Canvas Art

Finally I’m getting around to posting those canvas art pieces I made around the holidays. Here again I’m going to apologize for my horrible photography skills. This picture was taken with a less than stellar camera under not so great conditions. I promise it looks much better in person.

I started this as an experiment after reading Christy Tomlinson’s tutorial on creating on canvas. (while this isn’t the same tutorial that inspired me, it is AWESOME). Honestly it scared me to death. I’ve never been one to worry over making a mistake, (I live by the motto, “it is what it is”), but this project was way far outside my box. I really shouldn’t have worried because the more I worked on it the more fun I had and the more comfortable I became.

I started by using Mod Podge on the entire top of the canvas. While it was still wet I added the paper and another coat of Mod Podge. The paper wrinkled and curled a little but I just pushed it down, wrinkles and all, and added more Mod Podge. At one point I found a huge air bubble so I sliced a small “x” over the bubble with a razor knife, pulled up the edges and added some more MP, smoothed down the cut edges and continued on.

After the sticky mess dried I put down a couple of Tim Holtz Timeworks masks and spritzed the entire canvas with some Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist in Key Lime. What a  mistake. The color was awful. No worries though, I just took Distress Ink, (Walnut Stain or maybe Vintage Photo), dabbed it here and there using my homemade ink applicator.

        

(my photography skills are greatly improved by using a better camera)

By the time I was done I had almost a patina look with the green underneath.

Next I started adding the embellies and shaded around them with some inexpensive brown craft paint. I even shaded around the pictures. After the paint dried I outlined everything with a black fine tipped Sharpie to add some dimension, (a rollerball type pen would work better for this). I put one last coat of MP on top of everything except the picture and let it all dry. Lastly I added a handmade tissue tape flower, (instructions courtesy of Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas) popped that puppy down with some glue dots and slapped on a sticker for the middle. That was it. All done and nicely so if I do say so myself.

I also made a second canvas for the other side of our family. As you can see it the same theme, layout and title but that’s ok. Why mess with perfection. This piece was easier to do because I wasn’t as scared about ruining the canvas. (Such a silly thing to worry over. It only cost a couple of bucks and anything the doesn’t look just right can always be painted over)

Through it all, I had a blast. It was like the messier it got, the more fun I was having. My inner pre-schooler jumped out and started coloring outside the lines.

I plan to make more canvas art. I’m going to try some different projects though. I’ve got a yard or so of duck canvas that I want to try some projects with.  My plan also includes continuing to work on photographing, first the thing I want to scrap and second the thing I’ve scrapped, I hope you and I will see some improvement. All that really matters though is that I stay on task and have fun doing it.

Happy Creating.