Spidey --

is without a doubt the biggest piece of art I've ever done -

When the oldest moved into his own place a while back - he bought a quirky little [?] house that has [extremely] tall ceilings running down the middle – and I wanted to do a HUGE piece of mixed media art for his living room wall – and as with most of the stuff I do, I had to ponder it in my head a bit before I took the first step. First I had to have a general theme to think on - he’s into comics [the weird ones – ha; the ones I’m unfamiliar with] so I asked what his favorite comic might be and he surprised me by saying Spiderman. I asked about an appropriate quote for this and without hesitation he stated, “With great power, comes great responsibility.”

Love it. So I started the mulling process in my head with Spidey ---

Then I had to consider the background – I wanted it BIG – but all the things I was considering were also HEAVY and I didn’t want it to be too difficult to get up on that wall --- so I’d almost settled on using a piece of paneling with some hangers on the back [loved the idea of the grooves going horizontally] when I was at our local Re-Store and saw this HUGE office white board [$10] and immediately called my local pick-up and delivery guy [aka my sweetie] to come haul it home for me.

I decided to hang it upside down and then if oldest wants he can add little led lights underneath the over-hang so it looks like a miniature billboard.

First, I painted the silver edging black. Then he pulled out all of his old calculus homework / tests and I mod-podged those to the back. I added strips of cardboard and tissue paper, etc. to give it a little texture.Next I painted and painted and painted some more. I used three – four different shades of both yellows and greens [cheap paint form Hobby Lobby.] This thing is bigger than our dining room table and took hours to dry between coats. Another coat of podge went over it all [I make my own, non-glossy, podge: 1 part water to 3 parts white glue {a gallon was $10 at home Depot} that works well.] Then I struggled a bit with whether to stamp on it or not – and finally settled on using my rolling stamp from Fiskars with stars on it. I also used a small print texture stamp and then rubbed the stamp pad over the top of the entire thing to catch the ridges and bumps of the base layer.

Next step = Spidey. I used a BIG old cardboard box cut open and flattened; it has different heights depending on the packaging. I had a great desire to decoupage him out with wrapping papers of patterned reds and blues – but I finally decided that painting was the best way for me to go. I’d purchased several Spiderman decorative pieces [invitations, party bags, etc.] and scanned the one I like best. Then I projected it on a wall where I’d taped the piece of cardboard and traced him on it. I took him to an all-day-crop and settled in on the floor to paint. I have to admit that at the beginning, when I was painting the reds on, I just wasn’t sure he was going to turn out like I was hoping. But as I added the blues and then lastly, the black, I was so surprised to see what I had created. [I used several shades of blues and reds to give him a little dimension and shading, and I used a black pen to define his eyes a bit.] I coated him with glossy mod podge and he just popped with color! [I’d forgotten how much I LOVE glossy!]Next, I cut him out using a craft knife [I found that holding it up a bit helped cut through the layers of cardboard more easily] and then trimmed with scissors. I positioned him on the background and started working on the quote. And let me just say – do as I say – not as I do – lol. Start small and cut bigger if you’re not happy with it. [I started with 4 inch letters and then moved down to 3 inch and then down to 2.5 inches and then down to 1.5 – lol – and as a result, I have LOTS of red / blue alphas in the above quote that I’d love to give away – if you can use them – just let me know! So glad I got THAT paper on sale at Hobby Lobby.] And in the end I decided I liked the black letters better with a little hint of red behind the focus words [which are also a bit larger.] – I used the Superman cartridge [cricut] for the alpha and was pleased to hear someone say, ‘Oh, you used the comic alphabet too!’ when they first saw it. –It’s all in the details, y'all. Fun. Another coat of podge sealed it all in -

And then I glued Spidey down – I used my E- 6000 glue and he’s been propped against the fireplace for a few days now and he’s still holding on! I sure don’t want to get it up on the wall only to have him fall off, so I may go back and add some hot glue around the edges that are off the base a bit.

Oldest thinks it’s neat and I’m looking forward to getting it to its new home. [we’ll have to transport as Spidey won’t fit in a car -] But for now – I’m glad it’s off the dining room table.