Canvas with Joan

Joan here today sharing a canvas tutorial:

I have discovered a store called Ollie’s Army, a bargain outlet store.

 Granted there is a lot of junk … I mean stuff I would not use but they did have stacks of canvases cheap. Like $1.69 cheap! What a deal!  So I did what any obsessed crafter would do and I purchased a lot of them.  Now that I have them I need to use them.  I'll walk you through my canvas creating process.

First I picked out my bible verse. I then went through my stash and pulled all the embellishments that were going to be a possibility to use.

I painted the canvas with a thin coat of white Gesso.

 Gesso is very similar to white acrylic paint, only thinner. It dries hard, making the surface more stiff. Gesso prepares or primes the canvas for painting, making the surface slightly textured and ready to accept acrylic paint. Without Gesso, the paint would soak into the weave of the canvas.

Next I added some texture to the canvas by applying some heavy carvable modeling paste over a plastic stencil. The best tool that I have found for stenciling with modeling paste is an old plastic credit card (those kind you get in the mail for advertisement). I placed a glop of modeling paste onto the stencil and then scraped it over the stencil evenly with the card. Once it was spread evenly over the stencil I carefully and slowly lifted up the stencil. I now had a raised image on my canvas. I used three different stencils but allowed drying time in between each application of modeling paste. ( I was so excited about doing this tutorial I totally forgot to take a photo of this step.) But here is what it looked like when I finished.

Then it was time for the paint. I wanted to create a watercolor-y feel so I diluted my acrylic paint with water. I placed my canvas in a lid from an old box that is 12 X 12 and perfect for painting projects in. I used the dripping technique with the diluted acrylic paint by painting across the top of the canvas and letting the paint run down the canvas. To get more paint drips I sprayed the painted canvas with water. Some of the best dripping paint effects are by nature happy accidents. After each application of paint drips I allowed drying time before applying the next color.

As a second thought I added some paint spatters and then I arranged and rearranged the embellishments (several times) and then rearranged them some more … Viola! A finished canvas.