Springtime in the Ozarks

Hello everyone...

Today I am sharing with you a project that I was inspired to make by my surroundings.

I live in the Northwestern most part of the state of Arkansas...literally 3 miles below the Missouri border.

My home is surrounded by dense forest and just so much beauty.
This time of year is my absolute favorite. Everything is so green and lush, with dark brown tree bark to offset the bright green.
Flowers are blooming everywhere and it is just beautiful.

I did this piece on a 7x15 canvas.

I used Art Anthology Colorations Mist in:
Studio Blue
Peacock Feathers
Juicy
Gorious
Plush
Hottie
Guacamole

I used Art Anthology Dimensional Crystals in:
Sunbeam
Guava
Peony

I used Art Anthology Dimensional Gems in:
Rhodolite

Other supplies:

Spray Bottle
May Arts open weave ribbon
Moss
Prima Frame
White flowers
Silk branch with leaves

Here is a picture of the completed canvas.

First you want to mist your canvas with water. This will help the colorations move around. Once you have misted your canvas with water, mist with Studio Blue Colorations.

The water on the canvas causes the mist to pool and then you can move your canvas around to achieve a dripped look.

Dry with heat gun.
Now add some peacock feathers and guacamole. Just mist randomly. I used Colorations Mist in Glorious to add some splashes of yellow. I did this by opening the sprayer and just flinging it on using the end of the sprayer.


The next thing I did was cut my May Arts ribbon and glued it down to the right side of the canvas. You don't see in the picture but I also glued some scraps along the top as well. After the glue was dried, I used Lemon Tart and Sunbeam to add color to the open weave ribbon. I wanted it to look like the sun beaming down.

Now it's time to play with my embellishments. I pulled the leave stems off of the silk bunch I had gotten and placed it on my canvas to see where I wanted it. I bent the branches and also used the end of a small paintbrush to curl off some of the ends.

I hadn't painted the yellow on in this picture. I forgot to take pics of the piece with the yellow before I glued everything down...sorry.

Another part of this process I neglected to take pictures of is the flowers. This was a very simple step. I just picked the flowers I wanted, misted 2 of the larger ones with Hottie and Plush, then I highlited them with the Rhodolite. I also added some orange to them using the Dimensional Crystals in Peony.
For the purple flower I used Plush and Hottie.
The smaller flowers I painted with the Dimensionsl Crystals in Guava.

While the flowers were drying I glued down the brown tree stems from the silk bunch...then glued in some of the leafy stems I had previously separated off.
Once my flowers dried I glued them in place using a hot glue gun.

I picked out which moss I wanted to use and glued it down along the bottom of the canvas and up each side a bit. Here you can see the frame but it's not glued down. I was deciding which way I wanted to use it.

In the final piece you can see I decided to use the frame on its side, I glued a bit of moss in the bottom and a bird cut out.
I love how this piece came out and it looks great displayed in my home. It will be nice to have this to remind me of our beautiful spring surroundings here when the winter months come back.

I hope you are having a beautiful spring where you live.
Why not try creating a lasting image of it on a canvas?

Have a great day.