Busy days with Canvas

I have a "job" creating canvases for a realtor who gives them to his clients when they purchase a home. It's quite an honour and lots of fun coming up with different pieces.  He wanted to see a selection to pick from so I got busy over a two day period.

When I'm making a music themed piece, I like using old music torn up for the background.  In the above piece I was also able to us one of Stampin'Up!'s new thinlits (Swirly Scribbles).  The lines worked perfectly as a funky sort of staff.  I'll be using them a lot for this I'm sure!

I had done a journal page, a week or so ago, similar to this.  I thought the muted tones would work well as a house gift.  The fun part of this piece was creating the wrinkly texture in the background with a piece of tissue paper.

When I put the black, silver and white paint onto this canvas I really wasn't sure where I was going to go with it.  I ended up with a lot of stuff pulled onto my workspace before deciding on punching out squares of different matching papers and embossing some of them.

I was thankful the creative juices were flowing those two days…..and all the pieces were chosen, so that made it even better.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Without art, the crudeness of reality would make the world unbearable. 

George Bernard Shaw

One Finished, Three works in progress

I created another set of houses on a mint background.  I made my own mint paint so that the trees didn't clash.  I like these wonky little villages.

I came in close to take a picture of this mandala; which is  on a canvas.  I have a bit more to do on it before I add a quote or word of some sort.

I always take an altered book to a doctor's office so I can pas the time creating.  I'm bling to outline all the dark pieces and then write words inside of them…..I think.

Finally  here s another neighbourhood underway - this time a neutral background and I will be keeping the houses sort of neutral too.

Create something everyday.

Joan

"An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way."

 Charles Bukowski

Zentangle on Canvas

I created this background with leftover paint from another project last week and have been working on this zentangle.  I find it very relaxing to sit and do the tangles, and I'm getting better now at embellishing them a wee bit too.  Practice, Practice, Practice.

Create something everyday - even if it's continuing to work on something over a number of days.

Joan

"Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.

Leo Tolstoy

Patchwork and Texture

Last week I created a random patchwork pattern on a canvas thinking I paint another set of houses on it.  I decided that the background was too busy and too many colours so I decided to just create the mixed media canvas you see below.

First I put a light wash of creamy coloured paint over the patches to push them into the background.  Next I added some stencilling in two different colours.  I had some corrugated cardboard for IKEA, along with some other specialty papers which I layered and this cool straw like "paper" which I tore apart to add.  I've been debating whether to add words or not - but I think I'll just leave it the way it is.

Create something everyday - remember there's no mistakes - only creative opportunities.

Joan

Journals and Canvas

 Today is Inspiration Wednesday with Donna Downey, and I haven't even posted the last page spread that we did.  We used paper napkins to cover the spread and then embellished it just a little bit so the napkins weren't covered too much.  I added a few punched butterflies with glitter bodies and a canvas tag which I stamped a sentiment on and then sewed little metal letters of my "word of the year".

I've also been taking an on line abstract flower painting class with Donna Downey.  I have probably posted the "practise" pieces I did - but this one is on canvas.  It's a wee bit lopsided, but not too bad.

With the paint that was left over from the above flowers, I covered a canvas for a background for ….something.  I haven't quite decided what yet - zentangles, a mandala, a garden.  I'm not sure.  I'll just be leaving it in view in my art room until something hits me.

Create something everyday - even if you don't finish it right away.

Joan

"Drawing is exercise for the restless mind."  Tim Burton

Canvas Pieces

I honestly don't know where the time goes.  One day I'm up to date with my blog posts and the next I'm two weeks behind….but I have been busy. 

Today I'm sharing two canvases I've created.  The top one has a background created with paper napkins which I painted over in the middle in order to create a working space.  I stencilled the leaves on with coloured molding paste and added some flowers that are left over from a Stampin'Up! product we had a number of years ago.  I just loved these little flowers.  Next I cut some butterflies out of a piece of scrapbook paper that had the same colour combinations and added the quote.

I so agree with this quote!  I loved Paris when we went there a number of years ago.  The background for this piece is tissue paper with a "french" theme.  I then covered it with some pieces from a piece of scrapbook paper, added some stamps and some a french script stamp.  The words of the quote are made out of chipboard which I distressed before attaching.  I love the monochromatic look to this piece too.

Create something everyday,

Joan

"Painting transports me into another dimension which, quite literally, refreshes parts of the soul which other activities can't reach."  Prince Charles

Tags Project

The following are the last 4 tags to go onto my project

Actually, this guy looks different on the finished project….I added a double layer of wings to him and he looks much better.

I think this is my least favourite of the bunch, and since I collect feathers and love feathers, I'm a wee bit disappointed in myself!

This tag was fun to make using some ink to dye the cheesecloth.

And here is the final product with all the tags mounted on a painted and splattered canvas.  Lots of fun to do.

