Easy Breezy Art Display

I wanted an inexpensive and interchangeable way to display some art prints that I bought recently -- interchangeable because I like to change art with the seasons. Dick Blick online had a magnetic display, but you have to affix the magnet to the wall. Not an option for me because people complained that the removable adhesive damaged their walls when they removed the magnet. Uh-uh, sorry Dick Blick -- I just had my walls repainted. So here's another way. Get a blank artist's canvas to fit your print, with room for a border all around. I cheated here and recycled an "ambitiously bad" painting (as Tim Gunn would say) that I did at Painting with a Twist when my friends and I had a little too much "twist." Decorate the canvas as the creative muse moves you. I just painted over said embarrassment with leftover latex house paint.

Go to your nearest craft store and buy some super-powerful magnets, the little button kind that wreck your fingernails when you try to pry them apart. While you're there, buy something cute to glue to the magnets, unless you're a minimalist and like the sleek, utilitarian look. If you don't have any good adhesive, buy some glue also (Minimalists, forego the glue.). Advance to the home improvement store and buy some metal pieces that magnets will stick to. Here's what I bought at Home Depot for a little over $3:

Go home and glue your "something cute" (old shell buttons for me) to your magnets, and leave them face down on your work surface until the glue sets.

Now comes the fun part: Turn the canvas to the back side and decide where the pieces of metal should be placed. You don't have to glue them -- just hold one in place while you position the art print to the front and attach the magnet.

Et voila! Art you can change at the speed of light!

This beautiful print is by the wonderful Terri Windling: www.terriwindling.com I have big plans for this idea, and a veritable wealth of embarrassing canvases painted by moi. I ordered a Charles Wysocki Halloween print, so one canvas must be black and spattered with orange paint. Those who are more talented than I am could decorate the canvas with mixed media art, or paint it and stamp evocative images all around the border, or wrap the whole thing in some fabric to match your decor. For kids' art, you could paint the canvas with blackboard paint and write something clever in the border each time you change the art. Just one word of CAUTION: Keep those magnets away from children and pets. If swallowed, they can cause serious or even fatal injury. Have fun with this idea, and share your results with me!