Wednesday, December 31, 2014

BRAND-NEW STENCILS RELEASED AT STENCILGIRL(TM)PRODUCTS!


Two of my new 9"X12" stencils are released today at STENCILGIRL(TM)Products --


ABOVE:  BUDS

ABOVE:  NOSEGAY

 
And this post focuses on the Buds stencil.  Below are some artworks I created with it --









I used one of my prints from the Buds stencil as giftwrap --

ABOVE:  THE TOP OF THE GIFT

ABOVE:  THE UNDERSIDE OF THE GIFT
 And I used some of the printed papers to make greeting cards like this one --

 

Friday, December 26, 2014

Don't Throw Out that Used Giftwrap!


Rather than throw away that used giftwrap, I use it to make next year's Christmas cards -- or thank-you notes for gifts received this year from distant friends.  Today I'll show my way of doing this.

No giftwrap to recycle?  

Any paper can be used; in the past, I've worked from my stash of "catch-all" papers.  These are foreign-print newspapers used for off-loading leftover acrylic paint from just-used paintbrushes, before dunking those brushes into water.  (This practice is best for the environment.  The less acrylic paint that goes down the drain, the better for all of us.)  Here are two of my catch-all papers --



Having chosen an area that I like on this paper, I placed a stencil over it, using masking tape to hold the stencil in place ...


Heron (shown above) was one of the stencils I chose for today's "re-run" post because I needed a design that lets me easily trace inside its cut-out areas.

Some of my other stencils work well, too --

Queen Anne's Lace (9"X12")
Boxed Vines (9"X12")
Cats (6"X6")
Osprey Wings (6"X6")


For tracing along the cut-out stencil edges, I used watercolor pencil since it can be easily removed afterward, if desired.

Below is the Heron tracing, after the stencil was lifted --




Above:  the heron has been cut out with fine-detail scissors and placed on the cover of a 6"X6" greeting card.  On the left, atop the stencil, is the watercolor pencil I used to make the tracing.
When I used the stencil Queen Anne's Garden, I decided to place the stencil on the back of the catch-all paper, instead of working on the paper's painted side.




Above:  the back of the paper, after the stencil has been lifted off.

 
After I finished cutting out the flower, I decided to add leaves that I cut out free-hand.  I also added a few additional "rods" and "blooms" to create a greater contrast with the background I had chosen -- a pearly white 6"X6" blank greeting card, shown above.  (If you would rather not freehand-cut leaves, you can use Striped Leaves Stencil by Terri Stegmiller.)

Above:  the finished greeting card with the heron on the cover.
 

In tracing part of Queen Anne's Garden with a red watercolor pencil, I simply drew lines inside the narrow openings at the top of the flower, rather than try to faithfully trace every fine detail. 



 

Friday, December 19, 2014

Happy News

   

Today I learned that one of my abstracts won Honorable Mention in the current show at our local art guild; its title is Lace and Letters --


Clicking to enlarge the above image, you can see that I used at least one, but probably two, stencils by Carolyn Dube, the queen of letter-pattern stencil designs!  In the upper right you can see where I used the stencil Calligraphy by Mary Beth Shaw.  And in the central lower section, I've used Warped Holes 9 by Lizzie Mayne.

Friday, December 12, 2014

A Happy Surprise


Good news today ... I sold a print of one of my original artworks at Fine Arts America --

http://fineartamerica.com/saleannouncement.html?id=f442edd7de7d3e789bf534b1fe963c1c

I think that I still have the original on hand; it was created using several stencils from StencilGirlProducts.com.  What sold today is a print of the original.

 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014


I haven't been able to verify this, since my Internet search failed to locate the right Maggie Crawford, but I think that this lovely artwork created by her --


-- came to life with the help of my stencil Queen Anne's Lace.  If I'm wrong about that, then I can still say that it might have been my stencil.  Maggie Crawford's handling of color and text are a beauty to behold. 

Her artwork is featured in the 5X5 Collection curated by Seth Apter.