Canvas Art for Outdoors: Everything You Need to Know

Thinking about buying custom canvas art for outdoors use? Our guide tells you how to bring the personal touch to your outdoor space!

Personalized prints have long been a popular choice of wall art inside the home. But can you use them for decorating outdoor areas too?

Here at CANVASDISCOUNT we believe that canvas prints – and other custom wall decor – are a great way to make your garden, patio, or balcony more homely and inviting. But outdoor environments are tougher than the warm and dry interior of your home, so it’s important to find the right way to display your prints.

In this article we cover the most important questions about canvas outdoor art:

• Can you put canvas art outdoors?

• Tips for displaying outdoor canvas art

• Locations for displaying outdoor art

• What are the best alternatives to canvas?

Let’s get started!

Using Canvas Art for Outdoors – Yes or No?

As canvas prints get more popular, more people are starting to experiment with displaying their prints outdoors. But if you’re thinking about a canvas for the garden or patio, bear in mind that these prints are primarily designed for indoor display.

Whether natural or man-made, canvas is a porous material that will absorb moisture from the air. So if you display a canvas print in a humid environment, there’ll always be the risk of your print ending up with moisture damage: the canvas could warp or the print lose its definition.

What’s more, direct sunlight is also a risk factor for canvas prints – as prolonged exposure to UV rays can cause fading and yellowing.

So although we wouldn’t outright discourage you from hanging your print in an outdoor space, we do recommend taking special care about where (and how) you display it outdoors. And you should also prepare yourself for your canvas having a shorter lifespan than it would indoors.

Tips for Displaying Canvas Prints Outdoors

Canvas prints will show better resistance to both moisture damage and UV fading if they’re laminated.

Some print providers offer this upon purchase. Or you can laminate your prints yourself, using one of two DIY techniques: liquid coating (“painting” liquid laminate onto the surface and letting it dry) and sheet lamination (sticking self-adhesive laminate sheets onto the surface).

Note however that canvas prints which are directly exposed to rainfall are unlikely to last very long even if they have been fully laminated. So we recommend only hanging your prints outside if there’s a covered area available to shelter them from the rain.

Note also that canvas prints from quality providers like CANVASDISCOUNT should show good resistance to UV fading, so there’s no need to find a completely shaded spot. But if your prints are exposed to bright sunlight for hours every day, their lifespan will inevitably be affected.

Canvas for Outdoors: Display Options

Here are some tips for displaying canvas prints in some popular outdoor locations:

Patio. Canvas prints are a good choice to decorate the walls around your patio. Not all outdoor wall surfaces are suitable for hanging canvas though – if a surface is highly textured, it will be difficult to mount any wall decor there.

Balcony or terrace. Alongside furniture and pot plants, wall decor is a great way to make your balcony or terrace feel more inviting. Custom canvas prints add color and personality to the space, and if you’re lucky enough to have a large space, you can even create an entire dedicated feature wall with your prints.

Porch. If your house has a front porch, canvas prints are a great way to put your personal stamp on it – you can hang photos from your family archive, for example.

Gazebo. When it comes to gazebo decoration, most people think of lights, furniture and climbing plants, but prints are well suited to the aesthetic too. Consider an extra-thick internal frame (we offer a 1½” thick option) to make sure your prints stay in place even on windy days.

Alternatives to Canvas Prints

As you can see, it is possible to decorate outdoor spaces with canvas prints – but they’re not always the most durable option. If you’re looking for extra durable wall art that has good resistance to UV-related fading and can even withstand the odd rain shower, we recommend choosing either metal or acrylic prints.

Metal prints are created by printing directly onto specially treated aluminum composite panels, making them resistant to scratches and fading. While acrylic prints, where your image appears behind a sheet of acrylic glass, are also highly resilient and water-resistant. Both options are slim and lightweight, making them easy to hang – they’re unique, stylish alternatives to outdoor canvas prints.

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It's worth mentioning that metal and acrylic prints are a bit more expensive than canvas prints – for example, at CANVASDISCOUNT the prices for metal prints start at $22 for an 8” x 8” format, while a canvas print of the same size would cost you just $5.

But an outdoor canvas print will probably need replacing after a few years, while you can expect a metal or acrylic print to stay in excellent condition for significantly longer.

Whichever print format you choose, you’ll find it here at CANVASDISCOUNT. We offer metal, acrylic, and canvas prints for outdoors, and make each format in the highest quality. Place your order now and we'll deliver it right to your door!