Powertex Wall Art

I tend to like my art works to be more realistic and lifelike (with some artistic license) rather than abstract, so when I have seen people at workshops creating abstract canvases with Powertex I hadn’t been inspired to create any myself. But then at one workshop some people were making underwater scenes and I thought that this would be the perfect Powertex wall art for me. I had been looking for something suitable to put on my bathroom wall and it needed to be something fairly large and fit with the general ‘beachy’ theme that I have in there.

I bought a large canvas (18″ x 36″) (from Warehouse Stationary) and some plaster-cast sea figures and a range of polystyrene ball sizes from Joanne at Powertex NZ. I already have the Powertex fabric hardener (or ‘paint’) and some Stone Art powder for mixing with the ‘paint’ to make a ‘clay-like’ substance. The canvas was very large so I added some real shells that I had as well.

First of all I mixed blue, green and white Powertex fabric hardener to make a sea-green colour for the base of my picture and coated the entire canvas with it.

Then I worked out the design for my picture, including how my shells and figures would be grouped, where they would be placed, and where I would add the texture of sand. I mixed some Stone Art powder with some of my colour mix to form a paste that would both give texture to my design and allow the shells and figures to stick to it. Next step was to put it into action and create my masterpiece.

Whilst I liked the natural look of the shells and you don’t need to coat them to keep them waterproof as you do with the plaster figures and 3D balls, I decided that I would be better if I painted everything with the Powertex fabric hardener. Alternatively I could have coated everything in the Powertex before applying it to the canvas but I wanted more freedom to adjust things along the way.

I had seen previously how Bister (a Powertex patina paint) powders can be mixed either with water (for stronger colour) or vinegar (for less intense colour) and then sprayed onto the painted surface to give interesting effects. I had never mixed them myself before so experimented with spraying them first. I used green, blue, yellow, mahogany and red colours to add lots more colour to the picture. If you don’t like what you have done you can sponge the Bister off with water.

The next step was to paint the figures, the sand and seaweed with the Powercolour and Colourtrix pigments mixed in with some Easy Varnish on tinfoil, then applied with a brush. I mixed deeper colours along with the metallic finishes to give some ‘lift’, for example the sand was brushed lightly with a light gold and power pearl gave life to areas of the water. Finally I sprayed more Bister until I was happy with the outcome (it is very hard to know when to call it quits because you can always just do a little more). Once it had dried I gave the whole thing a coat of spray varnish because the Bister is not waterproof and I wasn’t quite sure how it would stand up to bathroom conditions.