Elephant Printed Canvas and Art Journal Page

Hello crafters! We have had such a grey day today, with misty and wet weather, so some bright colors are needed to lighten things up a little. I have something of a different post for you today.

Recently, I was contacted by Photowall, asking if I could do a review/post. I hardly ever say yes to such collaborations and sponsored posts, but in this case, I thought it could fit on my blog, and I also created a little inspiration project of mine own, which you will see below. Photowall is a Swedish company that sells wall-murals, wallpaper, canvas prints and posters and there are thousands of designs in a wide variety of sizes. Since I love elephants, I ordered a colorful elephant canvas, designed by Patrice Murciano. I had a hard time choosing and almost picked a print by Vincent van Gogh instead.

You can also use your own photos and art. If we had our own place, I would have loved to have one of my own photos as a wall-paper, or maybe something like a textured mixed media background.

The canvas came in a narrow box, which I could carry home after having picked it up. I like to walk and pick up parcels, since it's a good reason to take a walk. The canvas frame is easy to assemble and you can find a handy video for it here. I took a couple of photos too. You don't need any tools. I only used a ruler and a pencil.

Make marks 12 millimeters from the both edges, as shown here. Remove the adhesive cover and place the wooden bar as shown. Press on the canvas so that the adhesive sticks down well.

Continue with all four sides and fold up the flaps.

Attach the metallic bars in the premade holes. Don't attach them too tightly.

Attach all the bars and then gradually make them a little tighter, to stretch the canvas. It was easy to get a perfect result. The canvas also comes with a hook for hanging.

I haven't decided yet if it should hang above the couch as in the first photo, or here in the hallway, where it almost covers the entire wall between the doors. I walk past here a lot and probably see it more often than at the couch. We'll see where it will finally end up.

I love the bright colors, paint splatters and all the scribbles on this elephant art.

You can chose whether you want a black or white edge, or if you want the design to continue on the edge. I love letting the design continue on the edges of my own canvases, so it was an easy choice.

After having had the elephant canvas on my wall for a couple of days, I did a quick art journal page using the canvas as my inspiration, and since I really wanted an elephant in my art journal. I have loved elephants for a long time. When I was little, I had a book where I wrote down facts about animals. My sister was sometimes motivated to join me, and she still remembers the difference between and Asian and African elephants, from having written down those facts in the animal notebook. I think this stamp by Tim Holtz is, in fact, an Asian elephant, but it is paired up with a South African post card stamp from the same stamp set, so today we are pretending that it is an African elephant. Since I have seen them in the wild relatively many times, I like them the best.

The page had already been painted with a rough layer of white gesso. The elephant was stamped with black ink and colored with Dina Wakley's Scribble Sticks. Inspired by my new canvas, I added lots of splatters and extra scribbles, but I also stamped some script on the elephant 'Johannesburg, South Africa', since that carries special meaning to me.

Add water to the Scribble Sticks with a paint brush, to turn them into watercolor paint.

I just couldn't leave the background entirely white, but instead colored it with grey and cream Scribble Sticks and added lots of splatters, also using the Scribble Sticks. Dip it in water and flick a paint brush against it. The birds were stamped with the same colors used to color the elephant.

I also stamped a sentiment, from Paper Artsy's Travels and Journeys set, designed by Alison Bomber.

Lots of scribbles and another stamped word.

If you would like to have a look at the Photowall products, I have a 25% discount code for you, it is layersofink2020 and will be valid for a month.

Thank you so much for stopping by here today! I will be back tomorrow with a card or two.

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

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