Through the porthole

I love paying with cardboard. It has so many uses and was ideal to show off Lynette Jasper's Sprays. Here is the first project I made for the Pretty Gets Gritty Shows on Hochanda TV Friday 27th July at 10am and 3pm.

This took quite a bit of work but I love the way it looks like the inside of a rusty shipwrecks porthole showing the blue sea and its underwater sea life outside.

The bolts around the porthole are chipboard discs and a flatback bead on top.

The rivets are also flat backed pearls

And the lovely fish, crab and Starfish are all on the show.

The process I followed was this:
I used the back of my canvas as a base. I cut pieces of old corrugated cardboard and fitted it around the canvas and the MDF wreath shape I used as my port hole.
When I was happy with the look I stuck all of the cardboard in place but not the wreath.
Once dry I peeled off some of the cardboard to show the corrugated texture.
Next I added pearl as rivets along the joins in the cardboard. Once dry I started to Build my colours by painting the whole thing (and the wreath) in black gesso.Once dry it started spraying the background with Lynette's sprays, starting with the chalk sprays and allowing it to dry between each colour.
I followed the same process with the wreath/porthole but before I sprayed I used some of the marble effect texture paste to make the rust marks around the edges. Next I sprayed to match the background.
For the sea I scrunched up some kids drawing paper and then flattened it out. I then used the new chalk sprays and powders to create the background. I allowed this to dry naturally so that I got maximum lines and puddle marks.
I placed the paper under the porthole and stuck both in place on the background making sure that i created a small dip in the sea piece for the sea creatures.
Lastly I painted and stuck the sea life in the post hole and allowed to dry thoroughly.
The canvas looks very different in different lights. You saw the finished piece at the top of the page. Here is another photo taken outside.

If you have any questions please comment below and make sure you watch Lynette Jasper. The design team have all been busy making wonderful inspiration for you.
#prettygetsgritty #lynettejasper #hochandatv #craftbuddy #mixedmedia #newnanny