A paper rose comes to life in this mixed media canvas in rich color and texture.

SUPPLIES

• paper towels
• #3 round brush
• #3/0 liner brush
• #12 flat brush
• #10 filbert brush
• 12" x 12" canvas
• 3/4" oval brush
• hair dryer
• 3/4" soft white mop brush
• 1/2" blender mop
• various stamps
• real leaves
• glue adhesive
• bronze wire
• watercolor paper
• bee push molds (various sizes)
• yellow seed beads
• large palette knife
• hair dryer (optional)
• QuikWood
• Tattered Florals die

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Use a large palette knife to apply a heavy coat of White Modeling Paste over the entire canvas. While still wet, use various tools such as the backside of leaves, stamps, or the bottom of a brush to achieve textural shapes in the background. The crackle will happen naturally due to the heavy texture of the Modeling Paste. Let dry overnight.

2. Use a large oval filbert to apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the entire surface. Remove the excess with a paper towel.
3. Load a large oval brush with Phthalo Green-Blue and, starting at the bottom left corner of the canvas, apply the paint and walk it up diagonally about 1/3. Pick-up Hansa Yellow Medium and apply this next to the Phthalo Green-Blue section and walk it up. Come down and blend the colors so that there is a gradual transition between them. Wipe off the brush on a paper towel.
4. Pick-up more Hansa Yellow Medium and a touch of Aquamarine and continue the process, moving upward into the top right corner and adding more Aquamarine and then Aquamarine plus Titanium White. Wipe the brush and pick up Titanium White. Starting at the top right corner, blend this into the Aquamarine and move this down. (The pink tones will be added towards the end.) Let dry. (Or you can use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process.)
5. Evaluate the background and repeat the previous step if necessary. To darken the bottom left corner, apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium, removing the excess with a paper towel. Load the oval brush with Phthalo Green-Blue plus Dioxazine Purple. Apply this to the lower left corner, walk it up, and let it fade out. Let dry.
6. FLOWERS & LEAVES: Use the floral die to cut out leaves and flowers using watercolor paper. Apply a coat of Glazing Medium to the front and back of the watercolor paper. Let dry. (Since this is a dimensional piece, you will have to paint the front and the underside of the flowers and leaves.)

7. Apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the flowers and remove the excess with a paper towel. Load a #10 filbert brush with Naphthol Red Light and, starting at the bottom, walk this color up about 2/3 of each petal and let it fade out.
8. Pinch-wipe the #10 filbert brush and pick up Medium White. Starting at the tip of each petal, streak this down using the chisel edge of the brush. (You want streaks and texture.) Let dry. Apply another coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the flowers and remove excess with a paper towel.
9. Load a #10 filbert brush with Naphthol Red plus Red Violet and, starting at the bottom, walk this color up about 1/3 of each petal and let it fade out. Load a #3/0 liner brush with Dioxazine Purple plus a touch of Naphthol Red and pull thin strokes from the bottom up. Let dry.
10. Apply another coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the flowers and remove excess with a paper towel. Side-load a filbert or flat brush with Hansa Yellow Medium and, starting at the tip of the petals, walk this down about 1/3 of each petal. As you come around to the lower petals, let the Hansa Yellow Medium fade.
11. Load a #3 round brush with Titanium White and pull strokes from the tip down on each petal. (Only do this to the petals that are reaching up to the sky area.) You can also add some texture by adding dots to some of the petals. Side-load a filbert or flat brush with Aquamarine plus a touch of Glazing Medium and lightly glaze this over some of the lower petals to carry color. Clean brush.
12. Side-load Diarylide Yellow plus Glazing Medium and glaze this over some of the inner upper petals. Let dry.
13. Apply a heavy coat of One Step Crackle or Glass Texture over the petals. Place the flower on top of a coffee cup or egg cup and lightly press the center into the cup. Let dry. (The One Step Crackle will dry faster than the Glass Texture.) For the center, cut off a small piece of QuikWood and knead according to the manufacturers' suggestions into a ball about 3/4” in diameter. Press this down so that the bottom flattens. Let dry.
14. Paint the center made out of QuikWood with Phthalo Green-Blue. Let dry. Glue the top flower petals to the lower flower petals and then glue the center into place. Apply a heavy coat of Glazing Medium over the center. While this is wet, apply the seed beads over the center. Sprinkle a little Crystal Glamour Dust over the seed beads.

15. SMALL FLOWER: Apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the flowers and remove excess with a paper towel. Load a #10 filbert brush with Naphthol Red and, starting at the bottom, walk this color up about 1/2 of each of the lower petals and 2/3 of the inner petals and let fade out.
16. Pinch-wipe a #10 filbert brush and then pick up Medium White. Starting at the tip of each petal, streak this down using the chisel edge of the brush. (You want streaks and texture.) Let dry. Once dry, apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium and remove the excess with a paper towel.
17. Load a #10 filbert brush with Red Violet and, starting at the bottom, walk this color up about 1/3 of each petal and let it fade out. Load a liner brush with Dioxazine Purple and pull thin strokes from the bottom up. Let dry.
18. Apply another coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the flowers and remove the excess with a paper towel. Side-load a filbert or flat brush with Hansa Yellow Medium and, starting at the tip of the petals, walk this down about 1/3 of each petal.
19. Pinch-wipe the brush and side-load it with Aquamarine. Starting at the tip of the petals, walk this down about 1/3 of the lower level petals and let fade out. (Refer to photo for placement: The inner petals have more red and the outer petals more aqua, which will push the lower petals closer to the background color.)
20. Load a round brush with Titanium White and pull strokes from the tip down of each petal. (You can also add some texture by adding dots to some of the petals.) Let dry.
21. Apply a heavy coat of One Step Crackle or Glass Texture over the petals. Place the flower on top of a coffee cup or egg cup and lightly press the center into the cup. Let dry. For the center, apply a heavy coat of Glazing Medium and add some yellow seed beads. Sprinkle with some Crystal Glamour Dust.

