The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #11 Spring Showers!!

Alright artists ... this is a FUN ONE!  This Month's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is April Showers!!  Here in Atlanta we are really in the middle of April Showers and what showers bring  .... flowers and pollen!!  But I love it!  And this month our sponsor is DecoArt!! Love their products!! And I am uber serious here - we were SO lucky to have a chance to use their products for this challenge and I am now a DecoArt Convert!! Their gesso .... oh my ... heaven!! And their permanent sprays ... be-still my art-heart, are AH-Mazing!! And if you are lucky enough to be one of 3 random winners this month, you will get an awesome box of DecoArt Goodies!!!  Run to your desks and start ... just let yourself get all crazy creative and join us at the challenge!! 

(PRIZE!!)

And here is my project for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - April Showers ....

Okay, so this is my silly spring fun canvas!!!  Here in Atlanta, the tulips are blooming with all the rain and warmer weather! So these crazy tulips are blooming in an umbrella.  Why not?!?!? They are just a little confused, that's all!!

As usual, they started out as a sketch in my sketchbook!

 Then I drew the picture onto a canvas.

 And I played around with the background in case I let it show through.  I also wanted to know the exact placement of the tulips, so I used some washi tape where the flowers were meant to go!!

Using a credit card, I smeared on blue, yellow and white to make this rainy background!

I mixed up some green to use for the stems.

Then I got out the DecoArt Sprays.  These are AMAZING! They are permanent, so they don't reactivate once they are dry! So I got out my stencils and played around.  I came up with a couple of cute designs and I turned the prints into the umbrella shape!

I used matte Medium to glue the sprayed pieces down to white paper (no smearing!!!) Then I used the matte medium to glue the umbrella to the canvas!

 I used DecoArt Metallic Paint for the umbrella handle.  And then I used the antiquing cream on top, to take down the shine a little bit.

The flowers are all gesso with acrylic paint on top!  The Deco Art Gesso is SO think and creamy that I just did two layers and the flowers literally pop of the page!! New fav - Gesso!! 10 out of 10 for consistency and coverage!

After painting the flowers with different DecoArt Paints, I applied Interference to give them just a hint of shine.

See, they pop off the page because the gesso is SO rich!

 Please come and play with us!! I promise the challenge is FUN!!  And the prize ... AH-Mazing!!  

Click here to come to The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog!!