Good morning! What a lovely spring we are having! I have a special mixed media canvas for you today! My husband and I are fond of the song: “Morning has Broken”. It is an old hymn written in 1931 by an English Eleanor Fargeon and was made popular in 1971 when it was recorded by singer Cat Stevens. Later this week I will have tutorial about how to make this project.
What I love about this canvas is the song is literally bursting forth from the inside the canvas. It features the music and lyrics of the hymn and is full of the new “Classic Petunia” from Heartfelt Creations, as well as some glass and pottery elements I made in my ceramic and fused glass studio. It has a fused glass blackbird and the eggs are made from speckled brown clay.
Do you have a favorite song? You could make it into a mixed media canvas! It’s a fun creative project! Imagine the possibilities! Below are the supplies and directions! The directions are a bit long, but most of the “how to” is easy to see. (A picture says a thousand words!) Enjoy!
“Morning has Broken” Petunia Garden Canvas
Products Used: HFC Classic Petunia stamps and dies, Classic Petunia paper pad, Deluxe Flower Shaping Kit, HCST1-401 Stamp Mat Pad, Designer Dries Clear Adhesive, Bright Ideas Prills- you had me at yellow ANC852
Instructions:
Other Supplies: 12” x 12” gallery canvas, satin mod podge/brush, acrylic paint- Lime Green and Thao’s Green, White Gesso, thick modeling paste, crackle medium, moss, bird’s nest, eggs, Morning has Broken sheet music, Morning has Broken lyrics laser printed on vellum, Dries Clear Adhesive, Staz-on: Timber Brown Ink, Distress ink: Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Squeezed Lemonade, Vintage photo, Black Soot, a fused glass blackbird with 14 gauge copper legs (or craft bird), 140# cold press watercolor paper, Versa-mark watermark ink, charcoal embossing powder, bamboo skewer painted black, floral foam, glue gun, utility knife, heat tool, water brush, patience.
Instructions: Making the canvas takes a bit of time as it has to dry between layers. While it is drying, use your time in between to make your flowers, because there are lots of flowers in this project. Using a 12” x 12” gallery size canvas and using lime green and Thao’s green acrylic paint, paint the sides, back and inside wood by lightly spreading the two colors into each other. Set aside to dry. Choose a 12” x 12” paper from the classic petunia pad and adhere to the front of the canvas using satin mod podge both under and over the paper. Smooth out any air bubbles. You want it perfectly flat and adhered well. On the inside of the canvas glue a copy of the sheet music “Morning has Broken” that was laser printed on white copy paper. (If you use an ink jet printer, the ink will smear when you put glue on it.) When your canvas is dry, coat the outside sides and inside sides with crackle medium. Set aside to dry again. After it is dry, put a thin coat of white gesso all over the front and a bit heavier coat of white on the sides—as the sides dry it should crack leaving an aged texture, with the green showing underneath. Let it completely dry, this takes couple of hours. With heavy modeling paste and a stencil of a branch and bird stencil on the upper right corner of the canvas. Using a brick stencil and modeling paste, stencil a brick pattern on the right hand side below the bird and all the way down the side to the bottom. Use a hexagon stencil for the upper left corner. Set the canvas aside to completely dry. Meanwhile, using watercolor paper stamp and die cut at least 10 sets of the classic petunias- all sizes, color with Distress Inks, spray with water and shape, set them aside to dry. Cut stamens, ink, and roll into shape, coat tips with glue and dip in Prills, set aside to dry. Stamp and die cut v-shaped hanging basket from the Classic Petunia onto watercolor paper using Versa-mark water mark ink and sprinkle with charcoal embossing powder, heat set, and color petunias with ink. Die cut the basket with black cardstock 4 more times and adhere all the layers to the back of the first one. Paint the bamboo skewer black with black acrylic, after it dries glue the basket to the skewer and set aside to dry. Your canvas should be dry by now. (It helps to let it dry overnight before cutting it.) Take a utility knife and carefully cut your canvas- like you are cutting a pie. Roll back the pieces so it looks like it burst open, once bent they will stay that way and the music you glued on the inside will show. In the inside bottom of the canvas secure the floral foam with hot glue and cover with moss. Insert bird, nest, eggs, and bamboo skewer. Prepare your background piece. Cut a 12” x 12“ paper from the Classic Petunia paper pad to 11” x 11”, adhere to a sturdy piece of 11” x 11” chipboard with mod podge, adhere vellum lyrics piece (Put a thin half inch wide line of mod podge along the top and bottom of the vellum and adhere it to the background paper. The vellum will want to wrinkle, don’t get it too wet with the glue. Hot glue the background piece to the back of canvas by putting the hot glue on the wood part of the canvas and lining up the top of the backdrop piece and slowly lay it on the back. Carefully do this, because once it is down with hot glue, it isn’t going to be able to be “adjusted”. Start to decorate the canvas! Arrange flowers as shown all around. I made my fused glass bird from black fusing glass and I made the eggs from speckled clay that left unglazed and I fired to cone 5. Feel free to substitute! You can use a paper bird or a craft bird & craft eggs from a craft store. After it’s all decorated, put on the back hanger. It might not go in the middle because of the weight of different objects. Hang your canvas or set on a shelf and enjoy, a vision of a spring morning bursting forth in song!
Enjoy!
Eileen
