painting on burlap plus a plein air painting adventure

it has been a chaotic week and not in a good way. lots of personal thingys going on in zie life right now.

soooooo, in order to emotion regulate to stay sane, zie started a sewing project. it was supposed to be a weekend project done in two days. ummmmmm…..it took four days to complete. 😅

zie made a new art pouch because zie old pouch frayed apart.

the cord that wraps around zie neck broke from the old pouch. this combined with the seams fraying beyond repair meant that zie needed a new pouch.

just wanted to brag and say that the brush holder and water cup holder zie made for the pouch last year–which were both sewn by hand–have not fallen apart or frayed. yes, zie feels yall really needed to know this.

materials used

*not affiliate links

mumzie’s brother sewing machine–this is the one marketed as a project runway model. it is not the industrial models the contestants use
burlap as the chosen fabric–both for lining as well as the top most fabric. mumzie had some on hand and it was the sturdiest fabric zie could think of as zie doesn’t have any stabilizers nor does zie know how to use them 😂
blick studio acrylic paint

zie drafted a pattern last week. didn’t have butcher paper for the pattern, so zie sketched out the measurements and idea and then drafted on copy paper. this was actually a complex process because zie is bad with numbers and the pouch is not flat.

sewing went well. zie had to remember how to sew though as it has been months since zie last did it. the machine worked well and has cool stitches. but zie still prefers the old industrial kenmore and the work horse singer mumzie passed down to zie.

what is it like to paint on burlap?

it took two whole days to sew this pouch! that was longer than espected.

zie has never worked with burlap before. everything was a learning curve, but zie was up for the challenge. it was fun to paint on, but the fun only started after the initial coats dried. the paint seeped into the burlap giving a washed out look.

zie wanted bright bold colors. so it took estra coats. zie did subtly play with thick and thin layers. but the thicker layers won overall.

zie painted using blick studio acrylics. mumzie gave zie a few colors. she hasn’t tried them herself because the color selection was from ebay and they substituted a lot of her original choices. zie hopes to encourage her to give acrylics a try at some point.

the paints are pretty good, but zie favorite student line of paints is still amsterdam standard series. their pigment load is just phenomenal.

what is the point of making a new pouch from scratch? couldn’t zie just fix the old pouch?

zie had been desiring a pouch that was larger than the old one. zie carries more odds and ends in the pouch than zie realized. zie also realized that zie no longer used a set of basic wax crayons–aside from white–like zie originally thought zie would.

the zipper on the old pouch was starting to jam and create more frayed edges. it was barely able to stand upright on its own which made painting difficult and kinda annoying.

while the OG pouch was good for what it was, if zie was gonna make one from scratch, zie was gonna make it worth all the effort. plus, it helped mumzie smile and feel happiness watching her child create art but in a different way.

let’s take this pouch out in the field to test it!

zie went to the local park to do some plein air sketching. the pouch was ready. zie loaded it up and journeyed to the park.

it was a small park, but it had a playground and pretty houses and trees. zie was only able to make one sketch because zie did esplore a second park, but that didn’t go well at all. zie was too tired to do more than one sketch after the bust that was park #2.

The pouch behaved and went above and beyond zie espectations! It sits upright and isn’t flimsy. no fraying whatsoever. it also is quite the statement piece and makes zie smile.

zie hopes to share more about zie plein air and urban sketching thingys zie has learned. zie has been plein air creating ever so often for about nine years, maybe? zie has learned a lot and wants to share all the goodies. 😁🥳