Patriotic Flag Flower Painted on a Burlap Canvas Sign

Paint an American flag on anything in any shape, and it immediately becomes fun patriotic decor. 

American flag decor and decorative objects painted in patriotic colors are exceptional and charming to me. 

A few summers ago, I created a flower-shaped flag art for my mantel on a small burlap canvas sign with paint that I still love to display every summer.

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Whether it is an old cabinet door repurposed into a decorative tray with a rustic American flag painted across it, rustic canvas prints, colorful Patriotic candles, bright floral picks, and especially Patriotic signs with God Bless America written on them in red, white, and blue.  I love them all.  

It is hard to resist the temptation to throw it into my shopping cart and bring home everything I like with Patriotic flags in the design. 

Decorating my mantel each summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day gives me a chance to display some of my decorative pieces, both purchased and homemade. 

My love for the blend of the red, white, and blue of the American flag may come from my love of American history and my being a former military wife. Wall art and decorations all throughout my house share our American pride.  

Images of American flags and American flag art are scattered throughout my home all year, in a subtle and not overwhelming way. It is not until Memorial Day that I pull out the most decorative objects for the summer holidays and fill my large mantel with the colors of red, white, and blue. 

Each season, I make a new wreath for my mantel.

I usually use a holiday-themed wreath for each season over my large stone fireplace, which has a very long and rustic wood mantel. A wreath fills in the long expanse of space. 

Whatever I decorate with for Memorial Day usually stays up all summer until Labor Day, so it is essential to like what is on display for the long summer months.  Thankfully, I also really love Patriotic decorations. 

Instead of the usual Patriotic wreath, one summer I created a colorful patriotic flower painted on burlap canvas. 

This rustic patriotic flower painting should mimic a patriotic wreath instead of making a new one. 

But sometimes you want to do something a bit different. 

So instead of making another Patriotic wreath, I reused a square 12″ x 12″ burlap canvas I had in my craft stash, some painter’s tape, and a pencil to outline and create a festive patriotic flower.

The design of the flower is easy to recreate with things you already have on hand.

To start the center of the flower, I painted the bottom circle of a small bowl with golden yellow acrylic paint.  Pressing the painted image of the circle on the burlap easily created the center of the flower.  I filled in the circle image with several layers of paint and allowed it to dry.

The next few steps were needed to find the size and placement of each flower petal. 

Since I wanted the flower design to resemble the American flag, I needed enough petals for the navy blue section and 13 petals for the red and white petals around the center.

To determine the length of each petal, I measured the space from the yellow-painted circle to the edge of the canvas and found that each petal could be between 4 and 5 inches long. 

Knowing I needed at least 20 petals around the center to make the design, I used 24mm wide painters tape (.94 inch), cut into 5-inch strips, and placed those around the center of the circle to find the correct placement for each petal.

Use the tape strips to guide the placement for the flower petals.

Once all of the painter’s tape pieces were in place as a guide, I started at the piece on top of the taped pieces, traced along the edges of the tape with a pencil, and then joined the two lines at a point at the top to form the outline for the first petal.

Using the same technique again, I traced the outline of the painter’s tape piece next to it. 

The pencil lines were painted over with an outline in navy paint for each petal. 

I completed the painted outline of the first seven navy petals to the left of the flower design.

Making sure to start and stop the red petal designs on either side of the blue petal sections, I completed the same steps for the red petals of the flower, but on every other one.  I waited until the red paint was fully dry before painting in the outlines of the white petals because I didn’t want the two colors to blend.

Once the outlines of the petal designs were dry, I used the same paints to fill in the petals’ colors. 

I’m sorry. I got so focused on creating the petals that I didn’t realize until I started this post that I didn’t have any photos of these steps. However, the process is very simple to repeat.

To fill in the burlap’s petal design, it took two coats of paint on each petal in navy, red, or white.

At first, this was all I had planned for the patriotic flower design.

But when I put the canvas on the mantel and stepped away from it, I decided it just needed more pizzazz or bling or something.  It was just too plain, and the end of the petals touching the center of the design blended too much.

Picking up my paintbrushes again, I added small white dots to the blue petals to make them stand out more and look like the stars on a flag. 

Next, I used silver metallic acrylic paint and added lines and details between each petal and around the golden yellow center.  The final silver accents were added to the end of each pedal. 

These small details are just what this painting needed to finish it off.

I love the blend of red, white, and blue during the summer months, so I plan to use this patriotic wall decor for a long time. 

Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Inspiration is the reason I blog.  Here are a few more crafty posts to inspire you to try more things:

10 Projects For The Beginner Crafter

DIY Patriotic Tray

Best American Flag Decor