Nature Inspired Art

In the mood for some Art? How about something easy inspired by nature? I made this to perk up my rather small and boring guest bathroom, but you could make this big, or small and add it to any room you want.

You will need:

• An old book (hurray for recycled paper)
• Mod Podge
• Paint (optional)
• White paper
• Permenant marker (or any black marker)
• Paint brush (I like the foam ones best)
• Moss sheets (they can be found in the floral section of a craft store)
• A blank canvas
• Hot glue Gun

First I ripped some pages out of an old book. I used a really lame joke book that I am not even sure why I  had, so really the kind of book doesn’t matter. Then I ripped the pages up. Then I brushed a thin layer of mod podge down on the canvas and put one layer of paper scraps down. (try not to over lap) It is ok if there are gaps.

Then I brushed on a second layer of mod podge and filled in all the wholes with another layer of paper. You don’t want the canvas showing.

Next I added some paint to the mod podge. I like Golden Acrylics, they are my go to paint when I have a painting project, but any paint will work. I mixed blue with a little white to get my desired sky shade. Do what ever you wish, maybe even a nice orangey color for an evening sky. Whatever you fancy.

Then brush it lightly over your papers. Why you ask did I do this? And not just pain the canvas? Ok you could totally skip the paper and just paint the canvas sure, but I like the texture the torn paper adds and as you will see next a little bit of the words shows through and I like that whimsy in the art, but you can do what ever you like. You could even not add paint to your mod podge and just use the book pages as your sky.

So after I painted it on I even took a napkin and rubbed some off in areas where it was a little heavy, so you could see just enough of the words still.

Then out of the white paper I cut our some very basic tree shapes, and taking the black marker I just drew little marks on them to make it look like a birch tree.

Lastly I took the moss sheets and hot glued some moss along the bottom. This gives it a nice 3-D appearance as well as the look of rolling hills, or something. Then just trim around the edges.

Then hang it up and you are done. You could even pop a frame around it to make it stand out more. (which I may just do when I find the right frame) Or make a set. Whatever you choose, I hope it brings a smile to your face. Enjoy!