Shhhhhh! By Claudia

Don't make a sound, otherwise the deer will get wind of us and run away!!!!

They're already looking in our direction! But maybe, if we keep quiet and don't move, they will continue their search for food in the winter forest.

I love deer and I often meet some when walking my dog alongside the Marchfeld Canal (gladly my dog is too small to see them as the path lies a bit deeper than the fields...;).

I created this little winter forest scene in a turned over 6 x 6 inch canvas.

Calico Craft Parts used:

- Group of Deer MDF Wood Shape - Style 6
- Blackberries & Leaf Sprig MDF Wood Shape
- Blackberry Bramble MDF Wood Shape
- Oak Leaves with Acorns MDF Wood Shape - Style 3

I also die cut a tree line and some twigs to go with my shadow box and to enhance the impression of thicket the beholder is looking through.

To start with I covered the back of my canvas with torn dictionary page scraps using matte DecoArt Decou-Page. Once that was dry I stamped on some trees, deer and pine needles using archival black stamping ink.

One dictionary page was glued to a piece of white cardstock and used for die cutting my tree line and several twigs.

Then I toned down my covered canvas using a wash of DecoArt media fluid acrylic Raw Umber.

While that was set aside to dry I scraped on some white DecoArt media Crackle Paint to my tree line using a palette knife. I put the trees on our heater to speed up drying time. 

The die cut twigs were coated with DecoArt Snow-Tex.

Parts of the canvas as well:

Then it was time to paint my deer and the foliage using various DecoArt media fluid acrylic paints, partly painting them on, partly dry-brushing them, partly adding them as a wash.

The finer details like the eyes and noses were drawn using a permanent black fine tip marker. 

For a finishing touch and a more wintery feel I sprinkled on some white DecoArt media Shimmer Mister (unscrewing the Mister and using the tube to sprinkle on the paint) and let that dry before I gave the canvas and my deer a coat of DecoArt media Ultra-Matte Varnish. 

Then it was time to layer all my pieces in- and onto the canvas shadow box. I used sticky dots (and also their "excess framing") to stack my pieces. 

Done!

Some close ups of the snow covered twigs, the oak and bramberry sprigs:

I love the frosty effect of the Snow-Tex!

And the deer MDF wood shapes are all so beautiful! I will definitely have to get me some more of these (and also some of the other designs) ! ;)

I used a photograph of a deer as a model. Especially their noses are very typical and have to be done properly so they don't look somehow awkward.  

What a peaceful little winter scenery!  I hope you like it as much as I do! 

I had so much fun creating this piece! I hope some of it shows trough.

Thank you so much for stopping by and a happy creative 2017! 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx