Art for the Paws

The local shelter in my area, Helping Paws, is doing an art donation/raffle event and I decided to take part.  I donated my money to get a canvas, did my piece, and turned it in today.  I’m a bit nervous because this is the first time I’ve put my art out there like this.  I had to write an artist statement! :O  But you have to start somewhere so here I go.  I’m planning to go to the formal reception in April to see the full mosaic of pieces done for this event, because it’ll look awesome!

My biggest challenge was how watercolor and canvas can play together nicely with the tools and supplies I already have and the short answer is – not easily.  However, I’d done some research previously and knew I could mount the paper to the canvas (as opposed to applying watercolor medium and then painting directly on the canvas) but since I’d never done this before, I was pretty nervous.  It worked out beautifully though, IMO!

“Sky Full of Stars”
Watercolor and white ink on paper mounted on canvas
6″ x 6″

Sky Full of Stars (Art for the Paws) | Watercolor and white ink on paper, mounted on canvas | 6″ x 6″

Sky Full of Stars (Art for the Paws) | Watercolor and white ink on paper, mounted on canvas | 6″ x 6″

I really like how the painted edges turned out, including trying to paint the edge of the paper so that it wasn’t a stark white line.  I think that instead of doing this again, I’ll save my pennies and invest in some watercolor medium, which I can put on the canvas, sand down, and then use the watercolors as usual.  That would make a nice change from doing all my pieces on paper which tends to almost require a mat and frame for display.