DIY: Painted and Doodled Canvas Floor Cloth Tutorial

I created this canvas floor cloth as an alternative to area rug for my studio. I had all the materials on hand: yards of canvas that I had bought for making painted journal covers, bottles of acrylic and India inks and dozens of Sharpie pens. It seemed that this could be a project where I could put all of these to good use. Since I wanted to finish this project within a week or so, I decided that I will not overthink or overplan the design and that I would fill it with whatever doodles that popped in my head at that moment. I used a couple of doodles from the official Zentangle patterns and the rest were all my own.

The design process itself was quiet simple. I painted the canvas cloth with acrylic inks first. Then, doodled the patterns using Sharpie markers. Finally, I added white highlights where I thought the design was too dark.

Overall, I enjoyed making it very much. It was like coloring a giant page. Except for one thing: the pungent odor of the markers irritated my eyes a lot. I thought of switching to Prisma brush pens but found Sharpie to be the best tool for doodling on canvas. Next time I do something I like this, I will wear a mask.

Here are step-by-step instructions 

Materials 

1. One 36" by 60" unprimed canvas cloth
2. Daler Rowney FW Acrylic Inks (I used Indian Yellow and Purple Lake)
3. Sharpie Markers (Fine or Medium Point)
4. Craft acrylic paint (white)
5. Inexpensive sponge brushes (available in any craft store)
6. Inexpensive acrylic paint brushes (available in any craft store)
7. A plastic cup
8. Water
9. Wax paper
10. Newspapers or plastic garbage liners

Instructions

1. In a well ventilated room, spread the newspapers or the garbage liners on the floor. These are to protect the floor from any color seepage from the canvas cloth.
2. Spread the canvas cloth on top of the sheets and wet it thoroughly with water using a sponge brush.
3. Decide on the colors that you want to layer the canvas with. You can choose a single color or two or more complimentary colors. Pour a few drops of the acrylic ink in a cup and add 4-6 tablespoons of water to dilute the ink. The ink is highly pigmented and a few drops diluted with water can easily cover the whole cloth.
4. Paint the canvas with the ink using the sponge brush. Add one or more coats to achieve the color intensity that you want (see below). Let the canvas dry.

5. Once the canvas is dry, start doodling with the markers. I would recommend using doodles that can be scaled up. This will help you to cover large areas fairly quickly. Use different color markers for interest.

6. 6. This step is optional. If you like, you can add highlights using inexpensive craft acrylic paints. I used white paint for this step.

 

7. Finally, hem stitch the four sides of the canvas to keep the threads from coming loose. If you choose, you may also attach a slip resistant rug pad to keep the floor cloth from moving on the floor.



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Creativity in New Year

So far, January 2017 has been very productive for me. I have been doing good amount of art and craft. I have been a tad slow in sharing them here but hope to make it up in this post.

The top photo is a sketchbook doodle I did consisting of only spirals drawn using just dots. It was a good exercise to perk ones spirits up. I finished it off with a semi camouflaged word. Can you spot it? I am linking this to this week's Moo-Mania.

The one below is a cigar box that I altered using a coat of black chalk paint and Martha Stewart's copper foil. The gilding was done using a woodburning tool since I did not foiling adhesive. I like the soft effect this technique has produced. Linked to Try it on Tuesday's Anything but Square.

The one below was inspired by museum piece at Victoria and Albert museum. As a kid I used to love drawing Indian jewelry. I thought I had outgrown that. Obviously not! This is an 18th century turban jewel made of gold and encrusted with rubies, diamonds, emeralds and sapphires. Sketched and colored on black vinyl cloth using Prism Nupastels.

Linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristen for hosting.

The pillows below are made from the end piece (called pallu) of old saris. Indian saris have three parts: border, body and end piece. It is on the border and the end piece that the designers and the weavers unleash their creativity and which end up being work of art in and of themselves. Long after the body of the sari is worn out, the end piece invites to be displayed in new ways. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Dyed, Painted, Doodled and Stitched Canvas Storage Accessories

Canvas Storage Accessories

I so liked the painted and doodled canvas cloth, about which I posted last week, I wanted to more of it. So, I did. This time I used Dr. Ph. Martin's India ink. I diluted the ink quiet a bit as it is highly pigmented and covered both sides of the canvas cloth with it. When it dried, I used Prisma brush pens to draw the doodles. I finished it with a lot of highlights using white acrylic paint. This time I wanted to  make a couple of storage items with it. I made a zippered pouch and a storage bin. Both came out quiet well, especially the zippered pouch. I was concerned that my junky Singer Esteem II will not cooperate using a zipper foot but much to my surprise it did. Now I am emboldened to make more of these pouches as I have about a dozen of metallic zippers left over from a previous project. I feel quiet excited about it :)

Linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting.

