Blank Canvas!

Lately I have stumbled across some canvas art projects on the internet.
I really the look of these mixed media canvas art projects. They look really personal to me. No one can really copy what is being done. You can be guided and inspired by a canvas done by someone else, but the way you lay down your paint and "work" the canvas is personal to you.
This paint is amazing for mixed media works.

Then you need an artist canvas. I found these at Dollarama and Michael's ( if you are in the States Dick Blick is awesome to get these canvas ). The size is up to you.

The best thing about this is there is no right or wrong. Just whatever you decide.
DECIDE-that is the hardest part, looking at the blank canvas. So it took awhile for me to get started because I was thinking too much.
Then I found my inspiration.......the branch!

First I covered the canvas in this sky blue:
I started out painting it on with a brush then took a slightly damp rag and worked around the paint till I got the desired look.

Then I added the branch and started to add some painted leaves.
The branch is an adhesive backed felt branch made by Prima.

Then I added a bird and painted it modern red. I love this red!

Then the fun started because I could see it happening. I also painted across the whole canvas with the
Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Gloss - #R210

I went thicker on the cloud areas to add dimension.

After I had painted on some leaves, I also wanted to add some leaves cut from patterned paper. Because the branch is made from felt and I wanted to Stickle some of the felt leaves, I first used the Claudine Hellmuth Gesso - #R208. Gesso is a type of primer that makes any surface paintable.

Here I added Stickles to the leaves (that were primed in gesso), I outlined the patterned paper leaves in Smooch Ink and covered them in glossy accents.
I also outlined the bird with Stickles used a pearl for the eye and covered in glossy accents which leaves a clear "glass like finish", and added flowers with pearl centers.