Canvas Swap Play Date

 I spent another lovely day creating wrapped canvas collages with three friends on Saturday.   Dorothy and Karen had just been to the Art Unraveled retreat in Arizona, so they were full of exciting tales to share, show and tell projects, cool swaps and this idea for the day's project.
We each created four 4" by 4" wrapped canvas collages using a pile of shared materials. We had limited paint - just blue, yellow and orange, some gesso, white or black, some matte medium and an assortment of papers and ephemera.

Here is a stack of 4 different canvases - they look so cool - i think i like to create a set of stacked boxes - using the same technique.  Some of us had thick canvases, some were thin.  Some were very boxy and rigid, some had more curvy and rounded edges.

Here are Lucie's 4 canvases.  As a graphic designer - she has an innate sense of colour and shapes and how to create a cohesive arrangement - usually without a central focal point. I just love how she puts disparate items together. She also added some paper tape and zig zag rub- ons.

Here are Shelley's canvases.  She started with black gesso background and built up paper, paint, tissue and stamping as a background for her sweet vintage dancers.  So much wonderful depth. Unusual words and phrases cut from a 1967 newspaper added some fun dialogue.

Dorothy created her set using paint and orange paper, accented with punchinella stencils used with white gesso.  If you've never heard of that  - it is the metallic-y plastic ribbon waste from making sequins.  Her imagery came from a vintage Sears catalog along with trading stamps and words to tell little stories.

And guess who did these?  Let's think...they are mostly blue and they have birds on them..?  Yup - they're mine.  I started with a background of blue and white paint applied with a credit card.  Then i added some vintage text and some brightly coloured medallions cut from a napkin.
I added the birds - which were from a sheet of German scrap - ie mostly cut out  - just had to trim the connector bits. I brought the optometry lenses from my prized collection of things i never use to share with the girls.  The glue wasn't quite dry yet when we took these pics - but it should dry clear.  Most of the words were actually movie titles cut from the '67 newspaper entertainment listings like : Ship of Fools and Stop the World I Want to Get Off.  The orange dots are painted on.

Look how colorful and dynamic they look as a group!  Once we were done, and we had selected which of our own pieces we would keep,  we each took turns picking out one of each other's canvases to take home.

 Here is the group of 4 that i took home! They don't necessarily "go together".  But nobody said you have to hang them as a group!  Although it is a great memento of a fun artful day shared with friends - so i probably will!

Here is another shot of my canvases showing the sides and more of those napkins and tissue papers.  My advise to anyone show tries this?  Be patient!  Let each layer dry before moving on to the next - or have a heat gun nearby.  Wet glue and tissue paper just LOVES to stick to your fingers and tear!  Try it and have fun!