Painting On Raw Canvas - Experimentations

Raw canvas was on sale at my local art store recently for $0.75/foot.  I was able to get two 3'x5' piece for only $7.50!!  Wow.  I've always wanted to paint on a larger size of canvas but was daunted by the price of big stretched canvases.

Raw  or 'unprimed' canvas hasn't been painted/primed with gesso so it will soak up paint like mad.  This makes it not as inexpensive as it may seem because you will spend a lot in paint when you use it.

I did some experimenting to find ways around this and am sharing the results, so far, with you here.  This is an incomplete work in progress.  I intend to leave this unstretched and use it as a wall-hanging when complete.

1. I washed the canvas in hot water with laundry soap and baking soda. I didn't wash anything else with these because I didn't want them to get bunched up and crease badly.  I did not to use fabric softener.

2. Cut away shredded bits that had frayed at the cut ends.  Then I dried the canvas in the dryer (once again NO fabric softener - it can prevent paint from adhering).

3. Removed from dryer right away and ironed.  This would have been hard on an ironing board so I used the kitchen table.  Because I had 2 pieces of canvas, I doubled them over so there were 4 layers of canvas between the table and ironing board at once, then flipped, rotated as needed to iron all of the canvas.  I used a spray bottle to dampen the canvas and high heat.

What I was left with: the washing, drying and ironing shrank the canvas a bit and made the weave tighter.  Exactly what I was hoping for.

My plan was to use watered down super cheap paint to cover the canvas so that I could paint on it later with less cheap paint.  However, I think I am liking the look of this so much, that it will become the actual painting - not just a background.  I used the Michael's store brand 2oz bottles that cost $0.69/bottle.  I've covered tons of the canvas so far and used less than 5 bottles!  Assuming I use 6 by the time I am done that will be $4 of paint.  Far more affordable than gessoing the canvas.

I planned to make a big mess so I took this project out onto the deck with an old sheet under it (and books to weigh down corners due to wind).

I did some weeding:

 detail of weeds which will serve as a 'resist', leaving areas unpainted under them:

Acrylic paint mixed with water (a bit more than half water) and sprayed using the Tulip Fabric Paint Cannon:

 Spraying a layer of pink:

 Adding a few objects and then spraying yellow:

 Spraying white, then removing all objects:

 detail of weed resist area:

By this time I had a blister on the finger that had been spraying so I put away the sprayer. I put paint and water into empty paint bottles and shook them up to make very watery paint (about half and half paint:water).
I waited for the top layer to dry - very fast since it was a sweltering hot, sunny day.
Then I flipped the canvas over and and began applying the paint to the back with a big brush, adding water as needed with the brush.  This side looks very primary but I will paint over it later and this canvas will become double-sided - I can rotate it on a whim :)

 I chose where I put the big washes of colour on the back because I wanted it to bleed through in specific places on the front.  For example I wanted the weeds to be greenish.

 With this technique, what happens is that the paint on the front blocks colour from bleeding through from the back.  The paint from the back only will bleed through onto any remaining parts of canvas that are still raw.  It ended up having a far cooler effect than I had expected and I'm really excited about it :-)

One of the parts of this piece that I love most is the way the colour gradation shows through in the three diagonal lines in the corner:

 I put my second piece of canvas under the piece I was painting part way through - as soon as I saw what cool effects were bleeding through onto the old sheet.  I wanted them on the blank canvas instead!

Would I do anything differently if I did this again?
Yes - first of all I would use more than one finger for holding down the spray nozzle!  :-)
I also would leave more areas raw, with only sparse splatter on them, because of how much I love the bleeding through effect.

Arashi Shibori Style Tshirt Alteration

Something I've been loving recently is using a silk dying technique called Shibori.

I use very watered down acrylic paints as a fabric paint rather than fabric dyes and I'm using non-silk fabric so what I'm doing isn't actually Shibori - but that is what has inspired and informed me.

