Canvas

                                                                                                           I’ve bought a large canvas and have collected together lots of things we found on the beaches of Cornwall. I want to create a mixed media project to bring all the elements together and capture the time we spent beachcombing.  I want to experiment with cutting apertures in the canvas to give the finished piece a very dimensional effect.

I started by laying out the photographs and elements so I can see where to cut the apertures and get a feel for how the canvas will look.

 

I have decided where I want to cut the apertures into the canvas and fixed the windows into place for my layout.  I have applied a layer of gesso to the whole project as a base.  Unfortunately,  I now have to stop this project as the gel mediums and molding paste for the next stage have had to be sourced online.  Why are there no art outlets in Dorset?!! Don’t get me started ...

4 days pass and then my parcel arrives ...

I applied molding paste (Golden) over the entire canvas to give it texture and put more around the apertures to make sure they blended in.  I then used several acrylic washes in three colours which were based on the beach shades in the photos.

When the washes were dry I used a flat brush and slightly diluted acrylic over parts of the canvas to give a watery effect.

 
The sand was created using pumice gel (Golden).

As a final touch to the background, I flicked some colour wash (Adirondack) onto the ‘beachy’ areas to pick up on the texture of the beach in my photos.

Whilst these were all drying, I printed the ammonite shell onto a transparency and cut it out to fit the circular aperture.  I painted the back of the transparency with glass bead gel to give a texture.  As this aperture was created with a tin which has a metal base, it reflects the light through the transparency and makes the glass beads shine.

I used handmade paper as a matt behind the photos and adhered them to the canvas with soft gel (matte).  I adhered all the elements with this gel also.

My title was created on my computer and flipped to read in reverse.  I printed it out and used the soft gel to do an ink transfer of the words onto the canvas.

I really enjoyed doing this piece and I love the finished effect ... hope you do too.