The Leveaux family was looking for a fun activity to end their trip to Costa Rica. Not only did they get to take home hand painted canvas bags but they got to paint them themselves!

 Laurel’s studio not only creates hand painted canvas rugs and canvas décor but also a variety of high quality canvas bags. Lindsey, Logan and Kelly selected the style of bag they each wanted to paint. Lindsey and Kelley selected the suitcase bag, for just that reason! They like to do sleepovers and wanted a bag to pack their things.

 Logan wanted to join the fun but not needing (or thinking it appropriate to have) a bag, he opted to paint a bag for a friend. After looking through the stamp collection each picked their themes. Lindsay called her stamp the zebra, and her favorite combo is pink and black. We mixed the exact pink she desired and she went at it! Using the blow dryer helped to make drying faster so they each could go on to their next step. I gave her a textile dye in black for the rest of the bag. Its easier to apply and the dark color holds better then acrylic.

 Logan found a print he likened to a cheetah and made a bright orange bag (his friend’s favorite color) using the cheetah stamp in black. It looks striking! 

 Kelley liked to wing it. This is how I like to paint as well. The design evolves as the bag progresses. She did choose three colors to start and did a series of stamps. I liked her stamping over the stamps, hey, why didn’t I think of that! Then she decided to go crazy on the sides and top. She wanted it look young and fresh and I think she made a truly unique piece of art.

 They offered ideas and suggestions, not only for my canvas bags but for the canvas rugs as well! It was a wonderful experience to have their energy in my workshop and I hope to continue to do this with other clients who want to paint their own originals.

Going with the flow…I was planning a trip to Guanacaste when other interior design clients, Indigo Homes in Tamarindo, called for a meeting in Escazú yesterday. Previously I had left with them one small striped canvas rug and they wanted to discuss orders for three custom rugs for two different projects.

Project #1: This canvas rug will be of our stripe design using colors of burnt orange, cream, tan, and two shades of blue specifically drawn from two completely different pieces of furniture. This will be a 6 ft x 8 ft rug for the living room. 

As you can see from the photo detail, the couch and chair designs are radically different. Once the canvas rug is completed and installed, the effect will anchor them together and provide texture and color on a very white tiled floor. Updates promised with “after” photos.

Project #2: The clients want two canvas rugs for this home; one for the living room and one for the dining room. Each will measure 6'6" x 9'9" feet (2m x 3m).

The one for the living room will be in stripes, in a chocolate brown, tans, and blues. I am waiting for specifications for colors for blues.

The designer asked my opinion on a canvas rug for the dining room that will “go with” the living room. I suggested a center weave design with the two dominating colors and a border of stripes that will match the living room. I explained that it might be too much to have two giant stripe rugs next to each other and that the weave design would be placed under the dining room table with the hand-painted border of stripes along the edge making the two rugs work together.

As soon as these canvas rugs are complete, I will post the final photos.

Time for me to get back to painting!

 

Many of the blogs have been about what inspires me as an artist for my canvas rugs. Living in the tropics brings out the fun of color and design. Designers tend to prefer a subtle approach with their canvas rug designs so as not to clash with the colors used in curtains or upholstery. I wanted to paint the tropics, flowers, ferns, the incredible array of the different shades greens and shapes of leaves found on my jungle walks through virgin forests.

The jungle rug is in the works as a sample for a wild colorful tropical theme and for the canvas cloth border now available on the canvas rugs.

 

Working on the Sinai desert rug was an exercise in different techniques to create a sand effect. I had bought a roller in a paint store over a year ago, and tried it out one day to see what it did. It created a spatter that worked for the recreation of sand! I used the pinks and rosy colors of the Sinai which is a red desert. The border was inspired by the fish, used an undulating wave for the border instead of the straight lines usually used.

 There so many aspects to making the canvas rugs, sales, supplies, working out designs, sales trips, and office work. I am grateful I can walk around my own front yard and pick flowers to paint on my canvas rugs. On the short walk of 15 feet between my office and art studio, I stop to gaze at the view of the valley, the flowers and plants growing in my yard, and appreciate where I love and what I do for a living.