The world can be amazing when you're slightly strange

Hi Everyone! Jess here with a canvas today.  I just love this saying.  To me, art is all about celebrating your differences and not being afraid to be a bit weird.  Art is so subjective and that's why it is wonderful.

I started out by cutting my focal image and inking the edges.  Inking helps cover the raw  white edges and any cutting boo-boos.  

Once my image ready it was time to get to work.  I like using these panels.  They can be mailed easily, propped on a shelf, or just stuck on a wall using removable wall tack.  

I used the Brick Fat Plaid Letters Cardstock as my starting point.  For this project I didn't want the red to pop, so much as the letters.  I brushed on a layer of gesso and dried it with my heat tool.  Before it was completely dry I wiped the gesso off of the letters using a baby wipe.  

The top photo is before baby wipe and the photo below is after baby wipe.  See how the letters pop?!

I ripped off random strips and glued them down using a matte gel. 

Time to use the best tools ever.  I smudged the paint around with my fingers and used a baby wipe to blend them together(bonus the wipe also cleans your hands).

Using a stencil and texture paste I added random bits to the canvas.

I used a trellis die cut next.  First I used black cardstock for the base, then I layered in my Men's Plaid Cardstock, Honeycomb Stripe Cardstock, and the Tulip Wheels Cardstock.

Once those were in place I added more paint.  As you can see there is not a bit of blue anywhere in my paper choices, but I added just a bit of paint to make the colors pop.  There's a mustard color in there too to pull the Honeycomb and Tulip Wheels  colors into focus.  

This is what the canvas looked like before I added my focal image and text.  

Once the lovely ladies were glued down I gave them fantastic party hats complete with Red Tear Drops, Red Dew Drops, Green Dew Drops, and  Brown Dew Drops.  

I printed the text on white cardstock and inked the edges in black.  To finish I smudged gesso randomly on the canvas.  

A closeup of the good messy paint.  

The ladies giving their best party smiles.

One more shot of the complete canvas.  This is such a fun and easy technique, since there is no technique.  Don't forget that art is supposed to be fun! Use your fingers, smear paint, and give everyone a dorky hat.  

Stop by my blog to see what else I have been up to!

Jess