"Stuff" From Stash Canvas

Today I thought I would share with you another canvas that I did at our bi-weekly Art Night at the Bug.  Again with this one, I had no plan.  It was strictly trying different methods to get the desired look.  Below is the canvas.

The canvas size is 8" x 10".  I first selected various patterned papers that went well together.  From these papers I cut strips to make a background on the canvas.  I decided to do a basket weave effect using the strips of paper.  I thought of other ways, but the basket weave seemed to be the one.  I didn't worry about how straight the strips were so I cut them by hand.

Using matt gel medium I adhered the strips down and added more gel medium to the surface of the strips.  I trimmed the strips off the side and bottom edges of the canvas.

I then applied a thin coat of gesso over the strips to blend them together.

I next took two stencils as shown and applied moulding paste to the canvas.

You can see in the canvas picture where I added the moulding paste.

I then took some turquoise paint, put a small amount above the sections of moulding paste, and sprayed clear water onto the paint.  This allowed the paint to become runny.  I put the canvas on its end and let the paint flow over the moulding paste.  I added more water to keep the flow going.  I did this in several places.

When the turquoise was dry, I watered down some yellow paint in a tray, and using a paint brush I added it in and around the turquoise paint.  You can see this above.  You can also see the paper strips creating even more texture.

And to finish:  I cut more strips of the paper and layered them close to the upper left corner.

I cut a piece of paper from the flowered paper I selected for the back of the picture.  Also cut a doile in half and added to the right side of the picture.

Below is a close-up of the collage items I did around the picture.  I took flowers from the bag of goodies that I had , laid them down and moved them around until I got the look I was going for.  I actually had the flowers down the left side of the picture.  I wasn't happy with it, so I moved them.

I accented the larger flowers using the turquoise and yellow paint as well as some gesso.  I added some metal embellishments and a resin decorative frame.  I also highlighted the metal with the paints.  I placed dots of yellow dimensional pearls here and there and using a black pen I drew around some of the diamond patterns of the moulding paste.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed doing it.  

Mixed media is such a fun way to let your inner creativity come to the surface.

Try it.  You will definitely surprise yourself.

Until next time,

to all you  HAPPY SCRAPPERS

"If you are lucky to be different, don't ever change."