Supplies Used
5 X 7 Artist canvas
Golden Brand Soft Gel Medium
Soft White Acrylic Paint
Italian Sage Acrylic Paint
Golden Brown Acrylic Paint
Grape printed wallpaper
1⁄2 sheet white card stock
Small piece of matte finish cardstock
Sponge
Sepia colored ink (Archival Brand)
Art Print Brown dye ink (Memories)
Terra Cotta dye ink (Printworks Designer)
Saffron dye ink (Ancient Page)
Scrap of Scrim Fabric or other loose weave cloth
Wine cork
E6000 or other strong adhesive
Dark Gold candle
Francesca stamp
The Duomo stamp
Tuscan Sun stamp
Tuscan Postage stamp
Roma Postmark stamp
**All stamps “La Bella Vita” collection from Oxford Impressions

Introduction
This project started with a piece of wall paper I had acquired when decorating my kitchen.  The pattern was too large for my space, but I loved the sample! It made me think of  the rich mellowed colors of the Tuscan region of Italy. I decided to build a collage piece around the sample so I could enjoy it daily.

Step 1
Prepare canvas with Golden Brand soft Gel Medium in a matte finish. Paint canvas with Acrylic paints using the colors Soft White and Italian Sage.  I worked horizontally, alternating between the white and sage for a lightly streaked effect.

Step 2
Tear wallpaper in an irregular shape, roughly the size of the canvas, but a bit smaller. When tearing the paper, pull the outside edge towards you, (the part you intend to discard) holding the central piece you want to use firmly.  This will cause the rough, unfinished edges to be on the central paper and not the scrap you are discarding. Glue torn wallpaper to painted canvas using Golden Gel Medium. Lightly sponge wallpaper and the painted canvas edges with Saffron, Sepia and Art Print Brown inks for aged appearance.

Step 3
Add stamped images to background.  Stamp the Tuscan sun on white cardstock with Sepia ink and sponge Saffron ink on top.  Cut to fit the top empty space of canvas and glue down. To balance the circle at the top, I stamped the postmark directly to the wallpaper at lower left in Art Print Brown.  Make sure to run some images off the edge of the paper for interest.

Step 4
Add textural element.  I planned to add the wax to the top of my project from the outset.  In anticipation of this textural addition, I wanted some texture at the bottom for balance.  I love the movement of fibers on canvas, so I cut an irregular piece of loose cotton scrim fabric to add.  The fabric was too pale, so I brayered the torn fabric with Art Print Brown ink. I coated the fabric on both sides with Gel Medium and adhered it to the canvas. I used my paint brush to spread out the fibers.

Step 5
Add more stamped images. I used only part of  “The Duomo” image to make a rectangle shape.  The original stamp is a long horizontal rectangle, which would have been out of place in this vertical piece. I stamped the image on white cardstock in Sepia ink and cut image into a vertical rectangle. Using the direct to paper technique, I sponged the image with Terra Cotta ink.  The background of the image looked empty, so I took a pencil and scribbled as though writing in the background. I stamped “Tuscany” in Sepia colored ink on a small scrap of cardstock, tore it and then sponged more Sepia ink on top to darken it.  I added this to the top of the canvas to identify the theme.
 

Step 6
Add the central image.  “Francesca” is stamped in sepia ink on matte finish cardstock.  After cutting the image out, I sponged Terra Cotta ink to the outside edges to tone down the white and coordinate image with “The Duomo” colors. I needed another image to anchor the central image to the bottom of the canvas, so I stamped “Tuscan Postage” in Terra Cotta and sponged with Sepia.  The stamp was a small image and I needed something larger.  Rather than discard the postage stamp, I stamped another one in the reverse colors – image in Sepia and sponged with Terra Cotta. These new additions connected the “stream” of central images across the page from top to bottom.