Personalized Canvas

Now that I'm comfortable painting

Cardinals, it's time to switch it up and

leap outside my comfort zone ...

to Hornets!

I painted this personalized canvas for a

teenager - I wanted to make it big and bold

(since my last hornet was only 2" tall!)

 

 

 

Let's pretend I still have a photo

of the blank 12" x 24" canvas ... and that

I took pictures while I base coated it.

uh - hm.

Visualize a paper plate with a large puddle

of dark gray acrylic paint and a large

overlapping puddle of white acrylic paint on it.

Now visualize rolling a sponge paint

roller randomly through the paint and

applying it to the canvas.

 

Does your vision look something like this?

 

 

I made a pattern of the boy's name and

the oversized hornet and used

transfer paper and a stylus to get the

main pattern lines onto the canvas.

 

 

 

Then I took a flat brush and wet it,

blotted it on a paper towel, and dipped one

corner of the brush in a small puddle

of the dark gray paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Next I went around the left and lower

sides of each main pattern line,

reapplying paint to the brush as necessary

(usually after every long stroke).

 

 

You're just going for some quick dimension here,

don't focus too much on perfection.

I always shade again after the base-coating

has been completed.

 

 

Next, I added some short, quick highlights

on the top and right sides of the letters

with white acrylic paint loaded the

same way; on a clean blotted flat brush

with the paint only on one corner.

I base coated the main design.

(using school colors and more than

one coat for opaque coverage)

 

 

Yikes!  Scary eyes!

More fitting for a demon than an

aggressive little Hornet.  We'll fix 'em!

 

 

I added a basketball for this Hornet.

Grant is our basketball star, after all!

I used a darker shade of my base color

to go over the bottom third or so of each of

my letters.  This adds a bit of interest.

 

 

Now its time to repeat the shading around

the left and lower sides of the

letters and the hornet design.  Once the

shading has dried, I apply highlights in the same

manner, but to the top and right sides

of each design element.

 

I added some highlights to those scary eyes,

and to the parts of the hornet I

wanted to appear more dimensional.

 

 

I used a very thin liner brush dipped in black

paint to outline the hornet and the letters.

I used a 1/4" flat brush to add some

border lines around the edges of the canvas.

My paint supply at the house was limited,

so in order to paint the top third

of the letters with a lighter shade of blue,

I mixed a tiny bit of white in with my original

blue base coat color.

I thought the border outline was a little

boring, so I added a thin white

line to the top and right sides of the

main black border line, and a little gray

to the left and lower sides.

Still didn't pop, so I used the liner brush

dipped in black again and sort of

outlined each design element

(letters, border, and some of the hornet)

I added some highlight lines

with the liner brush and white paint.

Once the paint was completely dry,

I used an emery board (limited supplies here)

and sanded a bit off the basketball

and the right sides of the letters.

I brushed two coats of sealer onto the

top and edges of the canvas.

I used Mod Podge in matte finish as

my sealer.  I let it dry overnight and it looks

pretty great!  I hope Grant likes it!

~ Peace and Personalized Canvas ~