It feels as though everyone I know is pregnant, just had a baby, or at least knows someone that I know that's having a baby. It's like our heat wave, except babies! With all that being said, I decided to get my paint juices flowing by painting some canvases for nurseries inspired by media prints/baby onesies that I've recently stumbled upon.
This onesie and
this media print inspired my first canvas. I had already seen Elizabeth Caldwell's rock and roll
print and loved the child-like feel of it, so I sketched my BYOB canvas with her print in mind.
Canvas Prints
Things You'll Need
- Canvas (size is up to you - I chose 11 x 14 from Michaels for a steal of $6, but just got the regular 'ol canvas, not gallery wrapped since this project wasn't going to be too large)
- Paint (decided on Martha Stewart Satin Finish Paints because my others had dried up from lack of use and I had never used hers before and wanted to try 'em out)
- Brushes
- Design of your choice
- Carbon Paper (for transferring your image - you could free-hand yours if you prefer)
- Pen for making fine outlines (I used a black, fine-size Faber-Castell PITT artist pen)
- Ribbon for hanging your canvas
- Quick-Grip (or something like it for attaching your ribbon)
- Sealer (glossy, satin - your preference)
How To Make It
- Start with your fresh canvas. I chose to paint mine a lighter grey color, rather than just leave it white.
- Transfer design to your canvas using carbon paper.
- Get painting!
- If you hate it, don't stop! You'll be surprised how you might feel after completing it. That and you're always your own worst critic. Always good to remember - it's just paint, you can always paint over it.
- Gift or keep for your self, hang, and enjoy!
Here's what I started with. I have this transfer paper shown because I want you to make a mental note - do NOT purchase this kind. I am a lover of all things Marth, but this just ain't cutting it. And by ain't cutting it, I mean it doesn't work. I had to purchase it though because I searched Michael's and Hobby Lobby high and low for carbon paper with no luck. I had never had such a difficult time tracking down carbon paper, so I purchased this "transfer paper" that I found. Didn't work. This means use carbon paper instead.
Start with your fresh canvas, squirt some paint on it, then smooth out. I used a foam brush because they are easy, cheap, disposable (in my book), and they work well when covering larger areas. You don't have to paint your background a color, I chose to because the nursery I was painting for had white walls. Let dry, then use carbon paper to transfer your image to your canvas (or free-hand if you prefer).
Then get ta' paintin'! After a while, I had this.
I really loved that brown. Like really, really loved it. The only problem was it showing up well on the grey background in non-natural light (i.e. Bed-time diaper changes) and it not looking like some mystery poo made it to the wall if you get my drift. So I threw the idea around in my head about painting over the brown with this dark slate color that I had. I threw this idea around for days! No clue why I was so back and forth about it. I finally took the plunge and had something that was starting to look like this.
I finished my Y, made some touch ups, outlined my small clouds, big clouds, parts of the bottle, and added some accents on the bottle with my fine-sized black out-line pen, and grabbed my sealer, ribbon, and Quick-Grip bonding glue. Lastly, I sprayed my canvas with a satin finish sealer and let dry, then attached my ribbon for hanging.
The best way to attach your ribbon is not the way I chose to do mine, so I'll share my way and the easier way. My way: tie a bow in your ribbon, then attach long strands to back of canvas with Quick-Grip. Easier way: attach ends to canvas with Quick-Grip and join together in a bow. I cut notches in my ribbon to make it look a little cuter on the back (not that anyone sees it).
Just tie the ends together in a bow.
Here she is!
This little project I'm linking up over at
Farmgirl Paints. Head on over and get creative with us!
-Suze
