More Mini Canvas!

It must be the warmer weather, a try at an etsy shop, or (most likely) the materials, but I am on fire lately.  I am full of inspiration and energy.  I Love it!

I have a few more mini canvas done and I wanted to share them with you.

Spring Walk

I am starting to learn that I cannot tangle the same way on the canvas as I do on paper.  The most obvious reason is that I am working with oil paint markers rather than a pen.  The tip is bigger on the paint marker so I need to "biggify" my tangles a bit so I have plenty of room.  Too small, and the paint can fill in the white space where I don't want it to go.  I know that I could always paint over a canvas that I don't like, but I don't want to do that if I don't have to.  What I like most/ and sometimes least about the bigger tangle, is that I really have to think about the structure of the tangle.  It have given me a new way of looking at the tangles themselves.  What kind of ways can I vary a pattern and still have it work and look good.  It is also teaching me that less is more.  Not every inch of the canvas needs to have paint on it.  Sometimes the negative areas can have the greatest voice.



Borders

  


 I really love the white lines that seem to sit atop tangles when people draw them in.  They run along the surface and bring such nice light to the tiles.  This was my attempt at those lines.  I'm still working on them being successful, but I think this one came out well.  It reminds me of the landscape from an airplane window.

Festoon

I call this one Festoon because the Purk looks like a jewelery bauble.  I had a lot of fun making this mini canvas.  I started it with the curved lines and Purk and then set it aside for a few days.  The grid pattern was going to be Versa but I didn't finish it all the way.  I guess it is still Versa.  To finish this one off, I went in with a white charcoal pencil to add "shade".  I kept the charcoal to a minimum and used a blending stump to smudge it and smooth the look.  I love this so much and I am certainly going to do more white on black.  I have a larger canvas that is calling out to me.  :)

Thanks for taking a look!

Crazy About Canvas

I really should stay out of craft stores.  There are so many wonderful things to see and to touch.  It is almost impossible for me to go into one and not buy something.  I bet the employees can tell because of the glazed look in my eyes.

It is this habit of wandering around that I found these little 4" canvas.  You can see all of the mini canvas that Michaels has here.  I have limited myself to using the mini canvas and what they call the canvas panels.  Both come in white and black.  

Back of mini canvas

The difference in the mini canvas and the panels are how they are constructed.  As far as I have been able to tell, the canvas on both are the same.  The mini canvas is thicker and requires a lighter touch.  As you can see in the photo I took of the back of the mini canvas, there is a nice wooden frame for support at the edges, but the center is open so pressing hard with your pen is probably not a good idea.  I like how the canvas is wrapped around the sides though.  It makes a good place to hold into while working.  I also like to continue my lines down the edges.  By continuing a pattern, it just gives the design more room.  You can also make a whole new pattern there for added interest.  A word of warning though, you may wish to add lines to the edges last.  I have not and ended up with paint on my fingers and/or smearing what I have just made.

Back of mini panel.

The mini panels are just as easy to work with as the mini canvas and as I said before, seem to be exactly the same on the front.  The back however is quite different.  As you can see to the right, it is solid.  So, anyone with a heavy hand can press down to their hearts delight.  These are a lot thinner however, so there is no edge to add to the design.  These also come 4 to a package where there are just 2 in the canvas.  Both the black and the white are primed with titanium acrylic gesso and have a medium texture surface.  This texture may not be for everyone.  It is very different from the texture on the paper that I usually use. I have not tried painting the surfaces before drawing on them.  It may be that a layer of white/black paint would smooth the surface out.

Now, pens.  I have not tried using my micron pens on these tiles.  I did read up a bit before starting and from comments that I have seen, the gesso surface is a micron killer.  Over the winter I bought some Uchida Decocolor Extra Fine Paint Markers to use on ornaments.  These are not as fine a point as the micron 01 but probably are in the size of the micron 08 tip.  I like how these pens flow on the canvas a lot.  The ink has a steady flow and fills in the texture nicely (meaning that there are no skips in the line.).  One draw back, this is paint and not ink.  Be aware of where you rest your hand or touch with your fingers.  For some of you this may be a no brainer, but I have smeared a bit and forever have bits of design on my fingertips.  :)  The paint has a gloss to it when dry and once totally dry they do not smear or come off when touched.

I tried shading with pencil but I was not happy with the way the pencil went on the canvas.  I used blending stumps and they helped, but on the mini canvas, you just can't push hard enough to get a good blend.  After posting on Facebook about my attempts, Sharon Payne suggested that I use a Bic Mark-It pen for the shading.  Sharon's Facebook page is here.  You should check out her stuff.  She does incredible work.  