22. FLOWER BUDS: Apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the flowers and remove the excess with a paper towel. Base the petals with Hansa Yellow Medium. While still wet, load a filbert brush with a medium green mix (Medium White plus a touch of Medium Green plus a touch of Hansa Yellow Medium). Starting at the bottom, walk this up and let fade out. Clean brush. Save medium green mix for step 25.
23. Side-load a filbert with Medium White plus a touch of Naphthol Red Light and apply this to the tip of the petals. Let dry. Apply a heavy coat of One Step Crackle and let dry. Fold the petals up into a bud and glue the petals at the tip of the bud to hold its shape.
24. For the tiny bud, make a ball out of QuikWood and let dry. Base the top of the bud with Medium White plus a touch of Naphthol Red Light. Let it fade as you walk the color down. Clean brush.
25. Load a #3 round brush with the medium green mix from step 22 and pull strokes from the bottom up. Let dry. Use a liner brush loaded with Naphthol Red Light and apply small dots to the top of the bud. Also add some small dots to the tips of the other bud.

26. STEMS & LEAVES: For the stems and some of the leaves, use QuikWood. (This will add another element of texture to the piece.) Sculpt the stems and leaves by cutting off about 1" -1-1/2" of QuikWood and preparing according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Apply a little Extender & Blending Medium over the palette paper to prevent the QuikWood from sticking to the paper as you work.
27. Roll the QuikWood to form several tubes, thicker at the bottom and thinner at the top, and shape these into place on the canvas. (You want to create “C” and “S” shapes.) For the leaves, roll out the QuikWood using the tube it came in. With a sharp knife or leaf cutter, cut out various sizes of leaves.

28. Coat the backside of a real live leaf with Extender & Blending Medium, press it into the sculpted leaf, and lift up again. (This will give you some nice imprints of texture and veins. You can also use some stamps for this.) Let all the sculpted items dry.
29. Apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the fronts of the paper leaves and remove the excess with a paper towel.
30. Use a filbert brush loaded with Pine Green and base in a leaf. While the leaf is still wet, pick-up some Phthalo Green-Blue and apply this to the bottom edge of the leaf, walking it up through the center. Use the blender mop brush to soften the edges. Pinch-wipe the brush. Load the brush with Pine Green plus Hansa Yellow Medium and pull strokes from the outside in, following the direction of the growth.
31. Repeat by picking up some Medium White into the dirty brush and build some highlights. Let dry. Apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the front of the paper leaves and remove the excess with a paper towel.
32. Side-load a flat or filbert brush with Aquamarine plus touch of Glazing Medium and apply some tints to the leaves. Clean the brush. Brush mix a light violet using Red Violet plus a touch of Titanium White and side-load this plus a touch of Glazing Medium. Apply some tints of this color to the leaves. Let dry.
33. Repeat for all remaining paper leaves, including their back sides. Apply a heavy coat of One Step Crackle.
34. Base the stems and leaves with Pine Green. While still wet, pick-up some Phthalo Green-Blue and shade the sides of the stems and the bottoms of the leaves. Also walk this dark color up through the center of the leaves. Use the blender mop brush to soften the edges.
35. Pinch-wipe the brush and load it with Pine Green plus a touch of Hansa Yellow Medium. Dry-brush this over the top of the leaves and the center of the stems. (This will soften out all of the hard edges.) Pick-up a touch of Aquamarine (or light violet mix) and dry-brush this over some of the edges of the leaves. (This will help carry color.)
36. To add a little “life” to the piece, I opted to create some bees using a bee push mold and QuikWood. (You can also use metal bees or other little creatures to enhance the piece.) Apply a light coat of Extender & Blending Medium into the push mold. Cut a piece of QuikWood and prepare according to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Push this into the mold.
37. Use the palette knife to cut off excess QuikWood. Let the QuikWood dry inside the mold. Once dry, remove it from the mold. Use the #3 round brush and base the body of the bees with Yellow Oxide. Base the stripes, eye, and legs of the bee with Carbon Black.
38. Base the wings with Medium White. Pick-up some Hansa Yellow Medium and use the tip of the brush to apply some small dots to build some highlights in the Yellow Oxide areas of the bee. Let dry.
39. Apply a coat of Glazing Medium and, while still wet, sprinkle the bee with Crystal Glamour Dust. Cut off a piece of wire and wrap it around a pencil to create a coil. Glue one end of the wire to the bottom of the bee.
40. To assemble and add final touches of color to the background: Glue all flowers, leaves, and bees into place. Evaluate the piece and make adjustments: Apply a coat of Extender & Blending Medium over the bottom area and load the large oval brush with Phthalo Green-Blue plus Dioxazine Purple to darken the lower left corner and walk this color out. Clean brush.
41. Load a dry brush with a mix of Red Violet plus Titanium White and dry-brush this over some sections of the canvas. (Refer to the final photo for placement.) Add a tiny touch of Naphthol Red Light and Titanium White and repeat over some areas to lighten the previous step.

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