Wednesday 23 January 2013

My canvas is finished :)

Hi everyone :)

Well it’s been a real journey of art, mistakes, learning and experiencing… but my canvas is actually finished!  I’ve often admired mixed media artwork… and I love the look of art journals… but I’ve never been able to recreate the ‘look’ and I just figured that it wasn’t really ‘my thing’… but I’ve totally changed my mind and I’m so pleased that I listened to that quote Mikayla showed me yesterday and just went for it!

I spent most of last night in front of the TV working on the next stage of the canvas… and Mum is going to have kittens when she sees it… but basically it was gesso time again!  I left it to dry overnight and this is what it looked like this morning:

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I actually quite liked the ‘soft’ look of this with lots of white but it wasn’t what I was planning so the first thing I did this morning was get out the test pot of ‘Terrible Billy’ and paint around the sides of the canvas and slightly onto the top just to ‘frame’ it.

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Then I needed to decide which sorts of inks and sprays I was going to use… and I got a really big surprise!  I have been a BIG fan of distress inks for a long time… but since this project was all about doing something different I decided that I wasn’t going to use them.

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I do have a three glimmer mists that I thought would come in handy along with some chalkboard spray but the glimmer mist was a total let down… the colours were really washed out and didn’t want to stick to the gesso.

Then I remembered that I had my Adirondack colour wash sprays.  To be honest I haven’t used them in a LONG time… but I did have them in both full strength and half strength containers so I figured I’d try them… and guess what…they TOTALLY ROCK!   The colours stuck to the gesso beautifully and were rich and vibrant… plus they mixed well together without going horrible and ‘muddy’!

I started off with espresso around the edges and took a photo:

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Then I added some butterscotch in a couple of places and took some more photos:

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And then… I got totally into the flow and was enjoying myself so much that I forgot all about the camera until I got to this point:

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I had baby wipes lifting up excess ink… both the half and full strength bottles going and the heat gun drying out colours in between!

After I took that photo I carried on for a bit more until I was completely happy with the canvas and this is what I ended up with:

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I know it’s really hard to see the details in the full size photo so here’s a few close ups.

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I really love the top edge of the canvas!  That vintage lace come up so well!  The cluster of clocks in the top right corner looks amazing in real life too.  When I got to the light bulb I decided to see if I could get the gesso off the light part and with a bit of gentle persuasion I managed it.  Since the light bulb was stuck directly to the white canvas the white kind of shines through the bulb which looks awesome.

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One of my favourite parts of this section is the ‘brick wall’ with the cord… I’m really loving that lighter area because it looks so soft and pretty against the dark border to the left of it. 

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My two favourite parts at the bottom would have to be the ‘2013’ which I used a baby wipe on once all the spraying was done.  I took it back to the gesso but left the edges intact so it looks quite grungy.  I also love the resin angel by the quote.  The ink has gone into the recessed parts and I used a baby wipe over the higher parts so it looks really antiqued!

Once I was finished I took a photo of the ink sprays to remind myself that these were the ones that worked the best.

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I don’t often do this but I do have six of the colours available in the online shop so if you want to get some I can personally vouch for the amazing colours.  There are twelve colours in total and I used all of them on my canvas! 

The canvas is still drying… I’m guessing it will take most of the afternoon or even overnight but I am resisting the urge to ink any more because I know I’m pretty close to doing ‘too much’ to it!  But I can tell you that I am in a very happy place and I have the inky fingers to prove it!

inky fingers copy

So that’s it from me… I’m so pleased I gave mixed media a go and you can bet I’ll be doing more of it in the future!

I hope you’re all having a great Wednesday xx

7 comments:

  1. WOW Shell, this is fantastic. xx

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  2. Bloody awesome!!! Just sayin'. xoxo

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  3. Oh wow it looks amazing with all the colour on it.

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  4. Oh My god WOW!!! I wanna come and get some lessons from you..

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  5. That is simply amazing - very creative.

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  6. Gosh, that is absolutely awesome shell. Love it.

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  7. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous ... all. of. it!!

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