2016 #2: Heart Canvas {by Wanda Hentges}

 2016 Topic 2: Hearts

Hi everyone Wanda here.

Tonight I'd like to share with you a 6" x 8" box canvas project.

I've always been drawn to hearts. I remember as a young teenager winning a poster at the state fair in Minnesota and I chose one that had a huge colorful heart on it.  I wrote a note on the front, gave it to my grandpa and it hung in his bedroom until he passed away when I was 17.  When I saw this topic of hearts I knew right away that I wanted to sign up and I wanted to use EDY10. The moment this set was released last year I HAD to have it!!!!  

EDY10

Step One:  I cut a piece of mixed media paper torn from a journal to the same size as my canvas (6" x 8") and in the old fashioned way folded it and cut out a heart from the center.  I used this cut out heart as a mask.  I put a piece of rolled removable tape behind the heart and stuck it to the center of my canvas.  I laid a stencil (The Crafter's Workshop Cubist) over it and applied Grunge Paste.  Although I only needed it around the outside of the heart, I pasted the whole top as now I have a textured heart I can use in another project.  I carefully removed the stencil and then the heart.  Be sure and scrape up all excess paste from the stencil and put it back in the jar to use another time.  The easiest way is to lay the stencil on your craft sheet, scrape over it to get as much paste as possible, pick the stencil up and then scrape the paste off the craft sheet - very little goes to waste.  

Step Two: After letting the Grunge Paste dry completely, I sanded over it to remove the roughest spots.  I was going to sand all the cubes down flat but decided I liked the extra texture of a bit of an edge on some of them.  I wiped off all the dust from sanding and painted the whole canvas with Fresco Finish Vanilla.  Once that was dry I glazed over it.  I made my glaze by mixing Gloss Glaze and Fresco Finish Toffee together.  This mix was painted on the canvas (top and sides), allowed to sit for a couple of minutes and wiped back with a baby wipe.  How much you wipe off is up to you.  

Step Three:  Stamp sides of canvas with leaf (EDY10) using Archival Ink Fern Green.  Paint in the leaves with Fresco Finish Sage thinned with water.  Splatter sides with Fresco Finish Tinned Peas thinned a bit with water using a wet paintbrush.  I stayed somewhat close with the brush so there were some larger splatters.  Also splatter the top of the canvas but from further away to keep the spots smaller.   

Step Four:  The heart flower (EDY10) was stamped onto tissue paper with Archival Ink Jet Black and painted from the back with Fresco Finish Paints (Claret on the petals, small spots of Guacamole and then completely with Tinned Peas on the stem, Taupe in the center of the flowers) and then I used a gold glitter gel pen in the circles in the center.  Tear out the flower and glue to the canvas with Gloss Glaze (put glaze on the canvas, lay on the tissue and glaze over it). When it dried, the tissue went back somewhat white mostly noticeable on the hearts so I repainted the hearts with Claret mixed with a little water to darken them.  I also did the little circles again with the gel pen.  Once dry, I used Gloss Glaze again over the flower.  

Step Five:  I re-glazed just the top of the canvas once again with a mix of Gloss Glaze and Toffee, left it to sit for just a minute and wiped it back with a baby wipe.  I stamped the bursty image (EDY13) with Archival Ink Dandelion mostly inside the heart area and just in a couple spots near the bottom in the textured area and dried the ink.  My finger was used to lightly rub on Treasure Gold Spanish Topaz on the sides of the canvas and over the texture on the top of the canvas.  I shaded the edge of the heart area and around the flowers using a Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Big Brush Pen (Cold Grey III - 232).  These pens dry quickly but with the glaze on the canvas you do get a little time to work with the ink.  I brushed on the color, just going a short distance, and then blended it out using a small stencil brush (I saw this done in a YouTube video by Michelle Hotchkiss).  I continued brushing a short distance and then blending until I got all the shading done. 

EDY13

EDY14

Step Six:  For the words, I brushed very watered Guacamole onto a scrap of Heavy Smoothy, pressed over the wet paint with a slightly damp rough towel holding the towel there for a few second, picking it up and then drying the paint.  This left the paint slightly mottled.  I stamped the words (EDY14) with Archival Ink Jet Black, cut them out, edged the pieces with Fresco Finish Toffee and glued them to the canvas with Matte Medium.  Once the words were set, I brushed Gloss Glaze inside the whole heart area including over the words.  I did not brush it outside the heart area.  This was repeated 3 more times allowing the glaze to completely dry between coats.  I think it looks fabulous with the heart being very glossy and the rest of the canvas has the metallic highlights from the Treasure Gold.  

I LOVE how this canvas came out.  When I start a project I usually know a couple of the things I'm going to do but most of it I figure out as I go along.  Sometimes a project is ok and other times, I'm in Love!!  The only thing about this canvas that I wish was different is a wrinkle in the tissue on the top flower that didn't really show up at first but became more obvious as I worked on top..  I hope you'll play along with this topic sharing your 'Heart' ideas.  Be sure to link up so we can come take a look and be inspired by You!!!

~Wanda

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This is a gorgeous piece of art Wanda ... I love the visual depth you have achieved using the centre heart template and the textured cubes look wonderful. Love all the elements that pull this project together. Thanks for sharing your creativity with us. ~Gillian

We would love to see how you interpret this Hearts  topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #2: Hearts, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The 'Hearts' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 7th. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

NB this link is open for 3 weeks instead of 2 - all will become clear why on Jan 31st!