How to make your own bird canvas

• 2 artist canvases (25 x 30.5cm)
• Resene testpot paints in your choice of colours, Fleur used Resene Black Rock, Resene Black, Resene Apache, Resene Gold Dust, Resene Stack and Resene Silver Aluminium
• Paintbrushes
• Stones, Twigs
• String, Scissors, Scrap cardboard
• Bamboo skewer

Instructions

Step 1:  Start by painting the two canvases in Resene Black Rock

Step 2:  Position the twigs on the canvases, trim them as needed and glue them in place using a hot glue gun.

Step 3:  Cut a short length of twig and use string to make a swing. Glue this in place with the hot glue.

Step 4:  Glue the stones in place.

Step 5:  Cut some small triangles out of scrap cardboard and glue these in place for beaks.

Step 6:  Use Resene Black to paint on the eyes. Use the blunt end of a bamboo skewer to get the small dots for eyes.

Step 7:  Paint on the legs and feet. Use the sharp end of the bamboo skewer to paint on the thick lines.

Step 8:  For the gold stars, paint some scrap cardboard in Resene Apache, followed by two coats of Resene Gold Dust. For silver stars, use Resene Stack as the base colour, followed by two coats of Resene Silver Aluminium. Once dry, use scissors to cut out some small stars. Glue these to the canvases with hot glue.

Top tip:  If you can’t find stones in a colour to suit, paint the stones first with two coats of a Resene testpot and allow to dry before gluing onto your canvas.

Styling and images by Fleur Thorpe. Jun 2021.