After Sharon's suggestion I headed over to Staples to see if by chance they had just a gray pen.  To my great luck they did and I bought two to try out.  The Mark-It pens come in ultra fine and a varity of colors.  I bought a small set a while ago but had not really used them as they bleed when used on paper.  Well guess what?  They don't bleed on these canvas tiles. I tried these on my next tile.  The smaller tip is nice for detail patterns.  They are still bigger and the 01 size of the micron.  I can't say exactly where these measure, maybe at the 05 size. The ink is flat with these markers so more like when tangling on paper.  What I am not find of about these pens is that they "puddle" at the tip as you draw.  This isn't a problem while you are actively drawing but when you stop, if you aren't careful, you can get a spot of extra color where you don't plan.  I usually try to "push" the puddle into a back line where it gets lost or stop my lines at a place where I will go back and add shade later.  A bit of darker color there doesn't seem to matter as much to me.

This is my first mini canvas.  I used white and yellow paint markers.  After I got the grey Mark-It, I went in and added a tiny bit of shading just to see how it would work.

This is a mini canvas done with the black paint marker and pencil shading.  I like the darkness of the pencil but I don't like how it shades the top of the canvas and not the lover part of the texture.  I'm also learning that with the paint markers, an open pattern is better. Patterns with too much detail can run together a bit.  Of course you can probably off set that by making the pattern larger.

I am working on a few more.  I want to see if I can solve my shading issues.  I bought a few larger canvases to try when I am more confortable with this process and happy with the shading.

If anyone has any tips, hints, or stories I would love to hear them.

Christmas Ornaments

It is that time of year again!  The holidays are here and the level of activity grows more everyday.  So what do I do?  Find a new project of course.  What? Doesn't everyone?

This year there is no shortage of teachers to buy for at my house.  My 5 year old is in two different pre-school classes, each has a teacher and an assistant.  My 11 year old may have just one homeroom teacher but there are helpers, assistants and other teachers as well.  I have started with the idea of gifting just 5 people, but I will need to see if my 11 has any one he would like to give something to besides his homeroom teacher.



Pens and star ready to get to work.

 I saw a zentangle ornament on Pintrest a few weeks back and thought it was great.  I also thought that ornaments would be a cute way to "dress up" a teacher gift.  So Monday, I found myself wondering the aisles and looking for something to tangle and hang on the tree.  I thought of using a plain ball ornament but I have found that curved surfaces are not always my friend.  I found some flat porcelain shapes that I thought would work.  I ended up choosing a star shape.  As I was not sure how the micron pen would work on porcelain, I next went looking for a pen to use.  I almost got Sharpie Oil based markers to use, but the color options that were available were not to my liking and the nibs were also fairly large.  I still want a pretty fine tip to use.  I ended up going with Marvy Uchida Decocolor oil pens.  They have an extra fine tip and work well.  The paint flows nicely and so far, doesn't clog or skip.  I am also using the Sakura Pen-touch gold pen.  It is a larger tip and not fine point at all.  The end though, it just large enough to make a nice gold dot where I want it.

I bought an extra star to create my sample on.  At only $1.50 per star, I can afford to make a mock up.  I can make my mistakes there and work out any kinks I may encounter with patterns, pens, or problems there first.  I ended up using Tripoli on the stars.  I wanted a pattern that I felt comfortable doing free hand, looked good without shading, and I could embellish as I wanted. 



Getting started



I left the background white and started with the red pen. I almost stopped right here.  I thought that the red really popped out and that my Tripoli was quite a success.  However, I wasn't sure if all the remaining white space was a good idea.  I didn't want it to look unfinished.  As I really loved the red, I didn't want lose it and decided to switch to green.  After that I went in and added green dots to the red and red dots to the green.  Next, I went back again and put a small gold dot in the center of the groupings. 



Detail of final Star.



After I finished the first one, I took a break so that I could see it with new eyes and see what changes, if any, I would make to the next ones.  I decided that while I liked the added dots, the pattern was too busy.  On the next star, I did Tripoli the same, but left out the red and green dots but kept the gold ones.

I like the design this way.  The open triangles keep it from feeling too busy and the gold dots add a focal point for each "section" of Tripoli and just a little sparkle.  I bought a different red ribbon that I'll add to them before we give them away.  I got a clear sealer to go over top of the pens.  They are said to be permanent but I figure that the clear coat will help to prevent scratching over time. 



First try



The kids and I will work together and decide what to note on the backside.  I am still debating what else we may give them, a gift card maybe, but this is a great start.  These don't take that long to tangle.  In a few days, after they have had more time to dry, I will clear coat them.  I am really enjoying making these.  I may have to go back and get some more shapes to try out.