A pet portrait is an excellent way to honor your fur baby, BFF (best feathered friend) or other beloved critter. Painting one is easier than it may look; in fact, you might be surprised to learn that capturing a pet’s likeness on canvas actually uses many of the same techniques as painting any portrait.

If you've got a disposable plastic dinner plate, you have a painting palette. Just saying: Many artists, myself included, started out with one of those.

Let's be honest: You don't need to stretch your own canvas anymore. You don't need to prime your own canvas. You don't even need to paint your own painting.

Your canvas is ready, and so are you. Time to create your masterpiece! But there's a big decision you still need to make: what kind of paint to use.

If you've ever painted a room or had a manicure, you already know what it means to prime a surface. Adding primer to a wall, applying a base coat to your fingernails before the polish goes on, prepping a canvas before you paint: It's all pretty much the same concept.

So you’ve got a big, blank canvas to work with? We’ll save you the corny life cliches, and instead give you the know-how you need to get started filling it up. Just add your own creative ideas and go!

Dive deeper into acrylic painting as you create two compelling abstract pieces.

Everything you need to start painting with acrylic — tools, techniques and more.

Perhaps you look at an abstract painting and think "Um, my 5-year-old could paint that." And then you sit down with a blank canvas and immediately regret such thinking.

Put a stencil on anything!