Create something everyday.

Joan

"If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten."

Anonymous

Tag Project

Yesterday, I started working on some tags to go on a background I've had painted for a number of days.  I'm trying to keep things as simple as possible for each of them.  However, the special thing about this tags is that the colour in the background is created for attaching part of a paper towel that we used on Saturday at a Divas and Demos stamping event I was at at Tamye Dunbar's.   So it didn't get thrown away - it got "up cycled".

I traced this flower from one of Donna Downey's stencils; and painted it with alcohol ink.  Actually, most of these ideas for the art on the tags is from the video this week for the Artists Gang Tuesday in conjunction with Donna's "Inspiration Wednesday".  The artist, Dee Dee Catron, created small ACTs this week.  My tags measure 5.5x4 inches.

I dropped some alcohol ink (Mermaid) onto the tag and swiped it around before it dried.  I then stitched on a button and stitched around the word "Trust" on the paper I'd stamped it onto, stitching through the lace as well.

You can barely see the white embossing of a stamped image I added to this tag.  The Mermaid and Pool alcohol inks did interesting things around the embossing - especially when I spritzed it with water before adding the stamped words and the little rosette flower and button.

Well, here I was just playing with ink and then I added a few scraps of the fiber paper I used as a background for the "Wonderful" card.  In hindsight, I should have embossed the key in black to add a bit more texture; and I am loving these big word stamps!

That's what I did yesterday - hopefully I'll get around to posting today, what I do today - and the first thing on the agenda is to finish up 4 more of these cards.

Create something everyday - even if it means you get messy.

Joan

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it."  Andy Warhol

Time...

I had a lot of fun working on this piece, although it took a while before I knew what was going to evolve.  The canvas sat for quite a while with the collage of watches on a white canvas.  I finally added a dark wash over the watches and the canvas and left the huge black watch out of the mix.  As soon as I stuck it in a "Rule of Threes" spot, things began coming together quite quickly.  I added the black molding paste of clock pieces and "punched out" the gold pieces.  Once I had picked out a quote and decided to use my Big Shot to cut out letters it was a done deal.  I used my Stampin'Up! gold foil paper for the word "Time" and for the gold pieces.  I'm very happy with the way this one turned out.

Create something everyday.

Joan

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see."  Degas

Spray Inks and Stars

I sure had a battle with this particular piece!  The word Music has been put on with molding paste, so it's raised, and picked up the colours of the inks as they dripped down from the top of the canvas.  When I started working on this I had painstakingly stencilled the words with black molding paste.  However, some letters came through cleaner than others and by the time I got to the beginning of the word Problem - I had had enough of smudges and such.  So, I took a paint scraping blade and took all the words off, re-stencilled them onto paper with a sharpie, placed them over their "original" spots and highlighted them in white.  Once the words were on, then I took a painted with someMedium Matte gel from the top to the bottom so that the spray inks flowed down the page and over the words.  Believe me, this is not how I had first envisioned this page, but I'm happy with it - especially since the gel helps the colours to pop!

For this piece I painted the background with two purples and a metallic silver by dragging the colour with a card. Once it was dried I added strips of some current Designer Series Paper from Stampin'Up! at different lengths.  The original paper was a silver marbled look, but by the time I highlighted the pieces they turned purple and blended in with the background.

To be honest, the choice of orange and pink stars was really a matter of begin lazy at the time and not wanting to make a matching gelli print - which is just as well because I really like how these stars pop off the page too.  It was a brave choice to go with, but I'm glad I did.

Create something everyday - and be brave!

Joan

Butterflies finished; and more….

On my last post you saw a pile of butterflies waiting for their antennae to be put on.  This is a piece that is now on canvas, but it started out on one of my journal pages.  It's fun to make things bigger, although it can be a challenge. My journal page had only one bigger butterfly, where this canvas was big enough to hold three big butterflies and a bunch of smaller ones. 

This piece is a replica of one I did a number of years ago with only one bird on it.  That bird was also done in a patchwork of scrapbook paper.  I like these guys better!  And that's what should happen as you work each day with different pieces; learning new things and growing.  I used a number of Stampin'Up! products for this canvas also - the flowers are still current, but the letters and the bird die cuts are retired…..I'm glad I do keep some of my purchases.  The stamped words are also a retired Stampin'Up! set - and I'm a bit annoyed that I lost my "create" word!

I did "this piece" once before on a canvas, but it has evolved quite a bit because of the larger canvas board.  I'm happy with the way that the letters turned out, and the addition of the tiny heart at the bottom of the treble clef.

