Outdoor Canvas Art: Can You Display Canvas Prints Outside?

by William Kenny

5 Minutes

2024-03-02

Thinking of hanging some outdoor canvas art? Read our guide to garden wall art before deciding if canvas is the right choice for you.

As a leading canvas print provider, we’re often asked if they can also be used outside the home – as decoration for people’s gardens, patios, terraces etc.

The short answer? MYPICTURE canvas prints were designed for indoor use, and our claims about the performance and lifespan of our prints are based on use inside the home only. We ask you to remember this disclaimer before displaying your photo canvas outside.

In this article we’ll discuss the particular challenges that outdoor canvas art will face. And if you do want to go ahead with buying canvas art for outdoors, we’ll give you some tips for getting it right - showing you how to weatherproof outdoor wall art. We’ll also mention some other MYPICTURE products which make great alternatives for outdoor wall decoration!

So Are Canvas Prints Suitable for Outdoor Use?

The overwhelming majority of canvas prints (including those made here at MYPICTURE) are designed to be displayed inside your home, and the nature of canvas does mean that it’s naturally better suited for indoor use. There are some important factors to take into account when considering canvas prints for outdoor use:

Firstly, canvas is a fabric, and fabrics are porous. That means the canvas material absorbs moisture from the air around it, and in humid environments it will be prone to moisture damage. The canvas itself might loosen or warp, and the inks used to print its surface might lose their definition.
Secondly, canvas prints have limited resistance to UV rays. That means if canvas prints are exposed to strong direct sunlight for significant periods, they’re likely to start fading before too long.

The fact is that in most cases, displaying your prints outside will expose them to both higher levels of moisture in the air and direct sunlight.

So while we at MYPICTURE think canvas prints can look fantastic displayed outdoors, we strongly recommend caution here – and we remind potential buyers that our product guarantees only apply in the case of indoor display.

Outdoor Canvas Art. Two canvas prints on outdoor wall.

How to Weatherproof Outdoor Wall Art

If you want to display a canvas print outside where it’ll be more exposed to the elements, it’s a good idea to minimise the absorbency of the canvas fabric before hanging.

The simplest way to weatherproof outdoor wall art is to laminate your print. This is usually done in one of two ways: liquid coating or sheet lamination. Both liquid laminate (in a bottle or spray can) and self-adhesive laminate sheets should be available in any good art supply store.

Brief instructions for each technique are below:

Liquid Coating. Either spray the liquid laminate from the can or pour it into a roller tray and use a paint roller to apply it to the canvas. Leave for 10-15 minutes and then apply a second coat. Wait for the laminate to dry completely.
Sheet Lamination. Peel the removable backing from the sheet of laminate and apply the adhesive side to the canvas. Gradually apply pressure, working from top to bottom, until the laminate has stuck fast. Work out any air bubbles with a squeegee or similar (a credit card will work at a push).

Note: If you haven’t bought your print yet, we recommend avoiding sellers who make their canvas from natural materials, as it will be more vulnerable to moisture damage. At MYPICTURE we produce our canvas using man-made fibres.

Tips for Displaying Outdoor Canvas Art

The most important thing to do when displaying canvas prints outside is to protect them from the rain. All canvas, whether laminated or not, will really struggle outdoors if it’s directly exposed to rainfall. So try to find a spot with an overhang of some kind that will provide shelter.

(Note: British/Irish weather being what it is, you might find it hard to keep your prints completely untouched by rainfall if they’re outside – but your canvas catching the odd spatter of horizontal rain is far better than it getting drenched every time there’s a shower.)

If you get your canvas from a quality provider, it should have good resistance to fading caused by UV rays. Here at MYPICTURE for example, we print using premium latex inks from HP, which offer superb chemical stability.

Nevertheless, any canvas will eventually start to fade if it’s exposed to hours of intense direct sunlight every day. So we recommend finding a spot where your print will be shaded from the sun, at least during the hours of brightest sunlight.

Outdoor Canvas Art. Canvas print on wall outside.

Canvas Art for Outdoors: Caring for Your Print

If your canvas print is displayed outdoors, it might need more frequent cleaning than if it’s kept inside. Outdoor prints will be more vulnerable to mould/mildew, and – as mentioned above – could be at more risk of losing their tautness due to the moisture in the air.

Some quick advice for dealing with each of these issues is below:

General soiling: Life outdoors is always a bit unpredictable, and prints displayed in your garden/patio will be more exposed to dirt and creepy-crawlies (think cobwebs and snail tracks). If they get a bit grubby after a while, you should be able to clean your prints by wiping them with a slightly damp cloth. Use a little detergent for more persistent grime.
Mildew: Our climate being what it is, your outdoor canvas art isn’t always going to stay bone dry – and that means the risk of mildew growing on the canvas surface. You can deal with the problem much as with general soiling – but use anti-mould solution instead of regular detergent.
Canvas slackness: If the canvas fabric of your print starts to lose its tautness due to moisture damage, you can tighten the surface by simply removing the staples securing it at the back, pulling the canvas tightly over the frame, then stapling it in place again.

Outdoor Canvas Art. Three canvas prints on wall outside.

Outdoor Wall Art: Some Alternatives to Canvas

We know how much our users love canvas prints. But if you decide that you’d prefer to play it as safe as possible with your outdoor wall art, you might want to choose an alternative to canvas that’s more suited to life in the great outdoors.

The MYPICTURE product list includes a range of options which have extra robust construction, and all of the items listed below should provide good longevity even if displayed as garden wall art. Please note however that we make the same guarantee disclaimer for all our products: our guarantee applies only to prints displayed inside the home.

Acrylic Prints

With this premium item, your photo is displayed behind a flawless pane of acrylic glass. The glass offers excellent protection in humid environments, as well as reflecting UV rays to minimise the risk of fading.

Outdoor Canvas Art. Acrylic print on wall outside.

Aluminium Prints

Our metal print is a super-robust item made from a sophisticated aluminium composite panel that will offer great protection against moisture. It’s available with a matte or gloss finish: we recommend choosing the latter for maximum UV resistance.

Photo Board Prints

This product sees your photo reproduced directly onto an elegant white panel made of photo board, a kind of hardened PVC foam which makes for very robust garden wall decor.

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