A Very Special Mother's Canvas (Creative Artiste Challenge)

October has always a very special month in my family as it is the birthday month of the most special lady in my life... that is, my mother.  This year was a particular important birthday as my mom turned 65, and my brother and I decided to throw her a bit party to celebrate this milestone with over 120 family and friends!

For the even, I created this huge canvas (about 40" x 15") to display some of her life's special moments in photos.

Since the theme of the party decor was Autumn and the canvas would be displayed on an easel at the venue, I thought it best to go with a Fall colour palette for my canvas to match the decor.  It turned out great as my mom adores yellow and orange. I started by coating the entire canvas with white gesso, did a bit of stenciling and then went crazy with different shades of mists.  I knew that most of the background would be covered with photos so I put a little more emphasis on the edges, adding white paint for different ombre effects.

While creating this canvas, I checked a few mixed media challenge blogs for inspiration and was very happy to find this one, Creative Artiste Challenge Blog that is all about mixed media! Their challenge this month is "Anything Goes" so hopefully my oversize canvas will go. :P You can find out more information about them and challenge #19 right HERE!

Let's take a closer look at some details and my mom from childhood to now.

My mom has always been very pretty lady - a lot of people say that I actually look like her. hehe
Above, you see her as a shy little girl in her Grade 1 school photo and then growing up into a young lady with a lot of style.

Below you see my mom on her wedding day; our very first family photo with my father and my brother; my father and mother in their newly build house (where I grew up and lived most of my early life) and then time moves forward a bit with Mom holding her first grand child and my niece, Ella, born in 2005.  Sadly, my dad passed away in 2004.

Then, in 2007, it was time for another grandchild, my other niece Dapne.  You can see Mom in different pictures with her sisters.

My nieces are now all grown up, one almost a teenager if you can believe that!  And my mom has found love again with a wonderful man that we all love dearly and who my nieces know as their grandfather.  As you can see, I added lots and lots of flowers on my canvas, all sorts of flowers from different brands.  I also added chipboard and metal butterflies.

And there you go... my mom today... at 65.

Thank you for stopping by!