I happened across a two pack of 8 x 10 stretched canvasses for a whole dollar at the Goodwill one day, and decided it’d be fun to do a couple more small 3D pieces, since I enjoyed making the small leaves for the All Small exhibit.

I decided to try a sea creature for this one, and thought that the texture of the cardboard might lend itself well to the seahorse. I had a little fun using some texturizing medium and a piece of the corrugated cardboard to make wave-like background.

The first layer was cut out in a whole seahorse outline and attached to the wavy background and added a few more layers of cardboard. For the last layer, I used a similar technique to the autumn leaves, turning them to create an angle similar to the patterns on the seahorses I was using as a reference. A piece of the peeled cardboard paper was cut and folded fan-like to create the back fin.

I painted the seahorse in layers of yellow ochre and orange to create a color similar to that of the model seahorses. The tail of this particular species of seahorse is transparent, so I incorporated the background color into the tail to create a transparent effect.

Once I was happy with the seahorse and the background water colors, I knew I wanted him to have his tail wrapped around something in the signature seahorse pose. I created some 3D grass for him to hang out in and add a little more depth to the work. The final result was kind of fun!

The original of this work is still available.

~Tricia