The particular Shibori technique I've been using is called Arashi aka Pole Wrapping. Usually it's done on a diagonal but with this Tshirt, I've done it vertically. I wasn't too careful about making the top of the paint be in an evenly horizontal line which is driving me a bit nuts but I don't notice it much when I wear it so hopefully I will be able to ignore it :)

For those interested in trying this, I didn't even buy any special supplies (eg PVC pipe, sinew or waxed twine).

I covered an old cardboard tube with a plastic bag (so it wouldn't get soggy when it got wet) and used a rubber band to hold each end of the shirt on and used waxed dental floss to wind around. I'm sure twine would be easier on the hands (dental floss is so thin and my fingers were pretty sore afterward) but I like using what I have on hand. When I'm done, I unwrap the floss and wind it onto an old cardboard toilet paper roll to re-use for future Shibori :)

Because the paint was applied by hand to a mostly dry Tshirt, most of the colour stayed on the top exposed layer of the shirt. When using a dye bath or having the shirt very wet first, more of the colour will spread through other layers.

I washed and dried once before wearing. I've had great success using inexpensive acrylic 'craft' paint instead of fabric paint. It does need to be watered down to avoid being stiff or crunchy. I've never used any of the additives you can buy to 'transform' acrylic paint into fabric paint.

This was a plain orange Tshirt and I was hoping for a flame-like effect along the bottom of the shirt:

Check out this great post showing various Shibori techniques: DIY Shibori

Red Star Mandala

When I want to create but have little energy, I often turn to the free graphics editing program Sumopaint and make mandalas from images I already have on hand.

This mandala was created from a photo of a painting in progress (shown below).
I really love how the texture of the canvas itself shows up in this mandala and makes beautiful, feathery lines.

The painting in progress is small and simple so far. I'm enjoying the colours.

Golden Light
5"x7"
acrylic on canvasboard

Alien Spires Painting In Progress

I recently was given some canvasboard by my stepdad who no longer wanted his paintings.
I'm finding it really interesting how the way I paint is changed by having images by another person as an underpainting.
At first I thought I wanted to mask areas of his paintings and then have them showing through when my painting was finished... but it didn't look right to me.

You can see some of his original concentric circles showing through in this version. I have already added a coat of paint so the original colours aren't present but the shapes are:


One thing that was really excellent about this experiment was how my choice of colour was influenced by the previous painting. It led me to choose colours and combinations of colours that I wouldn't have normally. I like being stretched like this and I now have a greater appreciation for why some artists sometimes choose a 'pallette' and constrain themselves to it.

There are still changes I plan to make to this painting, areas and colours that I want to change, but for those who enjoy seeing parts of the process, here's how it looks now:

I'm still a bit frustrated by the way the blue 'tower' on the right appears to lean toward the left (rather than looking like the pink and gold shape is in front of it) but I think I know how to fix that by having a bit of it peek out from the lower left side of that shape.

I'm loving the glowing goldy colours (which are much gentler without the flash glare :)

Glowing Lights

taken with iphone, edited using free Adobe Photoshop app

Free Intuitive Heart eCourse by Lauren Luquin

Have you checked out this beautiful ecourse yet?



Lauren, beautiful soul that she is, decided to offer it for free!

You can read her lyrical, eloquent description of the course by clicking the image above.
Participants decide their own level of participation, no pressure or expectations.
:-)
That's perfect for me - I'm in hibernation mode right now, moving slowly and being cautious about commitments.

Lauren notes:
"*all Intuitive Heart members will get 11% off everything in my Etsy shop,

VisionWise - Earth Livity 1111, for the duration of the course*"

Painting In Progress 1

I've been painting a lot more recently since I tackled (part of) the mess in my studio.
I'm so excited to have my health returned to a level where I can use acrylic paints and glue again! I am returning to my first love of using texture in painting.

