Fall Mixed Media Wall Art

I just love decorating my house for fall, and today I want to share how I made this Fall Mixed Media Wall Art! It’s super easy even if you have no painting experience, and making your own allows you to customize the size and colors to fit your home. This is even something that middle and high school students can make, and is a great way to play with abstract painting and mixed media art. You don’t need to use the same supplies I do, use your creativity and feel free to substitute in different things. Let’s get started!

Learn the science behind the changing colors with this lesson plan with printable worksheets: “Why Do Leaves Change Colors in Autumn.” 

Fall Mixed Media Wall Art

Supplies:

• Canvas. I used a 16 x 20. Make sure it’s already primed with gesso (most craft store canvases are).
• Acrylic paint in fall tones. You can use craft paint or art acrylics, both work equally well on canvas.
•  Mod podge.
• Faux fall leaves.
• Orange and brown construction paper.
• A variety of paintbrushes.
• Hot glue gun.
• Paint palette, paper plate, or a reusable palette pad.

A blank canvas can intimidate almost anyone, even seasoned painters. So, let’s start by making it not blank anymore! Mix up a good amount of a soft pumpkin color. I mixed light brown, orange, and white to create this color. Make sure your brush is wet to help it move well on the canvas, and go ahead and paint your entire canvas this color, including the edges. Re wet your brush as needed to help the paint slide and be slightly translucent. You want to be able to see some variation in color and brushstrokes in the background. Let this dry completely.

Now go ahead and put a variety of colors down on your palette. I used rose gold, dark brown, burgundy, orange, and light brown. Next, you get to get creative! You can follow my steps or make it up on your own. I grabbed a fan brush and dipped it into the burgundy paint, and pulled a large stripe down one side of the canvas. Then I took some light brown on the same brush, and did some random wave shapes.

Next I gently smushed the brush into the corner a few times, and then streaked it across the canvas.

Play with adding different colors and textures, but don’t fill the canvas up completely just yet. Now you can tear a few strips of construction paper. Crumple them up in your hands to create some texture, and then smooth them out. Paint some mod podge on the back.

Then stick the paper down wherever you’d like it on your canvas. Let it dry, and then mod podge more over it to lock it in place. I had standard mod podge, but I would recommend using matte mod podge for this project. When your paper pieces are all stuck down and dry, we can move on to the next technique. Take a larger brush, add some water to the color of paint you want to use (I love metallics for this) and get a good amount of paint on the brush.

This next part can be messy, so make sure your work surface is protected. You’re going to use your finger to pull back the bristles of the brush and let them flick the paint onto the canvas. If you haven’t used this technique before, practice on a scrap piece of paper first. This creates speckles all over the canvas. You can do this with multiple colors as well. I also took a pointed brush and did some very thin, scratchy stripes across a few place.

To add some more variety and texture, you can also grab a bit of paper towel. Crumple it up into a ball, and dip it into a few colors of paint. Dab the towel on your canvas a couple times, and you get an effect like this. Using a variety of painting tools is key to making pieces like this.

When you’re happy with how all the painted portions look, let it dry completely. Now you can just take your faux leaves, add a little hot glue to the back, and glue them down on your canvas. You can spread them out like I did, put them all at the bottom like forest floor, or create groupings.

And you’re all done! You can hang your canvas on the wall, or lean it on a dresser or table like I did. I hope that you enjoy  making your own Fall Mixed Media Wall Art!

Here’s another fall leaf art project idea while you are here!