Tissue Paper Canvas Art

Hey, friends!  I don’t know about you buy I absolutely love it when someone inspires me to try a new art form.  Yesterday, I got to see some pieces of art my friend Dawn created using canvas, tissue paper, and Mod Podge, and I was absolutely blown away.  So, as you can imagine, I ran home, pulled out my supplies and gave it a try for myself.  Here’s my first attempt, and how you can make your own tissue paper art too!

You really need very few supplies for a project like this:
– a blank canvas, any size
– assorted colors of tissue paper
– Mod Podge
– water 
– a wide paintbrush
– scissors {optional…I ended up never using mine}

Before we begin, I apologize for the lack of step by step photos.  My hands were literally covered in Mod Podge {I’m still finding it in random spots} so that didn’t really work out.  Oops.

I decided that I wanted to try and create the effect of a sunset over the ocean, so I started by creating the water.

Step 1: Mix Mod Podge with water in a small bowl until you have something the consistency of paint.

Step 2: Apply a nice thin coat of the Mod Podge/water mix to the entire bottom half of the canvas.

Step 3: Tear strips of blue and teal tissue paper and stick them on to the canvas anywhere you like.  As you go, paint the Mod Podge/water mix on top of your layers to seal them.

This is the fun part because you get to see how all the colors mix.  By layering the lighter blue over the darker blue, or layering several pieces of one of the other, I was able to create the illusion of way more than just two shades of blue.

Step 3: Repeat for the sky!  For this part, I used pink, red, orange, and yellow tissue paper.  Again, the mixing and overlapping of colors was the most interesting part!  It took me a lot longer to get the sky to a point where I was satisfied with it than it did for the water part.

Basically, you just keep adding more strips of paper until you’re happy with the effect.  I think there was a point where my hubby wondered if I was ever going to call it finished.

It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad for a first attempt, right?  I had so much fun with it and I can’t wait to try another project using the same technique!  I’m already brainstorming what I might want to create…

I think this technique is an especially fun one because you don’t have to be able to draw or paint to create something that looks really awesome!  Why not give it a try?  What would you create?