Together, My Family & I

Hi everyone, Melissa here with a canvas I made for the More Than Words February challenge, 2017! 

The photo is one of my family together, and I used an AMPERSAND as part of  the title.

This was taken at Fort Davis, near Big Bend National Park in West Texas. Three other families went also, it was one of the best vacations I ever had. Big Bend is an amazing place, we rented a cabin and with our friends, explored  different areas of the park, hiking, and taking a lot of photos.

To make this canvas I prepped it with gesso, put some gauze on with gesso, applied home made texture paste with different stencils, and painted with a variety of products. Among them were Lindy's Stamp Gang, Windsor and Newton Watercolors,Vintaj Patina Paint,and Derwent Inktense Watercolor Pencils. All the gold you see is mica powder applied with a brush or rubbed on with my finger. I layered paint with layers of Prima Heavy Gesso. There is some Prima Art Alchemy paint too.

To create more visual interest I added a variety of materials, Mica flakes, glass glitter,seed beads, micro beads, Vintaj metal, Tim Holtz metal, Prima flowers, Sizzix butterflies,metal chain, and more.

I splattered on Lindy's in teal.

The words are from Tim Holtz.  The AMPERSAND is from a craft store.

The little gold tags are from Art C.

The stamp I used is by Prima.

 The little owl is by Vintaj, the compass metal is Tim Holtz

I put a thick layer of Ranger Clear Crackle on the AMPERSAND,and let it dry overnight.

You can see some druzy quartz at the lower right corner.

The big key I got at Kirkland, a store that sells things to decorate your house with.

I'm putting this on a wall in my craft room. It has a lot of the embellishments and paint that are a part of scrapbooking and mixed media work that I love,and the photo is so evocative for me, of a time and place that I love.

Thanks so much for looking, and have a great week!