Color your world - mixed media canvases

Hello dear friends!

Today I'm sharing a BIG project, the biggest I ever created lol

The whole project measures 1 meter (5 canvases 20x60cm each), it took me many many days to finish it and now I'm very proud it's hanging on my wall :)

I used lots of amazing Finnabair products to create it
- scroll down on Finnabair's blog post here to find the supplies list with links.

I was keeping for a long time two amazing resist canvases, designed by Finnabair, to make something special. 

The time came when I found incidentally on Pinterest some ideas with world map art like wallpapers, digital collages and art pieces. I was very excited, so I decided to make my own piece of art in my own way. 

Here is how I started

1. First I secured the 5 canvases together with masking tape. This made my work much easier in the next steps.

2. Then I cut very carefully with scissors the land pieces of a map that was the same size as my canvases and this way I created a large stencil. I didn't throw away the cut pieces...

3. I used them as masks to create the land for my project. I placed all the pieces one by one on the resist canvases and I draw the outline with a pencil. Then I cut them with scissors and put them aside.

4. When I was done with cutting the land, I placed my handmade stencil on the canvases and put each one of the cut resist canvas pieces in the right place. This was a little tricky as there were too many small pieces especially for the islands, but it helped me to learn some geography lol :)

5. Before I glued down the lands,  I used the Silicon Brush to give  the whole surface a thick layer of Heavy White Gesso  and let it dry. To glue the resist canvas pieces I used the Clear Sculpture Medium - it was really the perfect glue for this work! I let it dry outside for a couple of hours.

6. After it was dry I started working with the sea sections. I used the Clear Sculpture Medium again with napkins. I glued them randomly and wrinkled to create texture. This gave also depth and interest in the finished project. I left it overnight to dry...

((Unfortunately, from this point onward I haven't any more photos of the process to share as I was so captivated with the painting part that I didn't think to take some)

7. The painting part was so fun, it was really worth waiting for... 

I made custom paints with the Soft Matte Gell and Mica Powders and started painting all over the canvaces, here and there, without much thinking. I used mostly the Rust Mica Powder (I love this color), as well as Gold and blue shades of  Frozen Lake and Deep Waters. I also used some similar shades of Primary Elements.

When the first layer of paints was dry, I used a couple of warm colors of Art Alchemy Paints, Pure Sunshine and the Fresh Orange, as well some white acrylic paint to lighten the project.

 I love how all these colors blend together, highlight the texture of paper napkins and contrast the beautiful lands of the resist canvas pieces!

I hope you got inspired from my project.

Thank you for visiting,

have a lovely crafty day!

xxx

Athanasia

Denim Journal introdution and my page for Prima

 Hello dear friends!

Today I want to introduce you to my new addiction, 

the DENIM JOURNAL designed by Finnabair!

I made the first page the very day I got it and as I was so excited about it, I couldn't kept myself to stop, so I decided to decorate it a little bit and fill all these cute pockets with my art supplies :)

Starting from the left to right: 

The pocket at the left side of the journal is big enough to fit the Silicone Brushes, as well many other supplies like thread, wire, scraps, envelopes, little bags with art ingredients and anything else you can think of!

The plastic pocket sheet has the same size (7x9") with the rest of the pages (I folded it in half to look better in the photo above) and is perfect to store all your scraps, photos, paper embellishments, stickers, chipboards and more. I currently filled it with Finnabair's Ephemera. 

The  big thick denim sheet (10x9") is the last page of the journal, and I love how it extends, as it' s wider than the rest of the pages. I stitched some buttons and mechanicals to have them in stand by and pinned a couple of needles. Of course I' ll fill the rest of the page over time :)

The five holes at the right side of the journal are perfect for keeping brushes, pens, pencils, scissors, etc.

So, that was all with my decorations and storing in my Denim journal :)

...

Let's focus on my art journal page I created for my Prima guest spot. 

My project is based at new Finnabair recipe...

Rust Pastes+ Resist Canvas + Crackle Pastes + Art Alchemy Paints = a spectacular Finnabair recipe! 

...and here it is...

"Winners are not those who never fail,

but those who never quite"

The project is based on this beautiful Mechanical Butterfly which I broke in two pieces by mistake.

I got upset but just for a while. 

Then I thought: let's make a page with this broken butterfly, it will be a challenge, but I like challenging myself ! 

And so I did :)

 I chose this inspiring quote because I think it fits perfectly with the broken wing.

You just have to keep going, even your wing is broken...

I cut this beautiful Resist Canvas 'Honeycomb' in the size of the journal's pages,

punched the holes and eyelets with the cropadile and started working.

I scratched with my nails the edges all around the canvas and with a paint brush I added some amount of Clear Sculpture Medium to seal these spots and make sure they will not fray in the future.

 Then I used the Black Gesso to create some circles as the focal point of the page.

I also applied the White Crackle Paste here and there with the Silicon Brush (I love this brush, it's perfect for this technique) and let it dry outside naturally. It took about an hour.

When it was dry I played with the Art Alchemy Acrylic Paints.

I painted here and there with a paintbrush and sprayed some water on them to create a watercolor effect. Then I glued all the metal embellishments with the Clear Sculpture Medium and while it was wet I spread some Bronze Micro Beads and Black Glass Glitter.

I used all three colors of the Rust Paste Set to paint all the metal embellishments and some other spots and as a final touch I made some splashes with the Black Gesso and stamped with a couple of stamps here and there.

I really enjoyed creating this page and that was only the start!

I'm going to fill this Journal like crazy :)

***for full supplies list and links on the Prima online store please visit this post.

Thank you for visiting,

have a lovely crafty day!

xxx

Athanasia