easy, cheap, and accomplishes the same thing.

Kitt'n: Welcome to the internet. No one is immune.

Sushla: Jar of pebbles. Brilliant. Mind? Blown.

Hmm, yeah. Cost of fabric + effort it takes to stretch and prime a canvas properly is way more than buying a readymade canvas. Heck, I've even seen stretched canvas at Dollarama.

Yes, some canvas is expensive. But if you're going to make something decorative, I'm sure you can make do with cheap craft store versions. Just today I saw a set of 5, 3/4-thick, 16x20 stretched and primed canvases for $20 CAD.

prefab canvas isn't that expensive, or she could have gessoed right over the art work and painted over it...i've done that plenty of times with pieces i wasn't thrilled with. that would have been much easier that putting canvas over canvas...

So sad and pointless.

Banksy for sure wasnt the first to do the "crude oils" as they are referred to...

Google "peter kennard haywain with cruise missiles"

Another AT post with a misleading title and dissapointing content. I am relieved to know that the original painting was likely not damaged and may be rediscovered by someone who appreciates it someday.

PS - How comically tragic would it be if the artist recognized their painting here on AT?

This is a very quick rendition, but I was trying to be speedy. I don't have that cute old painting in front of me to play with, but if I did...perhaps...I would change the colors a little bit?
Mind you I would never even touch someone else's painting, I'd just start new with my own, but if you're going to play...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seesawmarjoriedaw/sets/72157625893063569/with/5433875070/

So when we who like "old crap" from thrift stores can find very few treasures, it's because some hipster has gobbled them up and down something like this to them?

For shame....

I seem to be one of the few who doesn't mind the old painting being covered up. If the original painter/owner liked it in the first place, it wouldn't be in a thrift store.

The final product is a bit trendy for me (does everybody have a deer head in their home these days? Why?) but it's a great idea for saving money.

My sister is a painter and always complaining about how expensive canvases are, so maybe I'll suggest this to her :)

I liked the original better. Is there no end to the deer head trend??!!!

I think the idea itself is crafty, but a little meh in the end result. Glad she got a bargain, glad the thrift store got a sale. Repurposing the art itself gets a bigger thrill out of me (example here: http://thriftstoreconfidential.com/?p=516).

This post is a perfect example of why I rarely read the comments on AT anymore. So overly critical and annoying! I come on here for ideas; this gives some people an idea of maybe even using a canvas they already have but don't like the painting as much anymore. Maybe someday Stephanie will grow tired of the deer head and remember a cute painting underneath. Or she will put a different printed canvas over it.

I say, do whatever you want, people! Hang up an awkwardly painted but charming house or put a deerhead, bird, silhouette, keep calm and carry on whatever over it. Getting over-righteous about a thrift store painting is a little silly.

i'm no fancy arteeeest, but i do like to paint and if i found out someone bought my painting only to cover it and paint something super trendy and dull over it i'd be kind of annoyed. why didnt she just go to michaels and spend the $10 that canvas costs (i cant imagine this is super duper high quality stuff here).

Canvases aren't expensive. I'm surprised so many people think so.

I find this project amusing because the deer will likely be considered just as tacky and dated as the original image.

I like the idea. The execution however...

Kitt'n:

I agree with you, People ARE getting more rude by the day!

I don't understand you all that are criticizing all the work Stephanie had. When she gets tired of the deer painting, she can change it over and over. I have some old paintings on canvas that I did and came out so bad, and if one day I don't feel like painting anything over them, Stephanie's idea can be inspiring. Sometimes we just want to do something different than other people do, and she deserves respect for her work. Better to repurpose than - as in my case - have a lot of awful painted canvases all around the place!

I love that the artist included the electric/telephone wires.....tells me there's a road behind that house. Maybe that's a yellowed corn field across the road....this could be late summer.

I actually really loved the before. Oh well, to each her own.

It is not the DIY per se ...just that, with due respect, its a bit simple to be featured as a before and after post.

broccoli - hahahahah :D

i like the original painting way more than the soulless dead animal silhouette.

Um, ever heard of "gesso?" You know, the stuff you put on canvas before you actually paint? There are good reasons its used; the main one being to prevent the paint from destroying the surface that you are actually painting on. This "diy" is going be thrown away soon enough anyway because of how badly the fabric will hold up. I can guarantee it.

I use gesso all of the time to reuse old canvases for newer works. It's not hard to do and it certainly isn't a secret.

I'd love to find pictures like the original one. You could have a lot of fun adding to it with a bit of decoupage..Godzilla looming over the roof, loved ones peering out from the windows, Manet's 'Picnic on the Grass' in the foreground or even a white silhouette of a stag posing majestically on the lawn...

The comment threads are hilarious today! Straighten out your panties, people. Also hilarious? In my neighborhood that hideous painting would be priced at way higher than a new canvas. No such thing as a "Thrift Store" in Vancouver anymore.

This is ridiculous! The painting had character and you covered it up with a generic pseudo nature pop up print.

And canvases aren't expensive. You can get one that size for $5 tops, maybe a bit less with a sale or a coupon.

This is a sad day on apartment therapy.

I thought this was great and it inspired a painting of my own. Not a deer, and i just forked out the 8 bucks for a canvas. Nevertheless it sparked inspiration. Nice Work!

Someone's always offended. Jackals.

I don't see it as any different than when I repaint over my own canvases. And I've never found a large canvas that is cheaper than thrift store/yard sale art.