Mixed Media Canvas

I read once that the work you do should cause you to stretch, to move outside your comfort zone.  Assignments should force you to go beyond what is typical for you. 

the assignment: create a door sign for a little girl's 2nd birthday party

the brainstorm process:

idea #1: a simple graphic print out created in Photoshop and mounted on foam board

idea #2: a scrapbook layout

idea #3: a scrapbook-type layout done on a stretched canvas

idea #4: a mixed-media canvas

Brainstorm over.

I am enchanted with the whimsical style of artist Christy Tomlinson.  She has an amazing way of combining layers, texture, doodles, and elements to create beautiful happy pieces of art.

I drew inspiration from her to create this canvas:

 I began the process with a little sketch:

Then painted the background with watered down acrylics mixed with gel medium.

Used a paper towel to blot up some of the paint and create a bit of texture.  Stamped with bubble wrap to add a bit more texture.

Then it was just a matter of choices: papers, rub ons, punches, placement.  

This part was the most fun.

I muted some of the papers and rub-ons with a little dry brush of gesso.

Finished it off by wrapping the edges in some Smash washi tape:

 I think I found a new art love.  I'm hungry to buy some more canvases to work on another one.  I loved getting lost in the process of creating this. 

Linking this at:

and

dream grandly.live deeply.create daily

I created this canvas last weekend during Cocoa Daisy's Spring Crop. It was so fun to get out the paste and paints and play around--that's what it's all about, right!?

Here are the deets:

1. I spread some modeling paste onto a 9x12 canvas and let dry.  I used good old Crayola watercolors to apply a wash in turquoise, then added some lime to the edge and held the canvas upright so it could drip down.  A few splatters of raspberry and turquoise and the background was done. 
2. The branch was cut using the Craftwell eCraft Fundamentals 2 card.  It's hard to tell from the photo, but I ran the branch through the sewing machine to give it a bit of stitchy texture.  Then embellished it with some folded paper flowers.
3. The butterflies are cut with the Sizzix Butterflies die from My Mind's Eye paper (the tiny one is a Martha Stewart punch) and embellied with rhinestones.
4. The wording is something I came up with for my 2010 planner, and thought it would work well here.  The pink stickers are Basic Grey and the rubons are American Crafts.

Whip out some paints and dress up a canvas!  Have fun!!

Method Playground: Rock Star

This week's challenge at the Playground is to *Make It Messy*. You don't have to tell me twice to get messy (it goes back to my mud-pie-making-days!) For this one, I started of with a piece of raw canvas (from Dixie Pieces' October kit).

Squirted on a few blobs of paint in teal, turquoise, gold, and lime.

With a large bristle brush, I swirled the paint all over, adding more paint as needed.

Once dry (I stink at the waiting part), I used a Sharpie to add in some text. I used big, bold bubble letters to add to the graffiti look I was going for here.

A few doodles and words (rock on! and kick it) and a bit of paint in the bubble lettersOriginally I was going to use a smaller photo, but changed my mind to a 4x6, so the star got covered up.

I forgot to take pictures of this part, but I squirted some spray paint in white, blue and orange, some from a distance and some super close (I lifted the canvas to let the splotches drip).

A machine stitched border and some stitching around the photo finishes the page. My son wants to frame it and hang it in his new *Rock Star* bedroom.

Get out your paints, mists, coffee, spray paint, food coloring--whatever, get messy and link up on the Playground. Have fun!

Holiday Cards Day 19

Day 19:

Quite possibly the simplest card ever: watercolor splotches of red swirled with watercolor crayons, and a simple stamped sentiment. Doesn't really get any easier than this.

Inspired by the end papers in a children's book we picked up from the library yesterday:

Amazing

Just landed upon this video of Kelly Rae completing one of her amazing works of art.

The Journey

Right now, I am feeling so influenced and empowered by many people's work. I've been reading through this book, looking at this woman's work, being challenged by this new blog, and working towards this goal. This piece is a sort of culmination of all these influences with a bit of me thrown in. I listened to this song while I worked--love this song (I know I'm dating myself here!)

Anyway, here's how I did it. I started with a piece of duck cloth and applied gesso to the front and back. Apparently when you do this, the cloth shrinks (I think the fibers condense making the piece harder). I had originally cut my pieces to 8x8 to make an album when I found this out. So if you have a certain finished size in mind, be sure to cut extra to allow for shrinkage. You can trim when it's dry.

So, next, I painted the entire piece with some watercolor paints. I used plain old Crayola's for this (my own pack that I don't allow the kiddos to use--I know, mean mommy!). I used lots of water to mute the tones. I didn't even wait for this to dry before proceeding to the next part--I have no patience for that stuff. I took out my Hot Marks tool; had to dust it off quite a bit. Now comes the fun part. I dug out a hot shade of pink from the boys' crayon box (they won't miss it, it's pink!) and melted it onto the canvas. The drips made lots of cool splatters, and I found that if you shake the tool at the canvas you can get a mist of smaller splatters. Be sure to protect your work surface (but if you didn't like me, the wax does cool and peel right off the laminate, thank goodness!) Truth be told, I got a little carried away with this part, and when I stood back to look at my piece, it looked like a wad of bubble gum had just exploded. Well, it was straight to the laundry room with paper towels and the iron (which also needed dusting off). I simply lay a PT over the wax spots and swiped the iron over it. The wax melted and was absorbed into the PT leaving behind a soft bit of color. Oooh, me likey!

For the next part I tried out a little technique from Claudine's book noted above: packing tape transfer. I wasn't sure that this would work (I tried the heat transfer technique first and it flopped). But, ooh-la-la! it worked amazingly! Here's what you do: Find the image you want to transfer; for me it's the JOURNEY clip art that I downloaded from Rhonna's blog above. Print it with a laser printer, or make a copy at a print shop (inkjet won't work here--the inks will run). Burnish a piece of packing tape over the top of the image, then flip it over, mist with a water bottle--give it a good soak--and then rub the paper off. This was like magic to me. You will be left with the image on your piece of packing tape--so cool!

A bit of typing in word to create the journal strips, a die cut butterfly (SU! Sizzix) that I had already made for a prior project, and a stamped flourish blinged with sticky rhinetsones and Stickles. The dangle on the butterfly is an old earring that I was missing the match to (knew I was saving that for something!).

My challenge to you: pull out your paints, crayons, and old jewelry and create something beautiful. Add a photo of you, and some words of meaning and hang it where you can see it everyday.

Enjoy!!