Here's a work in progress:


first, paint, then a layer of glue-water mix - half and half, that I used to attach repurposed biodegradable packing peanuts! They end up shrinking and collapsing in fun ways:

It's great to keep old, damaged brushed to use for glue since the glue wrecks a little more each time anyway. You can get more life from a glue brush by washing it with HOT water and soap as soon as possible after using. I use an old toothbrush with soap right on it to scrub the glue brush.


then I used the same glue-water mix to attach pieces of printed napkins. Once the glue dries, the part of the napkin that was white becomes transparent so that just the printing shows. Flowers and a butterfly:


I have since painted the packing peanuts a shimmery pearl white and now I feel stuck in that place of wanting to add more... but afraid of messing it up!
I have soooo many paintings in an unfinished state because of this.

If you'd like to see amazing examples of fearless layered paintings, check out Tara Leaver. She is awesome! And she takes the time and effort to share photos of each step of her panting journeys! Such dedication and patience! I have learned so much as an artist from following her blog.

Pink Morning Glory Mandala

created using sumopaint.com

Source Image:

Art Journal Bits 1

I felt like sharing a few bits from an art journal I'm working in lately - and loving.
I have so much fun making the backgrounds! It's been totally addictive for me and feels very therapeutic. I get into a meditative state while doing it that far surpasses anything I've gotten from traditional meditation. I'm so totally 'in the moment' that I'm unaware of time passing - sometimes hours.

juicy acrylic backgrounds scraped on with an old credit card

A huge amount of appreciation is beaming around the world from me to Hanna, whose great posts on altering books inspired me to get a great, spiral-bound Tai Chi manual for a few dollars second hand. Note that because my book is spiral-bound, I skipped the step of removing alternate pages.

another background using scraped acrylic, glued in napkins, marker

These backgrounds are so fast and easy - I love using the scraped-on paint method. Pencil crayon goes beautifully over top of acrylic paint.
The nice, thick pages that hold up well to acrylic paint and fun words to leave peeking through paint:



Thanks for the inspiration Hanna!

Feather Eraser Stamp (hand-carved)

All wrapped up and ready to send to a lovely woman who inspires me
(I forgot to take a photo of the stamp itself before wrapping it up... oops! :-)

Have you tried carving your own stamps from erasers yet?
It's so much fun! I love using them in art journals, on cards, envelopes, and other paper crafts.
They also make wonderful, personal gifts.
Vinyl erasers work best and if you think you'll do this more than a few times, it's totally worth the money to buy a linoleum cutter (also called Lino cutter). I have the Speedball one shown in this photo.


It has a number of different tips to choose from and I find it very handy how they can all be stored in the handle. No chance of losing them. You can carve stamps using utility/exacto knives but a cutter like this is much safer and sooo much easier.
After only a few stamps, it will have paid for itself. I tried a few different kinds of vinyl erasers before settling on one I liked. This one cuts like butter. So smooth. And it's not scented - unlike most that I tried. Ick.

There are many tutorials online. Here are a few(note that you can also use carving blocks sold at art or printing stores. It's nice to begin with erasers because they are so cheap you may be less held back by fear of messing up!):
I saw this video of Geninne's only after I carved my feather stamp. Hers is amazing! (of course :)
Geninne in action

non-video tutorial part 1
non-video tutorial part 2

I confess that I don't have the patience to draw the design first and transfer it onto the eraser as shown in those tutorials. I draw directly on the stamp or just freehand it without drawing at all.

*Tips*

1. If you wear a cotton glove on the hand holding the stamp, you're less likely to get cut if you slip. This may seem unnecessary but it's totally worth it in my opinion :) Those blades are supr sharp.
2. If you will be carving curved lines, it's much easier to have the eraser on a small piece of paper that can slide around easily - then you can twist/turn the eraser itself as you go around corners rather than trying to move the cutter in a smooth, curved line.
3. Start gently. You can always cut deeper later but you can't add back parts you've removed!
4. When you are first getting the hang of this art, you can use all sides of the eraser to practice on. It will save money and be kinder to the environment.
5. If you create any kind of mixed media art, you can also save the shavings you carve off the eraser, mix them with glue or gel medium, and create very funky background textures for paintings etc.

Have fun!