Four Steps on how Repurpose Used Stretched Canvases

When I first moved to NYC back in 2004, I joined the Arts Student League and jumped into abstract acrylic painting. Over the years, my art practice, focus and style has changed and I don’t really love these original acrylic paintings anymore.  Yet, these canvases still lay in my closet.  

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I  contemplated throwing them away or donating them…but for some reason I never actually got around to it. So in the closet, they sat.

Until now! 

As I dive deeper into my mixed media collage art practice, I realized that I can repurpose these canvases into new art!  

With a few coats of white gesso and/or modeling paste, it is so easy to cover up old painted canvases and give these stretched canvases a new life.

These are the steps I followed to repurpose my old art canvases:

1. Apply 1 coat of white gesso to cover up any existing paint that already exists on the canvas.  Tip: I recommend using an old paintbrush for this step and not one of your good quality brushes!
2. Let it dry and apply a 2nd coat of white gesso (if needed) - you want to make sure that all the previous paint is well-covered.
3. Depending on your composition, you can add a layer of modeling paste to give your canvas some texture.   Sometimes using modeling paste with a stencil is part of my composition, so in this instance I would not add modeling paste over the entire canvas. Tip:  I recommend applying modeling paste with a palette knife.
4. Next step is to tone the canvas by applying 1-2 coats of acrylic paint.  Usually, I select 2-3 colors and paint the background in a warm or cool color palette. But again, it really depends on the composition.  Planning my composition often takes me several hours to several days! Once I have a clear vision of what I want to create, it is full steam ahead!

I used Liquitex Acrylic White Gesso and Liquitex Medium Modeling Paste - both available from Blick Art.

Here is an example of what my canvas looks like after I've toned with with a few coats of acrylic paint (step 4 above).

Check out my latest @DivineNY Instagram Reel to see these process steps!

Now my canvas is ready for my next mixed media collage art project.

**This post may contain affiliate links. That means that I may receive compensation if you purchase through the links I have provided. The price you pay for the product or service is not higher, but I may get compensated.**