Mermaid Canvas by Lisa Nazario-Gregory

Greetings from sunny Florida, home of the Weeki-Wachee Mermaids!! If you have never seen a mermaid, then next time you visit Florida, make it a point to go see them at Weeki-Wachee. They are fantastic!!! I created this canvas on the backside to create a shadow box effect. I lined the inside of the canvas with patterned paper. I created a frame shaped template of the outer part of the canvas using corrugated cardboard and covered it with patterned paper, wrapping around the edges, then attached it to the canvas. This covered the stapled raw seams of the canvas and created a beautiful finished framed. Shannon Berrey shows you how HERE. She used fabric. I used paper. Gotta love Pinterest.

Once my canvas was lined and covered, I primed the raw parts of the canvas with white gesso. Then I went over the entire prepared canvas with clear gesso preparing the surface for my Lindy’s Sprays. Once it was dry, I used a couple of masks and modeling paste on the prepared surface. Once the paste was dry, I used  variety of sprays in blues and greens over the entire piece. The colors I used are TiffanyLou Blue Starburst Spray, Tilt-a-Wheel Teal Flat Fabio Spray, and Merry Go Round Green Flat Fabio Spray. I used Distress ink in Vintage Photo, using a sponge applicator to age the entire project. The lovely Dusty Attic chipboard vine was primed with gesso, then I applied a thick layer of Distress Rock Candy Stickles mixed with a bit of clear Crackle Paint then colored with Frosty Forest Green and Lucky Shamrock Green Starburst Sprays.

For the Sizzix  die cut Sand-dollar and Seahorses, I used corrugated cardboard. I primed the pieces with white gesso. I sprayed the sand-dollar with Clambake Beige and Steampunk Sepia Starburst Spray, and the seahorses with Fuzzy Naval Peach Starburst Spray. Once dried, I covered the pieces with a thick layer of Ranger Clear Distress Crackle Paint. Once it dried and crackled, I added more of the sprays to each piece. Then used the distress ink to age the pieces.

Now, for the mermaid. She was my inspiration for this whole canvas. I created her with Fimo polymer clay. I learned how to create her from a wonderful video tutorial done by my oh so very talented friend Gabrielle Pollacco. CLICK HERE for the video. Love love loved creating this piece. I may have to do another!!I painted her hair with Clambake Beige Starburst Spray. Then I rubbed a bit of distress ink over it. The tail was colored with TiffanyLou Blue and Merry Go Round Green. Once it was dried, I gave it a spritz of Royal Peacock Fire Glitz Spray for extra dazzle. I rubbed the whole mermaid with Viva Inka Gold Metallic rub for a gilded look. I rubbed the metallic rub over various areas of the canvas. I also sprayed Glory Of The Seas Starburst spray over the whole entire canvas. It just shimmers and glows!!

This gorgeous Dusty Attic chipboard piece was primed with white gesso, then heat embossed using Lindys embossing powder in Reindeer Moss Green Embossing powder. I edged it with Vintage photo distress ink, then added the pearls.

I  am fortunate to have lived within a few miles from the beach my entire life. My daughter collected the shells I used on this canvas on Honeymoon Island.They were the perfect size. I left them natural. Of course I had to add some pearls here and there.