Mother's Day Mixed Media Canvas - Part 1

Today I wanted to start a new project with you - a Mixed Media canvas for Mother's Day.  Usually I have a photo to share of what the finished project will look like but not this time.  This is a very involved canvas which has multiple layers which focus not on stamps, images, or wordage but on the texture created with various DecoArt products and techniques.

The first initial canvas is a 14x14 natural canvas that I had been primed (with gesso) and painted with a couple layers of red paint.  I abandoned that project long ago and the canvas was just sitting there unloved in my closet for quite some time. 

Since the canvas had been gessoed previously I started off by painting over the red with a coat of Americana Titanium White acrylic paint.

I wanted to create lots of texture so I decided to do so by gluing down pattern tissue paper to the canvas using Decou-Page Matte Medium. I didn't want or need the shine since this layer is going to be covered by many layers of paint.

When laying down the tissue I made sure there were lots and lots of wrinkles in the tissue.  You can gently push the tissue around once on the canvas but you must be very careful because the tissue is very fragile and can be torn easily.  If you do happen tear a hole in the tissue you can tear a small bit of tissue to glue down over the hole.  Nobody will know once it has been finished.

After you have covered the canvas apply a final coat of the glue to the entire canvas and let it dry completely.  This may take some time depending on how wrinkled your tissue is when it was applied. 

NOTE: I didn't bother with the center of the canvas as I will be adding another board on top of this in later steps.

The next step is to dry brush a layer of Americana Titanium White over the tissue.  It's o.k. if bits of the tissue peek through.

Now it's time to begin building our colors.  No need to wait for the white paint to dry, immediately apply Cobalt Teal Hue approximately 4" around the outer edge of the canvas.

The second color layer - Cobalt Turquoise Hue - will be blended in about 2" in from the edge. You will want to blend the Cobalt Teal and Cobalt Turquoise at the 2" mark to create a natural fade from one to the next.

Finally apply Cerulean Blue to the very edge of the canvas blending with the Cobalt Turquoise about an inch or so in from the edge.  I also used this color to paint the side of the canvas as well.

Here is what the canvas looks like at this point.  You can see it has a nice graduated color going on.

Now to add a bit of shadow and depth to those lovely wrinkles we created at the beginning.  Toss away those brushes, it's time to get messy.  Squirt a bit of Dark Grey Value 3 Fluid Acrylic to your fingers and rub it over the wrinkles in the tissue.  Some of the paint will get squished into the creases and crevices which is perfectly fine.  This will only add more depth to the texture you've already created.

Looks amazing doesn't it?  Well, we're not done!

As soon as the grey has dried, go back in and again using your fingertips lightly rub Champagne Ice Metallic Luster medium over the canvas hitting the top peaks of the winkles.  This will really bump up the texture to the next level as you can see below.

This is where we'll leave it for today.  Tomorrow we'll pick up and start on the next level of this creation.

DecoArt Supplies:

Americana Titanium White Acrylic Paint
Decou-Page Matte Medium
Media Fluid Acrylics - Cobalt Teal Hue, Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Cerulean Blue, Dark Grey Value 3
Metallic Luster - Champagne Ice