A kaleidoscope of butterflies.

On the theme of abstract art, I wanted to present a canvas in a different way. I wondered what would happen if the PA fresco paints were applied to the canvas thickly and then immersed in water. I experimented with some small canvasses and then went for it on my 8x8.

I started by applying wiggles of Limelight, Purple Rain and Glass Blue to my canvas straight from the bottles.

Next, I filled my sink with water and held the canvas under the water, swishing it slightly for a few seconds. Here are the results.

I particularly like the effect of the paint as it ran down the sides.

I had to leave the canvas to dry overnight, which is not easy for Mrs Impulsive; so, I set to with the next task....printing my butterflies.

Using the new Hotpick 1506EZ...I stamped with Black Stazon onto Clearly For Art, modelling film, the clear version. I used this so that I could mould the butterfly shapes by heating the film. I also stamped some butterflies onto shiny silver card.

I painted the backs of my clear butterflies with Glass Blue and Purple Rain, cut them all out and shaped the clear ones with my heat gun. 

Back to my canvas. I mixed some Bougainvillea paint with water and puddled some of it onto the surface of my canvas....then, back to junior school, blowing the paint about through a straw. 

This included allowing the paint to run down the sides of the canvas...yummy!

Now the violent part....setting to with a knife! I slashed my canvas, making sure that I didn't go too far out to the edges which would have exposed the frame. I rolled some of the pieces back around a pencil. 

I was now at the assembly stage....attaching some butterflies to the frame and attaching some to curly wire.

I decided to put a backing of black card onto the frame of the canvas and noticed at this point that the wooden frame would be noticeable. So, I painted the inside wooden frame black and attached the black card with staples just on the top edge. I took my battery operated fairy lights and pressed them inside around the wooden frame. Most of the silver butterflies were glued to the back of the black card.

Not sure whether the butterflies are flying into the frame, attracted by the light...or flying out of the frame as they escape from captivity. Sure that some of my more literary friends on here could weave an interesting story or three!

I can lift the card up whenever I want to switch off the lights as the battery pack fitted inside my frame.

The hardest part of all this was taking photos to show off the lights etc....I probably took 30!

Anyway, thank you to the Paperartsy blog for giving me the opportunity to unleash some creativity. 

Your video intros to your themes are Golden!