I purchased a beautiful transfer called Earthly Delights from redesign with Prima a few weeks ago. I was thinking about using it on a piece of furniture, but I had already used a transfer on my antique secretary desk. Wanting to continue my journey of pushing myself out of my comfort zone, I decided to look elsewhere for inspiration. It arrived when I was shopping at Michael’s. They were having a buy-one- get- two- free sale on canvases which included a 36×40 inch size. I immediately thought of the transfer and how cool it would be to put it on canvas. So, I took all three canvases home and got to work!
The canvas was the perfect size for the transfer.
You have to push down and rub hard to get a transfer to adhere. Without a solid surface to press on, it was going to be a problem. I tried a few things, but books underneath the canvas worked best.
I chose Annie Sloan French Linen chalkpaint as a background color for the canvas.
I loved the movement the paint gave the canvas.
I placed the transfer on the canvas and took measurements to find the center point. The grid on the transfer makes it much easier.
I decided to remove the words. I wanted the flowers to be the focal point.
I had to work very slowly making sure the books were aligned underneath to provide the solid surface I needed.
There were a couple mishaps, but the first part went fairly well.
The whole process probably took three hours and I was pleased with the results. There were a few adjustments that left gaps, but I was able to fix them with paint.
I gathered all my supplies to fill in the gaps
Acrylic paints.
Brushes
And of course, the color wheel!
I used a piece of foam board as my palette.
It is definitely not perfect, but I loved the challenge of putting it together.
I was really excited that I was able to match the original colors! There was a lot more to do but this got me fired up!
This is what it looked like after filling the gaps. Again, not perfect but pretty darn good!
I am about to push the boundaries again!
I wanted to make the background more alive.
I started by adding Annie Sloan Athenian black and Waverly Mineral chalk paints to the background.
I added paint.
Sprayed with water.
Then used a rag in a tapping and swirling motion. Stepped back and repeated the process.
I just went for it! It was very freeing!
This is where I ended up. I love the way it came out! I still need to tweak the lower left corner, but I was too exhausted and did not want to risk messing it up.
Have you ever done a project where you just let loose? I would love to hear about it.