I have been sitting on this post waiting for the recipient to let me know she received it. This is my first ever canvas and I made it for a swap the theme being Friendship.
I really wanted to take everything I have learned from the group that I swapped with and use it on this piece. So to start with I covered the canvas in Gesso. Once that dried I added some sticky letters spelling "Friends" across and down the canvas. Then I painted over the canvas with some shimmery paint, since we all know I can't do anything that doesn't have some shimmer. To add texture to the paint I mixed in some Gesso and I stippled it on giving it a bit of a ruff surface. You can see this better in some of the close up pictures further down.
Once the initial layer of shimmery paint was dry I dry brushed on some gold shimmery paint concentrating on the edges of the canvas which I still think are a bit bare but that is the custom framer in me. I would have framed the canvas if I had had time.
With all the paint said and done I moved onto the centerpiece. The stamp I used is now discontinued which is really sad because I just love love love it. So I stamped the image three times, once on white card stock and once each on the different decorative papers. I colored the white image and cut the dresses out of the decorative paper and "dressed" the woman images.
I mounted them on a foam cut. I traced the medallion like shape onto the foam and then cut it out and painted it with the same shimmery paints used on the canvas. The color looks different because I did not add any gesso to it. When that was dry I gold embossed the swirls. The embossing isn't really raised I think it is because the foam absorbed the embossing. It also bubbled a bit but I liked the over all effect.
I set the "friends" aside and tackled what I saw as a bare canvas. This is as far as my imagination had taken the canvas but I was not happy with all the open space. So I pulled down my dictionary and a sharpie and decided to write the definition of Friends done the left hand side. I must admit that if I had not joined Sarah on the Soul Journal experience I would have never had the courage to write on the canvas and that would have been a shame. The definition adds a lot, even though my handwriting lacks the romance of a stamped sentiment.
The woman that I sent my canvas to uses lots and lots of beads, which I absolutely love. I think it adds so much texture, depth and interest to her work. So I decided to take a note from her work and attached the ribbon with the fabulous bead work. Then I mounted my center piece. I still thought it was missing something so I went digging into my long forgotten embellishment box and found the wonderful round stickers. I painted them with the same paint and stamped Friends, individual letters, on each one. Then I placed them around the woman image until I liked their placement.
When all is said and done I really really liked the outcome and i hope that the recipient done too! I had a great time making this for my friend and I learned a lot.
I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed making it.
9 comments:
lovely piece!
It's gorgeous!
So who is the lucky one to get this masterpiece? Lovely details and embellies.
This is truly impressive!!! You did a wonderful job. I especially like the torquoise and gold together.
It's beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing. I've just bought my first canvas and I've playing in my mind what I want to do with it on my first attempt.
Your recipient is a lucky chick!
What a fantastic piece...loved reading about the process to create it too! It has so many details that I've enlarged it a few times to have a look. Lucky duck who received it!
Oh my - you make some astounding pieces - totally beautiful.
What a stunner, one over the moon recipeint thats for sure, how beautiful a gift and the story behind it,it truly is stunning....
Is this your bling thing? It would be perfect for it.
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