I haven’t painted anything in years, I mean like back in the 90s! So when Mr. CraftyPaws asked me to make a landscape canvas for his newly modernized office, I was honored and a bit terrified.
He and I went to Michaels to pick up the “right size” (30″ x 48″) canvas when they were having a 70% off sale on Level 3 (that’s the really nice thick canvas grade). Then I proceeded to stare at a blank canvas for about 5 days. It’s really daunting!
I thought about doing a modern art/cartoony canvas with giant images of our dogs (I may do smaller versions for our home in the future), but that idea was shot down with the reasonable comment that this needed to be semi-serious since clients were going to face this canvas for the duration of their visits. I didn’t want to do anything literal/realistic since I worried that my painting skills were so rusty my attempt might look childlike. I finally got over the blank-canvas hurdle by just getting on some blocks of color.
I used acrylic paints I had on hand, ranging from Dina Wakely Media Acrylic Paints, The Crafters Workshop Heavy Body Acrylics, DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics, and Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylics (3 tubes of the titanium white). I even tried some Ranger Acrylic Paint Daubers in white and and emerald isle to add color and soft texture:
Then I decided to try an imaginary landscape in lots of blues with hints of some warm colors. I went for a 1/2-2/3 sky and 1/3-1/2 water look.
I was happy with the variety of textures (I got rid of the white dabbing that I tried on the clouds), but it was looking a little dark for my liking so I kept going. I eliminated the red mounts and added more texture in the sky with more and lighter clouds.
I spent (off and on) about 4 days layering on different textures, blocks of colors and soft cloud formations. I also experimented with mountains and cliff formations at the horizon line, but ultimately those would all get covered up, as I couldn’t make them look right (you know, it’s a gut thing). The sky was looking crazy cloudy (almost stormy – and I didn’t want that for Mr. CraftyPaws’ office) and I wanted to brighten the whole canvas so I went back to adding more cobalt teal.
The last version of this (where I was when Mr. CraftyPaws asked, “When can I take this to my office, already?”) is not really what I imagined when I started this. I could have probably bought 3 more tubes of paint (I had made 2 previous visits to the paint store during this process) and kept going, but I was generally happy with the dark and light blues, and hints of burgundy, orange and yellow. Plus, my sweet Bandito had had multiple instances of paint getting on his nose, and my Biscuit had jumped on top of the canvas twice seeking attention and more treats. It was time. LOL
That’s the beauty of painting with acrylics, while underlying textures of the layers may stay, the actual colors can be completely covered. Acrylics (unlike watercolors) are truly opaque when dry and one can add almost an infinite number of layers! 🙂
This canvas is being entered into the following challenges:
Creatalicious Anything Goes with Make Your Own Background Challenge
Just Keep on Creating Anything Goes Challenge
Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes Challenge
Through the Craft Room Door Anything Goes Challenge – WINNER
Crafts Galore Encore Anything Goes Challenge
613 Avenue Create Anything Goes with Optional Masculine Card Challenge
MarkerPOP Fall Colors Challenge
Wow! That is fabulous. Thanks for joining us at Creatalicious. Good luck. Maggie DT
Awww thanks so much Maggie!
A stunning canvas. I loved seeing your process. Thank you for sharing your project with us at the Crafts Galore Encore October Challenge, “Anything Goes”. Good Luck and hope to see you again next month!
Carole x DT
Craftilicious Creations
Thanks so much Carole! You are so kind to be so encouraging to this beginner painter!
Beautiful painting. It’s gorgeous!!
Oh wow, thanks so much Michelle!
I love this! I think it is wonderful for the office.
Thank you so much Victoria! I am so happy that Mr. CraftyPaws took it and hung it right up on his wall. Now he is asking for a triptych for a bigger wall in his office! 😀
Good on you for trying this technique, all your hard work was worth it, the final result looks amazing.
Thanks so much for sharing your creation at
Anything goes October link-up, Just keep on creating
Susan xx
Thanks so much Susan! It was fun to play in a newer-to-me medium. 🙂
So beutiful!! A wonderful creation !!!! Love The colours and The scen !!!
Thank you so much for entering our ATG challenge at
Through The Craft Room Door this week. Looking forward to see you again next challenge.
Hugs Cicci
DT member at TTCRD
<a
ttcrd.blogspot.com
Cicci With The Pen {Welcome to follow my blog}
Cicci With The Pen
Thanks so very much Cecilia! It was fun to just play with paints for a while. 🙂
Beautiful creation! Lovely to see how you build up the scene. Thank you for playing along at Creatalicious Challenges.
xx Grietje
Grietje’s Kaartenhoekje
Creatalicious Challenges DT
Awww thanks so much Grietje! It was days of acrylic fun! LOL
It doesn’t look like your skills were that rusty afterall….it’s quite a beautiful painting. The colors are great. And even though everything has been painted to perfection, you will always know your fur babies contributions are still there 🙂 Hugs…Janie
Oh thanks so much, Janie! I still feel like it’s missing something, but I’m glad I could “let it go” and Mr. CraftyPaws loves it in his office! 🙂
Oh…I forgot to say….CONGRATS ON THE WIN at Through The Craft Room Door!!! 🙂 Hugs…Janie
Awww thanks so much! I really appreciate your taking the time to leave this sweet note and for checking out my blog post!
I would say that your painting skills are not rusty at all! It was fun seeing all of the variations that led up to the final project. Well done!
Thank you for joining us at Li’l Patch of Crafty Friends for our challenge.
Oh you are so kind! I was all over the place with this painting along the way, but that was part of the fun of playing with acrylics too. I had forgotten how forgiving it is. 🙂
A wonderful card!
Thank you soo much for taking part in our “anything goes with optional make your own background” challenge over at Creatalicious & good luck in the draw.
Hope to see you again in our new challenge as well…
Hugs,
Melanie
(DT-Coordinator Creatalicious Challenges)
(DT Crafty Friends)
(DT The Sketchy Challenges)
Thanks bunches, Melanie!