Mixed Media Canvas

Hello! Can you believe January is almost over? Today I'm enjoying the energy that a lovely sunny day brings - I hope your day is going well.

I have been working on something that I originally intended to be two projects, but eventually I combined them into one. I almost never know how things will turn out, and they often take on a life of their own. At one point, I thought I couldn't salvage this, but I think I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

My inspiration for the "love" part of this was a video I watched where the artist created a small canvas, using 3-D letters that she made herself out of layers of paper. I thought of all the chipboard letters I've got - they've fallen out of fashion, but I still hoard them anyway. I pulled out a cover from a discarded book to use as my "canvas". I keep a few of these around, and when I have extra paint or ink on my craft mat I swipe it over one of these just to find a way to use up my excess. It's a great way to build interesting layers of color for a background.

The book cover I chose was a fairly bright blue from earlier painting sessions. I used a combination of inks, acrylic paints and Gelatos to cover most of the blue, ending up with a pinky-purple background with some of the blue still showing through. After adhering the letters, I did a little random stamping with a permanent brown ink, and added some fun tissue tape from Tim Holtz. The letters also received a treatment of ink, paint and Gelatos. I covered the back with a pretty paper (although that ended up being lost later in the project).

I had thought this little "canvas" would be a stand-alone item to use as a Valentine's Day decoration, but I just wasn't happy with it. I liked the colors, but it seemed to be missing something and I couldn't figure out what it needed. That was the point that I almost gave up on it and decided to go on to something else.

Next I pulled out an old canvas. Several years ago I had glued some decorative scrapbook paper on it along with some thread and beads - it hung in a spare bedroom. I decided it was time for a makeover, so I cut off the thread and beads and ripped off as much of the old paper as I could. I probably wouldn't have bothered, but there were wrinkles in the paper and I didn't want that to interfere with whatever I did next.

Although the canvas wasn't completely free of paper, that was okay - the extra texture could be nice. I glued down some washi tape and then coated the whole thing with gesso. Next I adhered some pieces of lace. Then I pulled out some stencils and embossing paste and applied it randomly over the canvas. Now I had lots of interesting texture going on. I had fun with some acrylic paints, thinned down with matte medium and water to create soft washes of color.

I decided I wanted some script stamping, but it's really tough to stamp on a canvas. So I used a trick I learned somewhere and did my stamping on tissue paper. Once the paper is torn, it's quite easy to glue it to a canvas so that the edges almost disappear. It's really a nice effect!

Now I was stumped -  where to go with this next? Then it dawned on me that the book cover I'd already done might look good glued to the top of this canvas. I had some ribbon I'd colored with dye inks that I glued crosswise on the canvas and then added my book cover. Hmm...something still not quite right. I decided that the canvas needed something on the upper left to balance things. But what?

I pulled out an artificial flower, a grungeboard flourish, a key and some colored twine. (This is why I have such a hard time throwing things away - I never know when I might be able to use them!!). I altered the flower and flourish with layers of paint. Once I tried positioning them on the canvas I knew I was on to something. I found a ratty old button that worked perfectly as the center of the flower and tied the key on with the colored twine. At last! Finally done!

I know this is a long post, but it was a rather convoluted process. I hope you enjoyed seeing the finished product. I'm linking this up to the January Make It Take It challenge from Craft Stamper Magazine.

Till next time,

Immi