Painted, Doodled and Stitched Storage Bin

Painted, Doodled and Stitched Zipper Pouch

InkTober 2016

Do-Something-Everyday, October 6, 2016

If it is October then it is InkTober on social media. I  heard about InkTober for the first time last year. It was created by Jake Parker in which every October artists all over the world take on the InkTober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month. He "first created InkTober in 2009 as a challenge to improve my inking skills and develop positive drawing habits". 

I decided to join in this year and here are three of the six I have drawn so far. The top one is an inky doodle I did while on conversation with my daughter on the phone. The two below are illustrations that I took undertook in the true spirit of InkTober which was to improve my botanical drawing skills, especially herbs and vegetables. You may or may not recognize the vegetables below as they are more commonly used in Asian and African/Caribbean cooking. If you do, please put their names in the comment. 

Thanks for visiting. Linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eva and Kristin for hosting.

Zentangle Circle

Do-Something-Everyday, July 29, 2016

This week at I am the Diva czt, the challenges is to create a tangle using circle/s.  Mine is a yinyang (the infinite circle) and I tangled around it that created additional tangles. This zia was created by me using hot tips (woodburning) on a wood panel. To make the tangle pop, I added a wash of turquoise around it.

Thanks for visiting.

Linked to Paint Party Friday. Thanks to Eve and Kristen for hosting.

Remaking Old into New

Do-Something-Everyday, June 28, 2016

It is called Tangle Remix at the I am the Diva czt. The challenge is to take an old tangle and spruce it up. I did two. The picture at the top is a remix of tiny wood journal cover I did below.

The piece below is a remix of the bottom piece.

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Monday Morning Art Fix

Do-Something-Everyday, June 20, 2016

For this Monday morning, I am posting two pieces of art. The first one is for I am the Diva czt this week's challenge which is Black, White and Red all over. My kind of color scheme.

The one below is a watercolor of the gorgeous magnolias that have been blooming all this month on my front yard.

The letter this week for ABC Wednesday is X.  It is hard to come up with a word that starts with X. Melanie's X is the symbol for kisses and hugs (XO). Mine is more prosaic. If you ever did a spreadsheet on the computer, you will recognize this logo. Yes, the ubiquitous Microsoft Excel! If you can be excited about this X, you are welcome!


Thanks for visiting. Linked to Paint Party Friday

Art Coloring for Adults

You may know by now that I love creating pyrographic art. But, my approach is a little different from the traditional way of creating wood burned art. Mine is more like zen doodle art--dense patterns that are colored later. I spent a very busy time this week creating several pieces to put in my Etsy shop. I made them similar to adult coloring pages except that mine are on wood. I think it is cool because after it is colored it can actually be hung on a wall. Along with each wood piece, I printed a paper copy of it and colored it to give an idea of how to work it on the wood. You can see below what I did it.

Here is the link to my Etsy shop.

In other news, I did this small piece of art to meet two challenges: Iamthediva zentangle challenge and Art Journal Journey November challenge.

I am also linking this post to paintpartyfriday.

Thanks for visiting.

Coloring Season

Summer puts everyone in a coloring mood, I think. This week's challenge at I am the Diva is to use colors for the tangles. There is, of course, the Summer of Color  hosted by Kirsten at Twinkletwinklelikethestar where the colors for this week's challenge are two shades of green and pink. 

I burned this ZIA on wood using a pyrographic tool. After the design was burnt, I colored the water, leaves and the flower using two shades of green and pink. The colors, especially pink, look a little darker because of the wood. 

Responding to several challenges in one art is a challenge in itself but it streches you in a way that is very satisfying. 

Linked to Iamthediva and Summerofcolor.