Canvases for Z!

Are you loving this new look!? I kind of did it on accident last night, but the page was in great need of a makeover, anyhow. 

As you may know, getting crafty is one of my favorite outlets. Give me a canvas, some paints, paper and other whatnots, and I'm in relaxation heaven. It clears my head. I could seriously get lost for hours working away on a canvas.
Recently, I made these two canvases with no real purpose for them, except to get some of my crazy out.

First of all, I'm the biggest critique of my own work. I hate the thought of something I made being rejected!
Second, how in the world do people price their own work?! Never again. I swear not to. Period.
That being said, I'm giving these another go. For any donation amount, one of these little ladies could be yours! I'm also up for doing customized pieces, if you have a specific color theme or look you're wanting.

Comment on this post if you're interested, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Write Your Story on my Heart

I *finally* had an opportunity to get to my craft desk, and I've been wanting to do another canvas for so long! I started with one idea, didn't like how it was headed, and started going in a completely different direction. This piece originally wasn't going to have a girl on it, but once the background was done, it just seemed right.
I'll be honest, I'm not thrilled with this background. I started by decoupaging a map patterned paper onto the canvas, which was too busy of a choice, I think .I tried to tone it down a bit, but then it just started looking muddy. I prefer to start with a more simple background and add more dimension and texture through layers rather than a busy background. Lesson learned!

 My new favorite song is called Write Your Story on my Heart by Francesca Battistelli. I love it's message and the reminder to be open to God's voice and leading in life. I love using song lyrics on canvases, because looking at them brings me back to that time in my life and reminds me how far I've come!

 

'Well Done' Canvas

I'll admit, I've been a little canvas obsessed lately. I love the fact that you can put all of the love, detail, and depth onto a piece of work that you can then hang up and admire every day! This is the first larger (16x20) canvas that I've done. I have done everything else on 8x10's or smaller. I didn't think that a larger canvas would pose much of an issue, but I did find that I was at more of a loss at times as to what I should add next than when working on the smaller pieces. I'm sure that just comes with time and getting used to working on a bit of a larger scale.
I didn't know exactly where I was going with this piece at first, but as I kept adding, digging through my stash of materials, and daydreaming about this girl, it because very clear: I was creating me! It wasn't until her hair was drawn on that I realized that I had just put myself, as best as I could, onto canvas.
So, with mild trepidation about being a bit personal here, here it is:

I found this awesome paper doily at my local paper supply store, and I might have been just beyond giddy when I was able to run it through my typewriter without any problems (or typos!).

This song by Moriah Peters speaks volumes to my life during this past year or so. It was 100% a huge leap of faith when my husband and I uprooted our family, left our house, I changed jobs, and moved to where God was calling us. As it always is with God's hand on your life, it was the best decision we could have made, and we have been blessed beyond words.

I used the same materials that I normally use for my canvas work, including acrylic paints, rub-on's, Faber Castell pens, and Mod Podge (for more info on my normal supplies, check out this post!).

 My favorite 'happy accident' about this piece was my girl's face. I randomly pulled out a page from my dictionary, cut her face out, and adhered it down. It wasn't until I was doing my detail work that I realized exactly what page and what specific section I used: happy. How fitting.

As trends, styles, likes and dislikes come and go through the years, I know that this is a canvas that will be hanging on my wall for a long, long while. Every time I look at it, I think back, remember God's hand on my life, and smile :)

A Mixed Media Weekend

The Deeply Rooted house is fully recovered from the Holidays, but now we're gearing up for a birthday party! My youngest will be turning three in a few weeks, so expect a nice, big post all about that in the coming weeks!
I recently had a great weekend up with my parents, without kids! It doesn't happen very often, but it gave us a great chance to catch up, eat, shop, and craft! I was very impressed...mom created her first canvas piece! I have a feeling she's hook on the mixed media style, because she's already sent me pictures of her new Zentangle journal, complete with a collaged cover!
I used the weekend to finish up one canvas, and then did one alongside mom, as well. The shopping trip was a great success, because I found the rub-on sentiment that I ended up using on this piece.

  I gave her a berry wreath for her hair, which I *love*. It doesn't stand out that much, but I feel like it gives her just enough interest.

I also used white rub-ons to give her flowers in her hair. I colored them with my Faber Castell big brush pens.

I'm thrilled to debut my mother's first canvas, as well! She seemed to have a great time making it, and I'm proud of how she finally 'let go' and let the piece create itself!

Not bad, eh? I love it! It's great to be able to make something you're proud of and be able to see it every day. I'd love to see your favorite creation! Leave a link in a comment so I can come check it out!

My First Mixed Media Canvas and a HUGE Thank You!

Here it is!! My first mixed media canvas. I had a lot of fun making this. I did it in several steps, spanning over at least a week. I like to be able to do a layer, step back and take a second look at it, and come back to it with a fresh perspective (plus I needed a lot of drying time in between!). I have to admit that I got a lot of inspiration from a fabulously talented artist/designer/everything else named Mou Saha. Go check out her blog sometime. It's definitely worth linking up to! (and I'll just go ahead and admit now that attending one of her classes in Florida is on my bucket list!!)
This canvas was a Christmas present to a wonderful friend who is taking life by the horns and really proving and shaping themselves right now. I wanted to make something that would be an inspiration during the hard times and somewhat decent to look at during the good times :) Luckily, we exchanged gifts early this year, so I can finally post about this project!!!

I feel like I've crossed over from making projects to actually creating something with this piece. For the first time, I understand what artists feel when they are composing artwork. Each element, from the dress pattern layers to the color underneath, the images to the fibers, mean something to me. Every item added to this canvas has a meaning. And while someone might not 'get it', or even appreciate anything about it, to me, it means a lot (and hopefully to the recipient, too!!)

Babble, babble, babble, right?? Ok. On to the steps.

Step One: Prime canvas with gesso, let dry (overnight-ish). This particular canvas came pre-primed, but I'd rather play it safe.

Step Two: Get crazy with gelatos!! Faber Castell makes these amazing little color sticks called gelatos (more info about them here). They go on like a crayon, and once they're wet, they blend amazingly! I tried several different methods to blend my colors (wet paintbrush, baby wipes, fingers) and ended up liking using my hands the best. It was a lot easier to control how much got blended. Once you're happy with the coloring, let dry (doesn't take very long!)







Step Three: Next I decoupaged old dress patterns onto the entire canvas (they're in the bottom of that picture up there). No real rhyme or reason to this part, just overlapping a bit as a go. Drying time for this was a few days!

Step Four: Play!! Once your canvas background is all ready, you get to create and play! I inked up some Grungeboard letters and used some Grungepaper through the Cricut to cut out the bird house (from the Serenade cartridge). The bird was cut from the Serenade cartridge from cardstock, traced onto a piece of plain muslin, and decoupaged onto the canvas.

added some curled wire for detail

popped this off the canvas slightly

inspirational phrase

I can't wait for inspiration and a few extra days to work on my next one. I think I'm hooked!! (plus my canvas came in a two pack!)

This will definitely be my last post before I'm off on a holiday for a bit. Thanks, everyone, for a GREAT 2011! A huge thank you to Glue Dots and Becky at Friendship's Garden for taking me on as a designer this term. This blog was started because of you all, and it's turning out to be such an amazing journey!! 

I'm looking forward to all 2012 has in store. It's going to be a great year!! Merry Christmas!!