"The Birthday Girls." (A Step-by-Step Tutorial).

"The Birthday Girls"

4 x 4 & 6 x 6 canvas collages

So I recently had a birthday. And when I say recently, I mean like over six weeks ago. But, in the vein of my last post in which I shared my all-consuming schedule lately, I'm only just now getting to some of my formal thank yous. In particular, I wanted to do something special for a group of my girlfriends who hosted a slumber party for the occasion. SO, instead of the traditional thank you cards, I'm sending the following collages - "The Birthday Girls" - off instead.

Wanna see the process? Oh good. 'Cause I took pictures along the way just in case. Ready? Here we go:

Step 1: Gather supplies including a group of original drawings and tiny blank canvases 

Step 2: make color photo copies of some of your favorite images or sketches

Step 3: apply Gesso to canvases with a flexible palette knife

Step 4: find some of your favorite spray inks. 

Step 5: ink away and dry throughly. 

Step 6: apply heavy-bodied acrylics or acrylic Gouache to bits of your canvases. 

Step 7: adhere some of your favorite collage materials to the canvases. 

(Included here are decorative napkins, tissue paper and candy wrappers).

Step 8: spray / splatter some acrylic paints to the surface of your collages

Step 9: carefully cut out your colored copies and then fortify the lines with a black ink pen.

Step 10: glue your images to your collaged canvases

Step 11: add final touches including confetti stars, liquid shimmer (acrylic ink) and Stickles glitter.

(Close Up) 

Step 12: add color to the edges of your canvases with oil pastels smudged with your finger.

And there we have it: 5 little thank yous all lined up in a row. It was fun, fast and guess what? Actually complete. Yay, Me! 

Wanna try it? If you do, please let me know: I'd love to see what you come up with!

To Love, Art & Getting Things Done,

Kristin xo