The High-End Textural Wall Art You Can Recreate With Dollar Tree Caulk

Beautiful and distinctive artwork can add endless charm to your interior spaces, but can also come with a considerable price tag from both home retailers and buying direct from professional artists. With current design trends loving minimalist pieces of art, both large and small, that add additional texture wherever you hang them, there is a far more budget-friendly alternative to buying art. YouTube's Heidi Sonboul DIY shows off a great tutorial on how to create a DIY version for pennies with Dollar Tree elements compared to the high end pieces you can find elsewhere with the same elevated look. The result is a stunning piece that you can hang on your wall and completely customize to your style and aesthetics and also represents one of the trendiest wall art ideas today. 

Even better, you can create beautiful paintings with only a beginner's knowledge of rendering and an easy finger painting technique that involves no special tools or training. You will need three tubes of Dollar Tree white caulk and a piece of wood (like these wood plank signs). You will also need a lighter acrylic paint and a darker shade of paint, like high-contrast black or a rich metallic in copper, gold, silver. This technique works for paintings of any size, including large format works to fill in large and empty walls. 

To create your original painting, begin by sketching out your image in pencil on the wood. You can use a small spatula to apply the caulk to the surface, though your fingers may work best to allow you to manipulate the thick paste, which will remain malleable as you work. Use it to create outlines, fill the image, and create multiple layers of texture. Cut the tips of your caulk with different sized openings to vary the thicknesses of your lines and shading, keeping in mind that thicker layers of caulk will take longer to dry and may need to be spread out. Allow the piece to fully dry before applying an even layer of acrylic paint over the entirety of the wood. This DIYer chooses white, but you can use other shades like pastels, black, or gray. Using a heat gun or blow dryer can help speed up the drying process. Finish by using a contrasting lighter or darker color to dry brush over the textured details, creating highlights and making the texture more visible. In addition to florals, you can also create textured landscapes or other kinds of images and designs.

This fun technique is also great for creating texture on other wood surfaces, like cabinet doors or the side of furniture pieces, for a rich three-dimensional work that looks very high end on even the most inexpensive or thrifted wooden surfaces. You can also use this technique to create accents on wood paneling on the walls themselves for an old European look or add additional carved details on a plain ceiling medallion. This caulk is also great for taking advantage of the popular plaster art trend.