Mini Canvas Ornament

Wordless Wednesday

~ Peace Out ~

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 ~

Blog Hop - Thank You Gifts

Welcome to the Designer Connection Blog Hop!

November's theme: Thank You Gifts

 

I think that Christmas is a great time to

share little Thank You gifts with

my friends and neighbors, and I am extremely

grateful to one particular neighbor

who helps drive my children to and from

Religious Ed classes.

Homemade gifts are so much more special

than something that I could

purchase or put together.  I decided to

paint one of these fun chunky canvases that

I've been "saving" for just the right

design idea.

I base coated the entire canvas with

a light green acrylic paint.

 

After the paint was completely dry,

I used a sanding block to rough up the

top and the edges of the canvas.

 

I made a pattern of my neighbor's

initial, and a few holly leaves.

By making the leaves on separate paper,

I was able to shift the leaves

around until I liked their placement.

 

I used white chaco paper to transfer

the pattern lines to the canvas.

It was a little hard to see,

but I managed ;)

You could use darker chaco paper.

 

I used dark chocolate acrylic paint

to shade around the design.

 

I shaded heavily on the left and lower

sides of each design element,

and used just a thin line of shading

for the rest of the design.

 

 Next, I base coated the leaves Holly Green

and the initial white.

It took two coats of paint to cover completely.

I used a ruler to lightly mark the

lower third of the initial,

and applied a Celery Green paint

to this area.

 I used the handle of a paint brush

to apply red holly berries.

 I shaded the holly leaves

with dark green acrylic paint.

I highlighted the holly leaves

with a very light shade of green.

I dipped the same paint brush handle

into a cranberry paint, and

dotted directly over the red paint.

Then I added a white highlight.

I used a detail brush dipped in

black paint to outline my

design ... keeping the line very thin.

 I brushed a sparkle glaze over

the initial and the leaves,

 and added some swirls with gold

metallic paint.  I also painted a thin

border with the gold metallic paint

and the dark chocolate paint.

I am not very good at tying bows,

but I used a glittery wired ribbon and

a narrower red polka dot ribbon

to wrap around the canvas

and tie into a bow on top.

This will look great on a bookshelf or

~ my personal favorite ~ smooshed into

the Christmas tree.  LOVE smooshing

large ornaments into the tree!!

Hope you found this Canvas Initial

inspiring!!  Use the DCC button at the top

of this post to hop on through the

loop and check out more Thank You gift ideas

by our talented group of artists!

~ Peace and Happy Canvas Painting ~

 

 

Sneaky Peeky

 Santa's Replacement

(Sneaky Peeky)

I'm not sure if I've shared this with you,

but I "LOVE" Christmas, and I "LOVE" Santas.

So much so that I find it nearly impossible

to take my ever most favorite Santa down each year.

In fact, here he still hangs.

In August.

Also, just in case I haven't shared this with you,

I am a big fan of Immediate Gratification.

As in, once I've decided what I want to paint,

I have to make a pattern immediately.

Once my pattern is made,

I am ready to paint, and I don't want to

stop painting until I am finished;

thereby putting as few road-blocks as possible

between my design idea and my finished

product ... which gives me the feeling

of Immediate Gratification,

even if it takes hours and hours to complete.

Here's a pic of my canvas,

after applying several colors of paint:

(I will be posting step-by-step pics later)

Sometimes Doc interferes with my

Immediate Gratification process.

I was at this point in my design

when he called out it was almost time to

leave ... (and I assured him he could

go on home without me and come back

later to pick me up.  Like 2am) ...

Other times he interferes with

my creative process by insisting I have

to eat, and dragging me away

from my studio kicking and screaming.

This scenario played itself out

last night, so I had to leave my design

before I'd gotten anywhere close to

Immediate Gratification.

Here's where I left my beloved project:

There it is.

Hanging in Limbo.

Practically begging me to complete it.

Do you hear that??

It's calling me.  Come back!!

Come paint!!  I will give you a sense

of satisfaction if only you will heed my call ...

Okay, maybe that's not exactly what it's saying.

I'm off to finish it anyway!

And, I'm taking frozen burritos to stuff

in my barn refrigerator.

Just to ward off any more possible

interferences ... ... ... 

Peace and Bean Burritos