Beach Dreaming Mixed Media Art

About this time of year I think about how much I miss summer already. To push away the September blues, I decided to do a series of three beach themed mixed media art canvas pictures. Its great when you have a storage box filled with all these supplies from other mixed media / paper craft projects because you don't have to go to the store and spend more money. At least this is how I justify it to my husband.

One thing for sure that I keep in my craft box is spray ink. Mixing blue firecracker and pearls mist provides a dreamy sky look. After it dries I stamp it up by painting acrylic paint on my stamps.

I use tan acrylic paint and actual sand to create the beach. I looked a little strange dumping my canvas in the sand at the beach, but not any stranger than the 80 year old man in the tight red Speedo, smoking a pipe while staring at me.  

Curly Stencil

The water is painted with acrylic paint and the idea of waves are created by using a curly stencil with white and blue acrylic paint.

Scrap Book Paper

It was so easy to cut out houses and sailboats since they are simply triangles and rectangles. The umbrella was a little bit trickier, but whats great about using paper is that you can easily toss your mistakes.

Oil Pastel and Paper

To add a little more texture to the houses, I went around the edges of my squares with a darker color oil pastel and blended it in.

I always glue together my paper creations together, outline with sharpie, then Modge Podge them before I glue them to the canvas, with the exception of the really tiny pieces that are too difficult to work with.

   Make sure the final product is sprayed with clear coat to keep the sand from falling off.

Grade: A  
Skill Level: Minimal
Difficulty Level: Low to Moderate 
Frustration Level: Low
Cost: $$