Leave no one behind

hello everyone!!

i am here to share with you a special project i have been working on for a running friend.  I had met Kim as my coach for the learn to run program I took the summer of 2014. she had asked me to create a piece for her to hang above her running medals. she had also given me a quote and then free reign on what i wanted to create. she trusted me she said!!!! oh my!!!

so i started out on a wooden piece… not a canvas but sized like a canvas…. and sprayed the entire thing using  various distress ink sprays

I loved the vibrancy on the wood but it was a bit too bright for the project I had in mind as I had dug around and figured out what a nice colour palette may be for her based on some of her favourite characters/books…. and i found the perfect scheme

so I added a couple of splats of gesso which I spread using my brayer

I then added some more distress stain spray to the piece

in between each layer I sanded.  I wanted to ensure I had a very smooth service for my next steps

I loved how this was turning out. the gold distress stain spray made such a unique pattern on this piece… one of my favorite effects ever!

so once I was happy with the background  it was now time to let it dry completely prior to laying  out the letters/numbers.  I wanted the quote to be it centered so out came my tim holtz rulers….

they are absolutely the best for measuring accurate centers on anything.. brilliant

once the stencil bits were all laid out it was now time to paint the piece.. yes, after all that beautiful stain I was going to cover the majority of it with paint. and what better paint then the Ranger Dylusions paint. I used only the two paints and I worked them into the panel  using melted chocolate in the center and the black marble  around the outside

I then blended and added and blended the two together

until I was happy with how the back ground colour turned out

now it was time for the big reveal of the underneath colours… I was hoping not too much bleeding happened and it didn’t!!

yuppers.. I am liking this!

the only thing left to do was to finish the outside of the frame. I wanted it to have meaning.. everything I do has to have some kind of meaning….for instance the colours I chose and completed the background was the colours from a favorite book of Kim’s from when she was little…. so the frame needed to have that something just as special.

and lo and behold what did I have in my stash of washi tapes.. a full roll of street map type washi!!! it was absolutely perfect!! so I attached it to the back of the frame and the sides using my Ranger glue

absolutely love it!

and now here is the finished piece

this piece is now in the hands of my friend. I think she likes it!!! it’s hard creating for someone something that they will be hanging in their house for hopefully a long time. Kim, my friend, is such a great inspirational, motivational, sensational being. I am blessed to have found her through running. I am ending today’s post in words we all and know to come from Kim just at the exact moments we need to hear them

WOO HOO!!!!!

diana