Panel Canvas

Hello, it is Cec here and I am bringing you the Inspirational Post this week.  I thought I would show you how panels made of different materials can blend into one canvas.

Here is how I made this canvas and there is lots to see so grab a cup (or glass) of something and start reading.

I started with a small piece of cardboard cut from a cracker box and coated it with Liquitex Gesso thinking I was going to do a light colour palette but changed my mind pretty quickly so I covered that with Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso that I patted with my palette knife to make it look bumpy.

Next I painted it with some Folk Art Peridot Metallic Acrylic Paint.

To make the fabric panel, I cut a piece of canvas, frayed the edges and glued it to a piece of heavy card stock for stability.  Next I painted it with a mixture of Folk Art Lime Yellow Acrylic Paint and DecoArt Fabric Medium.  Then I used a natural sea sponge to dab on some Folk Art Peridot and DecoArt Peacock Pearl Metallic Acrylic Paint.

Next I used some Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp an image from Inkadinkadoo on a piece of tissue paper that had been crumpled up and smoothed back out. I used some Golden Fluid Matte Medium to adhere the image to the fabric. Once it was dry I inked over it with Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink.

The next panel was made from corrugated cardboard. I ripped some of the top layer back and covered it with Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso. Once dry, I dabbed on DecoArt Ice Blue , DecoArt Peacock Pearl and Folk Art Peridot Metallic Acrylic Paint in that order.

I used a piece from an empty cracker box for the next panel.  I coated it with the black Gesso and then I mixed Folk Art Black Acrylic Paint with Golden Light Molding Paste and used a Prima Zig Zag stencil, a TCW Mini Hexagons Stencil and a Dylusions 5"x8" Letter Jumble Stencil to add some embossing.

Next I added colour with some DecoArt Peacock Pearl Metallic Acrylic Paint, Lindy's Glitz Spray in Gecko Green, Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass Distress Spray Stain and FW Silver Moss and Sun-Up Blue Acrylic Inks.  I also went over everything with the Twisted Citron and Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink.

I cut another piece of cracker box and covered it with metal foil tape used in the heating and air conditioning business. Then I took a sharp pencil and made designs on the foil through two TCW stencils called Mini Pattern Strips and Mini Geometric Art Layers.  I went over all the markings with a very fine stylus.

The next step was to coat it with DecoArt Black Acrylic Paint and wipe the paint off while it was still wet.  I did this twice - sorry no photos because I forgot.  Next I put Aqua, Lettuce, Sailboat Blue and Meadow Alcohol Ink on a felt pad at the same time and coloured the metal tape.

I used Jet Black Archival Ink and a stamp from Inkadinkadoo to stamp the feather on vellum.  I turned the vellum over and coloured randomly with Twisted Citron, Broken China and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Crayons.  Then I used my fingers to spread the crayon around and blend the colour before I fussy cut around the feather.  I repeated this process with a couple of butterfly stamps from a Hampton Arts set.

I prepared a 9" x 12" canvas that I picked up at the dollar store by coating it with Liquitex Gesso and then I used some Golden Light Molding Paste to add some texture through a Dylusions stencil called Checkered Dots. Next I added some Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink around the edges but in a bit.

The next step was to lay out the panels but when I did I discovered that the colours of the panels weren't unified enough for my liking so I went at them with some Lindy's Magicals in My Mojito Green and Blue Hawaiian Blue as well as some of the ink sprays and Black Soot Distress Ink until I thought they blended well together. I also decided to lighten up the colour on the canvas so I went over it with a couple coats of Gesso until there was just a pale tint showing.

All the panels were then added with Matte Medium and Foam Strips for the ones I wanted to be raised up a bit.

Well, that is my panel canvas in a nutshell and I hope I have inspired you to play with a variety of substrates and use inks, paints, stamps and stencils to create different panels that can be used alone or together.