Art, Abilities, and Collage

I love the idea of mixed media on a canvas. Actually, I love any kind of art. I believe everyone is capable of making art but it takes practice and I need more practice. I’m getting into this venue late in life.

 I've done it in art journals; the things I have done have turned out OK. Hey, Van Gogh I am not. However, I am improving with practice. At the moment, I have no idea what possessed me to attempt to put mixed media on canvas. But in a moment of lunacy, I started two days ago. 

I prepared two canvases with gesso. I found a poem of mine that I wanted to incorporate into the piece of art that I was going to make. I decided I would include the face of a clock in the piece because the poem talks about taking things one second at a time, one moment at a time, etc… I found the perfect set of Roman Numerals to use in the piece and I printed them out.

I carefully placed them with the Mod Podge on the canvas and left it overnight to dry. When I got up yesterday morning, the things I Mod Podged so carefully hadn’t adhered to the gesso correctly. Do you know what a pain it is to peel off half stuff on pieces of paper off a canvas? It is horrid. Then I had to sand down and gesso again to begin the process anew.

I got half way into the project (with a new layout of course) and I hate the way the paint adheres or should I say doesn’t adhere to the canvas. If you use the acrylic paints like a watercolor wash it looks great but every cut of the paper shows. ARGGGHHH!

Well, at least I learned some valuable lessons about working with decoupage on canvas. And no, I did not take a picture so you can see this shameful piece of unmitigated failure. I also learned that I need a protractor (or to find which one of my adult kids ran off with mine), a yard stick and some new paints. So I will start over this time with a different brand of Mod Podge like glue and see what happens. With luck I’ll let you see the picture. Carpe Diem ... Carpe Canvas