Creating the Scarecrow's Lament with Perfect Paints
- walterz74
- May 3
- 4 min read
Hi, friends! It's design team member Walter here on the blog with you today with another fun mixed media canvas inspired by The Wizard of Oz. It seems like so many of you enjoyed the Tin Man's Heart canvas that I decided to continue on with the series. Today I'm sharing a look into the Scarecrow's psyche. I called it The Scarecrow's Lament since there was so much that that he mourned: his perceived lack of a brain, the way that crows weren't afraid of him, being stuck on a pole, and his fear of fire. I portrayed all of this on the canvas with the various elements that I incorporated. Let's dive in!
Perfect Paints items that I used in creating this:
5"x7" Artist canvas panel
49 and Market Artistry Naturalist Bookplates
Stuff by Belle Mosaic Spiral Stencil
Shapes 85 Dies from Scrapbook.com
Sizzix Tim Holtz Vault Dies - Lovebirds
Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Old Paper Distress Ink
White Cardstock
Spanish Moss
Tan, brown, and blue Mulberry paper
Popsicle stick
Black marker
Label maker
Palette knife
Directions
The first step was to paint the canvas. I wanted the color(s) used to represent the Scarecrow's greatest fear - fire. I decided to a blend of Afterglow Shimmering Matte Acrylic, mixed with Perfect Glaze Medium, and Cantaloupe Shimmering Matte Acrylic mixed with Perfect Glaze. I chose these colors to bring out both an orange and light red look of flames. The Perfect Glaze Medium was used to thin out the paint and make it more translucent as I didn't want it to look like a solid background. I painted one coat of each and let them dry. I then used a dry paper towel to tap the canvas to pick up paint and tap it down onto the canvas to give it a marbled look.
With the canvas painted, I could now stencil the yellow brick road onto it. I chose to put the road in the lower right-hand corner of the canvas and only use a portion of the spiral stencil. I did this to represent the point at which Dorothy met the Scarecrow where the road went in two different directions. I knew that I could place the scarecrow at the top of the canvas and have his post come down to the center of this. I put down the stencil and applied Organic Sugar Polishing Plaster with a palette knife. I applied light heat with a hair dryer to speed up the drying.
Vintage Photo Distress Ink was blended around the canvas to add some age and grunge. With the canvas prepared, I could now start to create the other elements. For the Scarecrow, I die cut a hat using a Scrapbook.com cowboy hat die and brown Mulberry paper. I chose to use Mulberry paper for the hat and clothing to give a more natural material look. I used scissors to cut out the shirt from blue Mulberry paper and pants from the tan Mulberry paper. The pants, shirt, and hat were then glued to a popsicle stick that had been painted with Espresso Shimmering Matte Acrylic. I then turned it over and glued down pieces of Spanish miss from the arms and legs to create the straw stuffing. I also added some splatters of Espresso Shimmering Matte Acrylic to the clothing to make it look dirty. The final step for the Scarecrow was to create a sign that says, "If I Only Had A Brain". To do so, I used a label maker to type the saying and placed it onto a strap of white cardstockthat has been colored with brown ink. I then glued it onto the Scarecrow's post and set it aside.
The background picture of the fields and farmhouse was cut out from a bookplate from 49 and Market. I added age and grunge with some Vintage Photo Distress Ink and glued it down to the canvas. This background represents the one place that the scarecrow stood on a pole for so many years.
The feather, which represents the crows who are not scared by the Scarecrow, and tree branch, which represents the trees that threw apples at him and Dorothy, were cut using the Lovebird Die Set and white cardstock. I painted the feather with Shadow Shimmering Matte Acrylic and then added highlights of Vintage Mercury Shimmering Matte Acrylic. The tree branch was painted with Espresso Shimmering Matte Acrylic. I created the Book of Knowledge, which symbolizes the Scarecrow's search for intelligence, with white cardstock. I folded a piece in half, colored it with Old Paper and Vintage Photo Distress inks, spritzed it with water, and then wrote the title. I put some double-sided foam tape in between the covers to create the illusion of depth.
All of the elements were then glued down to canvas: tress branch, feather, Scarecrow, and book. I then used a black marker to write This Way and That Way, in recognition of the words he spoke to Dorothy upon meeting her. Voila . . . the piece was finished.
I hope that you enjoyed walking through this project with me! I'll see you again soon. Until then . . . be well!
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