Mixed Media Canvas Tutorial

This Souvenir canvas just screams 'Take me any where!' Take a look at some of the excellent tips for BoBunny's must have mixed media!

Wanderlust Mixed Media Canvas by Denise van Deventer

Hello Everyone!

It's Denise here today, to share with you, my mixed media tutorial.

Firstly, decide on your photo and the papers you are going to use. I chose the Souvenir Collection and a gorgeous photo that I had taken of a railway track that we had crossed on a weekend away a few months ago. I also went with a 30 x 30 cm canvas board for my base.

I took the stripey paper "On Board" from this collection and started tearing it up, in long strips, in different widths and lengths. The lengths were about 20-25 cm in length, to start off with.

I then started placing them down on the canvas, overlapping them and some I shortened as required.

Now I was ready to stick them down.  When I create mixed media pages, I really do stick down my papers well, as the paints and water can cause them to curl up.  Since these were uneven shapes I used craft glue and really did lather them well, as shown below.

I was then ready to start with my gesso and stencils.

These stencils are really so super because they are sticky and so stay where they are placed, but then can be pulled up, washed and re-used. I used an old credit card to smooth the gesso over the stencils.

I used the honeycomb and circle stencils first, as shown above, and then used the script stencil, as shown below.

I then took some of the number stencils and sort of filled in the gaps. I love that these are individual numbers, as they can be easily placed.

I then dried the gesso stencilling off, with a heat gun.  You could also let this dry naturally, but it then does take a little longer.  It is really important to make sure that the gesso is dry, before starting with the paints and waters.

I decided on some red acrylic paint, as well as the super new BoBunny Pearlescent "Island Mist" and "Chocolate". I had a little water spray handy too, as this is a must for water colouring. I got my "mess sheet" out here too and started working on that.

Before even starting with the paints, it is important to wet the area you want to colour, so that when you put a little paint down, that it already starts running and spreading in the water. I started with the red acrylic paint.

You can see how the paint already starts running, as you place a little amount, with a paintbrush, into the wet area.  

Spray some more water directly into the little blob of paint and pick up your canvas to start allowing your paint to run. Tilt it from side to side, to get it to spread where you want it to go.  Add more water and paint as desired. I normally work on one area and then move onto the next. I dried these 2 areas off with a heat gun.  It is important to let the individual colors dry. Otherwise, they run into one another and you end up with a brown, awful color.

I used the "Island Mist" in the top left corner and the "Chocolate" in the right bottom corner and did the same water coloring technique here too. I now left this to dry completely.

I got out my new, yummy ink pads and an assortment of BoBunny stamps.

I randomly, stamped over the canvas, using a script stamp, a hexagon stamp, little bubbles stamp and then lastly with some arrow stamps.  When stamping randomly, I ink the stamp and use my hands and fingers to press it down, so that it gives an uneven stamped image.  However, when I stamped the arrows at the top and bottom of the canvas, I used a BoBunny acrylic block to give a solid image. I also then outlined my numbers with a black, fine point, koki pen.

I trimmed my photo to size, distressed the edges with some sandpaper and adhered some foam to the back of the photo for some lift. My photo is a 10 x 15 cm photo and the matting is 11 x 16 cm.

I matted the photo with "Sightseeing".

I got out some Licorice and Berry Double dot to mat a few elements and create layers, as with all the colors, the elements might have got lost in each other.

I got out all the stickers, buttons, chipboards, brads and noteworthy elements. This was really now where the fun was going to start!!

I cut a 9,5 x 15 cm Licorice block and a 9,5 x 13cm Berry block and cut out the postcard from the Waderlust paper. I played with the placing behind the photo, along with some chipboards, stickers and noteworthy elements on the canvas.  I kept the placing between the arrow stamps on the top and bottom and between the 3 and 7, left and right.  This kept everything nicely centered.

The licorice and berry blocks allowed for the photo to stand out and not be lost to the background.

Once happy with the placing, I stuck everything down.

TIP: Never stick right to the edges...always leave a cm or 2 around the edges, as this will then allow you to tuck things under later.

Being a girl who loves flowers, I wanted to add some Petals to this canvas.

I decided that the compass/sun chipboard was not going to work and so removed it.  This then allowed for the placing of the petals and leaves, on the left top corner of the photo.   I tucked the flower under this corner. The leaves are little die-cut leftovers from previous projects.  I used brads for the flower centres.  I also added more chipboard bits around the canvas.

To add the last touches to this canvas, I wanted to add some more stamping and used an acrylic block for these word stamps and stamped them in the top left corner and the bottom right hand corner. I added one more arrow stamp just above the vacation word too. The "Take Note" stamp was stamped onto plain cardboard and then just cut out and stuck onto the canvas.

I am still going to add a little journaling card behind my photo and then it will be completely finished.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and perhaps you will give it a try sometime.  Mixed media is super fun and there is never a right or wrong! One just goes with the flow!

BoBunny Supplies:
Patterned Paper: Wanderlust, On Board, Sightseeing/ Souvenir
Cardstock: Licorice, Berry/Double Dot
Stickers: Combo Sticker/ Souvenir
Noteworthy: Souvenir
Brads: Souvenir
Chipboard: Souvenir 
Stamps: It is Written, Captured, To the Point, Geometric Patterns
Petals: Souvenir
Stencils: Brocade Stickable, Bliss Stickable

Pearlescent: Chocolate, Island Mist