I like to use items not designed for the medium I am using and create something original. That often means recycling something or other.
Here I used stained glass patterns for the designs, craft paint, liquid fabric paint and plastic placemats. I made these a long time ago in January 2000.
Plastic Placemat Canvas
This is part of the original plastic placemat. The pink color was irrevalent as I was painting over it. It looks like it is woven with ribbons and that’s the reason why I decided to use it as a canvas.
Preparing the canvas
- My first job was to basecoat the placemat.
- I mixed black craft paint with all purpose sealer and gave it two coats. The picture looks two-colored because I scanned the piece.
Painting the design on the canvas
- Then I transfered the design onto the placemat and painted it with acrylic craft paints.
- For the edge I used the texture of the placemat as my guide and painted a checkerboard design.
- By now the background behind the moon was plain black and it didn’t look right. Outlining it with silver paint made it stand out.
Framing the painting
- I made the frame myself from wood molding and colored it by rubbing metallic craft paint into the wood. I started with copper, then silver and then gold.
The sun painting
- The painting to the right below is a second version.
- First I drew the sun on the canvas/placemat and colored it in with liquid fabric paint and then outlined it with black.
- Next I painted each square to make it look like a mosaic.
- Then I outlined each square with black liquid fabric paint and framed it with a frame I had lying around.
