Peony Mixed Media Canvas Tutorial

Hello friends! I have a peony mixed media canvas tutorial to share with you today, made with a stencil, acrylic paint and pastes. It is much easier to do than what it might look like, which is usually the case with mixed media. The finished product might look complicated, but if you just work one step at a time, it isn't hard to achieve. 

We have such bleak and grey weather here, a cheerful floral project was just what I needed.

The canvas board is 6 x 6 in, and for some reason it is not looking totally square here, which must have been caused by the angle of the camera. I made it with the new Simon Says Stamp Peony Bouquet stencil, which is so pretty. You could also do the techniques for a card or an art journal page, if you use a sturdy paper for the base, such as watercolor paper.

Start by coating the canvas with gesso and when that is dry, smear texture paste through the stencil with a palette knife. Let dry.

Water down Antique Linen and Pumice Stone and paint the canvas, to give a base.

When dry, start painting the flowers. Later, I covered up most of the Victorian Velvet, since I wanted them to be brighter.

Continue with the leaves.

Bring in one or two darker colors, to make the flowers come to life. It can be hard to see where the darker areas should be. Imagine where the light is coming from, and now and then hold the canvas at a distance. Looking at it from a distance makes it much easier to see where to paint the darker colors. Don't worry about perfection.

Add a little crackle paste around the edges and let dry. Crackles appear as it dries. The paste was on my desk since my lighthouse tag.

Paint the paste with watered down Pumice Stone.

Add more Pumice Stone as shading to the flowers, and a little green and brown.

Apply a glue stick here and there, especially around the edges, working one area at a time. Let dry for maybe 30 seconds to a minute (it depends on the glue) and then rub a foil sheet on top. This leaves of small areas of shiny foil, giving a great extra texture to the canvas. I used Therm o Web Rose Gold Deco Foil.

I also added dots of white paint to the petals, especially where the light was meant to be hitting.

I used a quote from Paper Artsy's The Happiness Edition by Alison Bomber.

Here's a close up of the cool textures created with the paste, paint and foil.

The foil is hard to photograph. Its a rose gold, which fitted well with the project.

I hope you will try out some of these techniques. You don't need to do all of them on a project and can, for example, skip the crackle paste and foil, which will also give you a cleaner and less distressed look.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today!  

Happy crafting!

Anna-Karin

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