Selecting a Surface

If you regularly follow this blog, you've heard me write about my "stash".  Which is basically a huge closet, studio, garage and storage room filled with surfaces on which to paint, alter and craft.  One question I'm frequently asked is "How do you decide what to paint a design on?"  Usually it comes down to what I can reach!  lol  But I do try to paint more than one item at a time and often I will mix up the surfaces.  For this sign, I had a piece of wood that was about the same size as an 8 x 10 canvas.  Each was done a bit differently... 

On the wood sign, I used stencils in the background and to hang, I added wire accented with beads. 

On the canvas I was able to use matte medium to attach a really great piece of decorative paper to the background.  No background altering needed on this piece, I just shaded around the lettering to make it pop from the background.