ARRR Matey! :)

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law approached me about making a collage piece for my nephew for his 4th birthday. He’s totally into pirates right now, so I thought “how about a pirate ship?” I really had a lot of fun with this piece–I’m always making girly stuff, so it was nice to do something for a little boy.

I started by painting the 12 x 12 canvas in different shades of blue with a little yellow mixed in for the sky. I wanted it to have a bright, sort of Caribbean feeling to it. I pieced together the pirate ship using an old map (which I inked over with vintage photo Distress ink–a favorite of mine in case you haven’t noticed 🙂 ), some old pieces of patterned paper, a few die cut pieces with a vintage theme, and stickers. I hand painted the little island using various shades of brown, and added the sandy palm tree . To create the water, I painted that area dark blue then covered it with Mod Podge. Before it could dry I pressed and crumpled dark blue tissue paper all over the bottom, creating texture and layers. When it was done I sealed it all with Liquitex gloss varnish. This helps seal in the color and prevent any fading, since it will likely be exposed to sunlight hanging up in his room. I was very excited with how it turned out. I plan to add a coordinating ribbon for hanging.