Canvas Corp Brands mixed media 4 by 4 canvas 'Finnabair style'

 Hi all!

It feels like it's been forever since I created something and shared it, though I know it's not. Not really. It's just been very busy around here because my little man turned 3 years old last Thursday! That meant shopping for a present, extra grocery shopping, celebrating his actual birthday with a select few and then on to baking cake, muffins, preparing the place where the party was held (grandpa's bar) and the actual party itself. 

Connor liked lighting the candles and blowing them out (a gazillion times) even more than the presents...

Back to normal life after those celebrations, so time was short again. and I wanted to start/finish the mini canvas for the Canvas Corp Crew so badly! It's a small canvas ( 4 by 4 inch) everyone in the Canvas Corp Crew is supposed to decorate to show (off) their own style. Today I was finally able to put the final touch on my 4 by 4 inch canvas, and even more importantly, take daylight pictures of it.

It has to be said that I work different on canvas than I do when I scrap layouts. Lately I like the canvas method a whole lot, and I want to try and incorporate this style more into my regular layouts. I'm not sure what to call it, besides the 'Finnabair' mixed media style.

Here you can see how tiny the canvas is. And the rawness of the cloth shows too. This is pure canvas, whereas usually canvasses for artists are treated with a layer of gesso already. I decided not to do that to this one, to see how the pure canvas would work with the mists.

First I applied some modeling paste through the 2 stencils, as you see below. A negative and positive version of the same pattern.

Because of the size of the canvas I didn't add more stenciling, just went ahead with embellishing. a lace border, lace figure, some chipboard and wood figures, a metal Prima picture frame, some flowers and a leave, and a cute little cherub watching where I was headed.

Next I covered it all in white gesso. After the gesso I added some glass beads texture gel here and there. Coincidentally I spotted the back of my mannequin and it was crackled. It hit me that that was because of the glue. 

Recently I saw a video of a woman who made her own crackle effect by covering an object with white glue (this was Tacky Glue from another store), let it dry a bit and then added paint while the glue was still sticky. It caused crackles indeed! The only shame is, you didn't see them anymore after I had sprayed the whole thing. (But hey, it works!)

Also I mixed some 13Arts Magic Powder with my gesso, to create some structure paste. I put that on the mannequin, swirl, scissors and crown.

Really, it's all just playing with textures until you like what you've accomplished.

I have no more further steps to show you now, but the finished canvas. I spray and ink until I'm satisfied. It's just playing and discovering what I like and what not. 

What I did not like was how the mists turned out on the un-gessoe'd parts. They looked a bit filthy. So I would advise you to apply some base coat on the canvas after all. Yes, the colors soaked in more intense, but like I said, they looked a bit filthy.

The glimmermists were first to go. I used Periwinkle Bouquet, Verdigris, Walnut Gold and Boardwalk for this canvas. Very shimmery colors and beautiful shades. I love the copper glimmer in the Verdigris!

On the text (which again is my scrap (and life) motto: 'Less is Bore') I used 2 shades of Glimmer Glam: Tail Fin and Tanzanite. They dried a bit glossy, which was exactly what I wanted. However, when I played with the coloring some more, I ended up dulling them somewhat, so I added a bit of (Tim Holtz) one step crackle medium. (Any brand will do.) I also added some more on the mannequin, because she looked a bit too boring to me.  

I gave the whole canvas a finish with some Inka Gold. On the main section I used Browngold. On the metal items I added later, like the little feet, handle and corner bits, I added some Hydrangea and Turquoise Inka Gold.

Hope you like it! Let me know! ;) 

My facebookpage is: Less is Bore!

Happy scrapping!