Hi friends, here’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now and I finally managed to get it done!  So a few weeks ago, I showed you this canvas that I started but then abandoned due to other commitments, well this week I actually managed to finish it and here it is!

In the beginning…

This is quite a big canvas, probably about A3 size, I really should measure it properly, and I was playing around with some of Finnabair’s impasto paints in the blues and greens and immediately knew I wanted to do something “underwater”, so I started painting on this canvas using Cobalt, Azure, Mediterranean and Bottle Green.  Then when it was dry I used the Finnabair Bubbles stencil (one of my all time favorites) to add some – surprise – bubbles on top, using the same paints.  These paints are very thick, so it does give texture to the piece.

underwater mixed media canvas

 

The middle…

I had to put it on hold as I had all those birthdays to make for, but then meantime, some challenges popped up and I immediately thought of this canvas I really wanted to finish.  One challenge was for “under the sea” hello, totally what I needed, and the other two were mood board challenges that also fit my colour scheme.  Details of challenges can be found at the bottom of the post.

Also in the meantime, I had ordered a couple of new stamp sets that were made for this project – Textured Sea Creatures from Rubber Dance, and Create Your Calm by Visible Image.  I do like an ocean theme, so I already had others like the one from Tim Holtz with the octopus etc, the Sizzix shells etc etc.

I stamped out a bunch of them on watercolour paper ready for colouring.  I figured I would have some left over – haha I was wrong, I used them all!

I spent some very enjoying time colouring them all in with my Inktense pencils, then when they were all dry, I added details with some Posca paint markers, before FUSSY CUTTING them all out – yes really!  I must be some kind of deranged lunatic, but I did them all yesterday – all those little fiddly seahorses and crustaceans, and Mr octopus and the rest, but really it was worth it because they do look pretty amazing once they are cut out.

 

The end…

I pulled together some other things I had been working on and put aside for later.  This included the mermaid moulds, the Graphic 45 turtles (also fussy cut) the Sizzix 3d shells and some Funky Foliage leaves left over from other projects that I thought could totally work as underwater plants!  The shells had already been diecut and embossed so I just needed to paint them, and the mermaid moulds had already been made and just needed to be painted also.  I painted both with Inktense again.

This afternoon, I spent arranging everything on the canvas and then started to glue them all down using Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive for the lighter, paper items and 3D matte gel for the heavier items.  I added some pink, teal and clear nuvo drops and some art pebbles randomly on the canvas. Once everything was dry I hung it up on the wall take the photos.

 

 

The Inspiration

I am entering this mixed media canvas in the following challenges/prompts:

Country View Challenge September – Under the Sea
Mixed Media Place August Challenge seaside, blues, teals


Finnabair Art Recipe August Colours – azure blue, fuchsia, sand beige, products – impasto paints, golden nugget paste, art pebbles, gesso.
What I used:  impasto paints as listed above, art pebbles and gesso. The colours are azure impasto in the sea background, fuchsia in the seahorses and starfish, and sand beige in the sand dollars.

 

 

 

 

PROJECT RECIPE:

Watercolour paper
Finnabair – Impasto paints – Cobalt, Azure, Mediterranean and Bottle Green. Stencil – 12×12 Bubbles. Art Pebbles, Clear and White Gesso
Graphic 45 Turtle Time paper
Stampers Anonymous – Tim Holtz stamp CMS304 Sea Life
Rubber Dance Stamps – Textured Sea Creatures stamp set
Visible Image – Create Your Calm stamp set
Sizzix – Tim Holtz Bigz Die with Texture Fades – Seashells, Bigz Die Scroll
From stash – diecut and coloured funky foliage, painted silk flowers, diecut leaf canopy in glitter card and painted with inktense
Mermaid tail moulds
Prima – Modelling Material
Posca Paint Pens – various colours

 

4 Awesome Comments (btw comment moderation is on)
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Rachel Fisher
Rachel Fisher
September 14, 2019 8:24 pm

Wow! I absolutely love what you have done – amazing! Thanks for joining my challenge at Countryview challenges and good luck! Hugs rachel xx

Miriam Grazier
Miriam Grazier
September 14, 2019 7:49 pm

Beautiful canvas. Thank you for joining in with the Country View Crafts Challenge.

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