Drip Art Painted Canvas Tote

I feel like Jackson Pollock when I use drip art in my projects. The inspiration for this tote came when I randomly remembered a team building project that I did at an advertising agency back in Memphis, TN. We stood over canvases and dripped paint onto them to create some cool pieces that were hung around the sleekly decorated building. Being this was in 2001, I wonder if those paintings still hang there?

I started with a simple black canvas tote that can be purchased at almost any craft store, or on line at eco-bags.

I used Neopaque in white by Jacquard products to randomly paint swatches of white here and there, with a 1″ paintbrush.

To get the beautiful sheen, I used Lumiere in Metallic Gold and again painted random swatches, letting the colors dry before applying the next one.

After applying swatches of Neopaque in turquoise, I used the brush to dip into the paint bottle and let it drip randomly over the surface. Depending on the size of your drips and how much paint you use, this will take a while to dry.

I put the finishing touches on with Lumiere in Burnt Orange. The background of this tote is now complete.

Three things I love are motifs, typography and texture. I chose this foam bird stamp set by Claudine Hellmuth Studios to add a bird and branch to the left side of my bag using Neopaque Black. You can use a paint dauber for this or cosmetic sponge to apply the paint to the stamp. Ink does not work well as it will not stand up to the layers of paint.

I am hugely inspired by all the sewn free form flowers I keep seeing popping up everywhere, so I decided to create some of my own. I hand drew my own pattern and transferred it to the back of this script fabric from Fabric.com. It is from Michael Miller and called old script black.

I attached the flowers to the bag using Liquid Fusion and added some bling in the center.

This technique works with all sorts of things and surfaces. Check these spooktacular witch boots I made for a costume party I attended last Saturday night.