Owl Canvas Tutorial

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great Christmas! I can't believe the year is almost over, time really flies. Today I have a Sizzix mixed media canvas tutorial to share with you.

 

I made this canvas as a gift to Anton's teacher, whom we will miss very much. I am glad to know the canvas is hanging in her house now. If you look closely you'll see that many of the details on the canvas are related to teaching. Sizzix dies were used for the owl, leaves and to make my own stencil. The stamps are all by Hero Arts. Let's start.

 

I die cut the owl with the Owl #2 die, using mat board. Use this sandwich: cutting pad, die facing up, mat board, second cutting plate.

These are all the pieces for the owl. I die cut an extra little heart. 



Paint the wings with Broken China and the feet black. Smear Ranger's Texture Paste on the owl, in a relatively thick layer. Press the wings, feet and eyes into the paste, which will work as an adhesive. You can also paint the wings and feet later. Leave to dry.
 

Paint the owl's body with Iced Spruce, using a paint brush.



 

Paint the eyes with Antique Linen and Black Soot, the hearts with Broken China, and the beak with Spiced Marmalade.

 

Coat a canvas with gesso and leave to dry. When dry, adhere Tim Holtz Postale Tissue Wrap with multi medium. Don't worry if it wrinkles a bit. I used a 8 x 10 canvas.

White wash the tissue paper with Picket Fence Distress Paint. You might want to add two layers.

 

When the white paint is dry, paint the canvas with Iced Spruce and Broken China.

The easiest way to add stamped images to a slightly uneven surface such as a canvas, is to stamp them with a permanent ink on tissue paper. Tear the images out since a torn edge disappears better than an edge cut with scissors.

Plan the design by moving the images stamped on tissue paper around until you are happy. Apply gloss multi medium on the canvas where you want to add a stamped tissue image, place the image into the medium and carefully add another layer of medium on top of the image. That way, the tissue paper disappears almost completely.

 

Stamp the wings of the owl and the hearts with a number background stamp. Apply two words stamped on tissue paper to the body of the owl. Dry brush a little Black Soot paint on the owl. Coat the wings, eyes, hearts and beak with Glossy Accents and set aside to dry.

Die cut two Vines from watercolour paper.

 

Paint with Bundled Sage and Evergreen Bough. When dry, stamp with a Hero Arts background stamp using Archival Jet Black ink.

 

Die cut a woman from watercolour paper and paint with Black Soot. Or die cut her from black paper.

 

Die cut 'No 1' from Eclipse Tape, Tim Holtz Masking Sheet or something similar, to make your own stencil.

Mix a little bit of Spiced Marmalade paint into Texture Paste and apply through the homemade and a dot stencil with a palette knife. Leave to dry.

 

Add some black paint to the canvas, especially around the edges. Later I added some more, also to the orange areas.

The printed tissue paper shows through the layers of painting and stamping to give depth and texture to the canvas.

I used various date, word and number stamps.

The finished owl is real cute and looks very different from the plain pieces of mat board that we started out with. Adhere it with multi medium and place a book underneath and one on top of the canvas to make sure it is stuck well.

The branches almost blend into the background, especially if you give them a rough shadow with black paint.

This is the teacher and her little students. I love these bird stamps by Hero Arts.

The school house and the stencilled number.

The edges are all covered with words stamped on tissue paper and applied in the same way as before.

 

Thank you so much for looking at my last tutorial of this year! I'll be back on New Year's Eve with another post.

 

Happy crafting!

 

Anna-Karin

 

Supplies:

Surfaces: Sizzix Little Sizzles Cream Mat Board 6 x 13; Tim Holtz idea-ology: Postale Tissue Wrap; Canson Watercolour Paper; canvas 8 x 10; Judikins Eclipse Tape; tissue paper

Dies: Sizzix: Owl #2, Vine #2, Cargo Stencil Numbers, You & Me

Stamps: Hero Arts: Astronomy Background CG633, My Favorite AC030, Time AC029, Remember AC028, My Notebook AC027, Basic Lowercase Letters LL188, Round Calendar 331483

Ink: Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black

Paint: Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Evergreen Bough, Bundled Sage, Broken China, Black Soot, Iced Spruce, Spiced Marmalade

Medium: Ranger: Texture Paste, Gloss Multi Medium, Glossy Accents

Stencil: Simon Says Stamp: Medium Dots