Tiny wonky houses......

May was a SUPER busy month, but I managed to slip in a fun class creating a canvas board mixed media artwork piece! Mixed media is not my 'forte", but I've made a few little 5x7 canvas boards that are in my ETSY SHOP HERE.  Most of my canvas art is fairly simple... I painted a piece of canvas and glued stuff on top using mod podge! This class, given by a new "friend" I've met here in Madras, was so much fun and I learned some new techniques. 

I took the class mainly to meet other "crafty ladies" in Madras. I NEED some like-minded gals to craft with and it was my fortune to get this gal's name, who taught the class, from another gal in a shop I walked into a few months ago, asking about classes. 

This class was the day before my nephew's wedding up in Portland, Oregon, and I wasn't going to go at first, as I had so much to do and was making him and his fiance some quilted pillows and a special wedding card (to be shown on a later post) and I felt really pressed for time! But I really really wanted to go, so I pushed myself and got the wedding gifts done by Friday and most of my stuff packed for our trip, just so I could go to the (all day) class. I'm so glad I did. I learned some really fun and new techniques (to me anyway) for mixed media (and met some new friends to boot!)

Here are a few techniques I learned:

Texturing (above)....... using stencil and texture paste and a little palet knife, you stencil designs onto the canvas which are raised... then paint over them with one or two colors. See the little dots in the sky?  

More texturing (above)......... I painted, then textured, then painted on top, and then used a brown waxy paste to make it look antiqued. I also learned to use little tiny words which are kind of embedded into the paint and outlined them with black pen. I swiped silver "Inka Gold" metal gloss paste over the words with my finger. The words are Tim Holtz cut-out words that I mod podged on over the paint.

Drawing around things with a pen (above)...... I pasted all of the shapes on using scrapbook paper that I tore, and then mod podged it down. After it was dry, I drew around most everything with a Pigma Micron pen to make things "pop". (I love things that pop, don't you?)!!  I had so much fun drawing little dotted lines and scallops and swirly bobs.

Using "Zendangle"...... see the little dangly things I drew above? Zendangle is a new technique I've just head about, a form of Zentangle, but you draw hanging hearts, stars, circles and shapes from a rod (in this case, the piece of back and pink scrapbook paper). I love how this looks on the little pink and blue house.

This is an 8x10 canvas and I put "texture" on it first (which I've never done before), using old tissue sewing patterns. The texture made the board kind of bumpy and old looking. I adhered it using mod podge.  After it was dry, I then painted the lower 2/3 with green and the upper third with blue for the sky. Then I did the stenciling with a circle stencil and texture paste, and some swirls (which you can't really see), to give it some raised areas.  

Then I did some stamping with black Staz On ink (see the right upper corner?) and in other areas using decorative music stamps and scrolls.  I tore scrapbook papers to build the little houses with their roofs and doors and chimneys. The gal who gave the class had all of the supplies so I had a blast picking through her scrapbook papers, paints, stencils and pastes, etc. I tried to be really spontaneous and not take too much time to pick out colors. All I knew was that I was making this for ME for my pink bedroom, wanted it mostly pink and green and whimsical!

Using Inka Gold Metal Gloss paint (silver)...... I had seen this used on YouTube alot.. and have always wanted to try it!

Wow is it gorgeous... I just smeared it on the edges of the canvas using my finger, and here and there on top of the texture, and over the little words at the bottom. I love it!  It comes in 18 colors and I want them all!

This butterfly was white chipboard and I found it in a pile of stuff and as an afterthought, stamped some black on it, but some lines and dots around the edge and smeared the Inka Gold silver paste on it. I really like how it looks fluttering above the house, although it IS kind of a giant compared to the house!

Can you see the greenery in between the houses and to the right? There is a little birdhouse on a post and on the right a tree with a blue window? Those were things I just tore out of a garden magazine I took with me to the class, and they were mod podged onto the canvas at some point. The pink door with asparagus I cut from a piece of scrapbook paper... who wouldn't want an asparagus door with a little green heart shaped doorknob?? Me!

I'm very happy with my little canvas and it's now hanging proudly on my pink bedroom wall. I do so love little quaint houses and some day want to make a quilt full of these whimsical and wonky houses.

Until next time.... stay cool! (Was 102 degrees here today).