Don't be afraid to re-work something you've done in the past - or to add right to it.  Keep it fun!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Butterflies everywhere

Today was a butterfly day!  I finished colouring in the bodies and added the bead bodies and heads on the large butterflies.  During the afternoon I put antennae on all of them, and this evening I attached them to the canvas I'm working on.  All this wonderful weather is getting me in the mood for spring, but I know I shouldn't be too quick about it.  Anything can happen between now and May long weekend!

Here is the canvas, completed.  I'm finding it both challenging and fun/exciting to take something that I created in a journal and putting it onto a larger substrate.  I'm also glad I have so many different butterfly options open to me in my Stampin'Up! products!

Create something new everyday!

Joan

Round, and Round, and Round…

I've noticed I've been working with a lot of circular shapes lately - not sure why.  The above is Prompt #59 - Textured Stamp.  I took a retired Stampin'Up! stamp and chose pieces out of magazines that had a lot of texture.  Some were stamped in black and the others were embossing in white.  I'm a bit sorry that I made the circles so close in size to the medallion because the texture in the photograph is lost.

I saw a similar painting done with spheres, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Some of the circles have texture added to them with either molding paste, glass bead paste, fiber paste or crackling paste.  The crackling paste didn't work well at all - the surface wasn't hard enough for it to do it's thing.  It was fun to do and I found the painting very calming.

Create something everyday.

Music Canvases

I didn't realize I hadn't posted in a week.  I've been busy making some more music canvases to be sold at an Orff workshop this weekend.  The above is a replica of a piece I did in one of my books.  A friend asked if I could do it on a canvas and I said I'd try.

This piece is sort of a replica of one I've done previously.  The idea is the same with the circles and words, but I changed the clefs and of course the backgrounds can never be the same.

I had this pink background handing around for a long time.  I decided to try something new with all the holey tape around the drawn clef.  And of course, give me an open space and I'll probably fill it with some sort of zentangle.

For this final piece, it was a good way to get rid of little bits and pieces of music that I've used on other projects.  One of the music pieces had the key outlined from it - I used it as scrap when I was colouring a key - so I found a quote that had to do with a key and music, covered the key shape with embossing gold embossing powder a number of times and before it cooled off the last time I stamped it with a music stamp.  Each of the little scraps of music has been outlined with gold too.

Create something everyday.

Joan

Think and Play

I had a pretty busy day yesterday in my craft room!  I finished this collage for Novel Approach - a Grunge background, the word THINK along with other pictures, and a spot to do some writing if I wanted.  Our trees yesterday were completely laden with snow, and with no wind, they stayed that way throughout the day - so I decided to write that on the little photo of a dark bare tree.  The pictures were initially outlined in black that was quite sharp looking, so I decided to smudge the edges.

For the rest of the day I moved back and forth between five other projects as various parts or layers dried.  It was a very productive day!

Create something everyday.

Joan

Mixed Media with Glass

This is another canvas piece that I've been keeping under wraps for a while until I gave it to it's new owner.  It's sort of a joke between a friend and I that he gives me assignments to complete - shadow, reflection, and on this occasion he wanted me to "art" the bottles lined up on a bar and lit from below.  It took a long time to come up with what I wanted to do.  When I did the melted glass ornaments at a Nina Haggerty Art Night - I made the little square piece in the middle.  It wasn't quite what I expected but it grew into this piece which I am quite happy with.  I was very thankful that I was able to purchase small pieces of glass from the Nina in order to fill the "counter" of bottles.  

I drew "stones" below and filled them with zentangles and surrounded them with black molding paste.  There's a lot of texture going on.

Is there a piece of art you can create for a friend or family member?

Joan

Special Watercolour

Sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday -  it was a busy day getting ready for my Grandson's 4th birthday.  It's amazing how time flys.  We had a nice quiet family celebration with some adults of the family and today he was bowling and celebrating with his cousins and friends.

So, I didn't get any arting done yesterday, but I did deliver this piece to a dear friend of mine who has started a new job.  It's done on a canvas and with watercolour.  I found it very relaxing to do this piece.

I brushed on two layers of watercolour in the layers that you see - let them dry for a couple of days and then I took a big wet brush to create the "white" space in the middle to put the words.  Because I wanted it to be "perfect" I actually used a stencil to put down the letters with black marker and then outlined them with white marker.

The flowers and vines were drawn on with pencil, outlined in marker and again, I used a smaller brush to create white space in each petal and leaf in order to get truer colours.  Finally I did a little bit of doodling - just to add that little extra bit.  My friend was very happy with it and put it on her wall right away.

Create a piece of art - large or small - for someone special in your life.

Joan

Mixed Media Canvases

Yesterday I attended a workshop at the Alberta Orff Chapter as part of my professional learning for my music classes.  However, I also had the honour of being able to display and sell some of my Mixed Media canvases which I created just for this workshop….they're all music themed.

I'm excited about the idea of doing more for their boutique and for creating others to sell.

Hope your weekend has gone well,

Create something everyday.