Only A Heart With Wings Can Fly

I love the "exploding canvas" concept. It looked like so much fun when I first came across it. This is a smaller canvas (8"x10"). I began by flipping it over and painting the back with an off-white acrylic paint. I added some texture with a stencil and some texture paste and some spray inks and mica powder.Once dry, I painted the front, similarly. And don't forget the sides! I like people to be able to look at my work from any angle and find something of beauty, so I don't leave the canvas plain anywhere.

I glued some lace and textured paper to the front and gessoed and painted some more. I then cut the canvas from the front center out towards the frame like a pie and glued each section in place as I wanted. I cut a piece of chipboard to cover the back and covered it with gesso before stenciling, stamping, embossing and painting. Then I glued it to the back of the canvas and began the real fun!

I attached a twig inside the frame and set little fairy on it. I placed some tiles made from patterned card stock that I attached to chipboard, coated with UTEE, and heated. Paper flowers, silk leaves and a few trinkets were glued on and then painted with gesso before spritzing with inks. The butterfly was left natural metal and the medallion is a piece of patterned paper mounted to chipboard, stamped, and edged with border of Liquid Pearls.

Finally, some eyelets attached to the top allowed me to attach a chain for hanging and some attached to the bottom allowed me to attach a handmade tile for added interest. This is my idea of an exploded canvas...go ahead and try it yourself, you'll create something completely different with this fun technique!