Weddingbee boards

What kind of paint did you use?

What weight of canvas is it?

Did you do a base wash before going at it?

What kind of brush did you use? Size? Hair type/synthetic? all these things can effect the outcome

My mother is an artist, and that's basically what I do in my spare time [family & other obligations aside].

*Most of the white spots are along the edges, what if you painted another boarder on the canvas in brown or something

*disclaimer, I suck at art, so this idea may, in reality, be super unhelpful.

You can probably paint over them once they dry. I think maybe if you picked the same color for the top and then a second color for the bottom and then did the dragging - that it might look more cohesive (so all three would look similar rather than having different colors). Also like other posters said - you might want to make sure to go over the edges with the paint so you don't have white edges.

I love the three canvases thought - I haven't done that type of painting but these are some fabric inspired paintings I did for my office (ignore my crappy internet cord on the wall - you'd think they'd have hidden that). I think adding a black silhouetted object might help.

With acrylic sometimes it's nice to add a little water to it at first to 'thin' it [make it more workable/not so goopy, unless goopy is what you are going for].

It looks like the inspiration canvas was done in 2-3 stages as the colours are lighter in some places.

If I were trying to recreate it I would first 'wash' the canvas with a warm hue, yellow, orange or lighter orange/red, using a large[ish] soft brush that can hold a good amount liquid so that there would be a little 'running' in the paint/of the colors (though you have to be careful, some larger brushes hold so much it can be like pouring the paint over the canvas), & then I would wash/blend the 'top' with the cool blue/green/grey hue, using a somewhat smaller soft brush.

Finally I would use a small-medium [depending on the size of the canvas], slightly firmer square or round tipped brush [I would lean more toward a 'flat'bristle pattern just for control] and add the darker areas. I would do this by adding undiluted paint to the canvas and blending it with the semi-wet background wash.

One bonus of acrylic that I lovelove is that when it is dry, you can always paint over it.

--But I really don't think you're off to a bad start at all!

You used a lot of water, so the paints look more like watercolor than acrylic paint. You don't suck, you just used a different technique, so they turned out differently than you were wanting.

You can try painting over 1 of them, do each a different style so you can have fun & experiment. Acrylic paint usually dries fast, but give it a few hours. Even if it feels dry, give it time or you'll get wierd bubbles in the paint.

If you have a tube of paint, what I do (to make the example of the 1st pic) is I put a few dabs (small/medium amount of paint) going across the top of the canvas, but not a straight line, just a few "dot blobs" and painting up & down (but don't move your brush left/right, you only want to go on one direction) so that the green fades out. You want green 1/3 of the top of the painting, & it fades out completly at the middle of the painting. Let the green dry for awhile. Rinse out your brush & do the same with red. I'd use a small amount of orange paint on your paint tray (cardboard works too), but don't put the orange directly on the canvas with the tube, just by using the brush. Start on the red side & work your way up. You want to let the red paint dry a little, but not completely when you start on the orange. That's just what I think would work in recreating the top art.

Don't use much water at all, a little water can go a long way. Basically only use water when the paint is drying out. But don't spray the canvas! Use your paintbrush & dip it in water & then brush it into the paint already on the canvas.

Have fun :)

EDIT: Don't leave any white areas, paint over the entire canvas & paint on the sides of the canvas too. It will look more complete if there's no canvas showing thru.