Concrete Art | Cement Wall Art

Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract artists of the time. The term was taken up widely after World War 2 and promoted through a number of international exhibitions and art movements.

BASIS OF CONCRETE PAINTING

• Art is universal.

• A work of art must be entirely conceived and shaped by the mind before its execution.

• A pictorial element does not have any meaning beyond “itself”; as a consequence, a painting does not have any meaning other than “itself”.

• The construction of a painting, as well as that of its elements, must be simple and visually controllable.

• The painting technique must be mechanic.

• An effort toward absolute clarity is mandatory.

Read more about Concrete Art from the wikipedia page.

In this Instructable I will show how to easily make Concrete art, Cement wall art, Concrete art on wood, Cement wall portraits. And this way you can create endless design and wall murals. Here I've made an ancient Chinese symbol Yin-Yang as portrait art. Just to show, how you can create some art with colors on concrete.

The basic tools and materials that will be needing in this project are listed below.

TOOLS

• Pen cutter / knife
• Hammer
• Nails
• Stirrer
• Holder / container
• Sketch pen
• Sandpaper
• Glue

MATERIALS

• Thermocol / foam
• White cement
• Black cement
• Sand
• Water
• Plywood piece
• Varnish / Finish coat
• Art print-out on paper

The first step will be selecting your Art piece. Then take a print-out of the Art image (or you can draw by your hand if you are a good artist), It will be precise to work with.

Now cut the marks that needs to be filled with concrete so that we can make a Mould out of these shape. Use a pen knife or a sharp cutter to give a fine cut along the lines.

Here we will be using thermocol sheet of 10mm width, as its cheap and easy to work with. Now transfer your Art image to the piece of thermocol or foam sheet.

Simply glue the paper print-out to the foam piece, so that it won't move and then cut the marks and make holes to fill with concrete. This way you can simply make a mould for your Art piece.

So in this case simply cut one half and let remain the other half.

For the base you can use a Plywood piece of around 10mm or 12mm. Our base is of size 9inch x 12inch.

Then make some rough marking with a sketch pen, of the holes that we made on our foam piece. It will give an idea of filling concrete volume.

Then I used some nails of size half inch and hammered on all the areas that are going to be filled by concrete. It will act as reinforcement and strengthen the bond and will also hold the concrete mixture to the wood.

Next, is the time to make our concrete mixture. In Yin-Yang, one side is Light and the other side is Dark. To bring this contrast, here I used White and Black Portland cement for the contrast.

Now take a plastic bottle or a container and a stirrer to well mix the concrete mixture. Next take cement, small amount of sand and water and pour them to the container and thoroughly mix it. Don't make a mixture too hard or too loose.

So, now pour all the concrete mixture to the holes slowly and keep vibrating the board. Also, use a stick to vibrate so that no air bubble remains inside and all the small gaps get filled too.

After this level the top and clear out any excess mixture left. Then leave it to set the concrete for at least 24 hours.

Next day, pull out the foam on the other side of the Yin-Yang, that was covered and clear all the foam attached to the board or with the other half. Also use some sand paper and clean the middle part and excess concrete.

Again similarly make another concrete mixture with black cement, sand and water.

Then repeat the same procedure. This time fill the other side with black concrete and again leave it to set for another 24 hour.

So, the next day our concrete mixture is harden enough now and we can remove all the thermocols that were fixed. Gently remove all the foam sheets and clean all the excess.

Here, use some sandpaper or file to clear out the extra mixture and give it a round shape and also make the top level by filing and smooth all the areas.

Next using file or sand paper clean all excess concrete and glue that are attached to the wood.

Note: Spray some water to the base and clean with brush, it will help to easily remove the glue.

Next you can use some varnish or wood coating to polish and give a nice finish to the art piece. And leave it to dry.

So this is the final result. Please share your opinion in comments below and tell us what more we should make for each other.
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