FANTASIA and BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED ... Again

Still working on the canvas that's shown up here daily ...

Today's chapter in this ongoing story brings me to the point shown in the close-up above.

The lower left 2/3 of the artwork-in-progress is a simple repeat of the design that had launched this project (when I'd scraped paint over the stencil Fantasia, using a combination of blue and aqua acrylic.)  That original imprint is barely visible now, most of it buried under the trail of pink flowers made with Blooming Where Planted --

-- and a part of this flowery stencil was used again in the upper left corner, as well as (more faintly) in the lower right corner of the photo.  These two imprints were done with reverse stenciling -- coating the stencil with paint, placing it wet-paint-side down against the substrate, and pressing it to the surface (in the same way that a rubber stamp is used.)

Tomorrow -- the multi-layered saga continues! 

A Trail of Blushing Flowers ...

I decided to cut apart one of my new 9" x 12" stencils, Blooming Where Planted ... then use parts of it to experiment with something I had never yet used -- a white China marker.  

I did this expecting the images made with the China marker to work as a resist, after I had added it to my substrate -- a Fredrix watercolor stretched canvas that appeared in yesterday's post.  In that post, I scraped paint over the top side of this canvas, while pressing another new stencil, Fantasia, to the bottom side of the canvas.  I scraped paint in random directions, ending up with a path that bore Fantasia imprints.

Below is a close-up of this imprinted canvas, with part of the Blooming Where Planted stencil placed over it.  Holding the stencil with one hand, I filled in the flowers using the China marker, shown in the lower left.

I continued doing this across the whole canvas, using flowers of different sizes, all of which had been cut from the same stencil.

My next step was to test that resist theory.  So I covered the surface with a mixture of magenta acrylic paint and liquid matte medium -- expecting the flowers to stay more or less white, while the rest of the surface accepted the new layer of paint.

As you can see, this was not what happened!  After the magenta paint had dried, I experimented with a gentle fingernail scratch, and noticed that there was some resist action, after all, but only scratching would bring that out.  So I decided to leave it as-is.  I liked the solid magenta version better, anyway.

In a later post, I'll show what I did next, working to bring the overall image to the finish line.  

Stencil-Scraping with FANTASIA

With one of my 3 brand-new 9"x 12" stencils, Fantasia, I went back to an old technique that I've shown in earlier posts.

This technique works best with a thin but sturdy substrate that has a smooth surface -- like Lineco tissue and deli paper.  (Note:  Lineco tissue is much stronger than the tissue paper you buy to slip into gift-bags.  Gift-wrap tissue will not work.)


Here, instead of Lineco tissue or deli paper, I used a pre-stretched canvas made by Fredrix especially for watercolor -- it has a very smooth surface, ideal for picking up detailed shapes in stencils with large openings.  (Stencils with small openings will work, too, but not as well.)

The 9" x 12" stencil Fantasia looks like this:

The stencil-and-scrape technique is shown and described here.

FANTASIA!

One of my three brand-new 9" x 12" stencils is Fantasia --
and, since I had not used alcohol inks on Yupo for several years, I decided to go back to it, bringing this stencil along!

Here are the results:

Thanks for visiting!

A Parade of Greeting Cards

Before starting on handmade Christmas cards, I wanted to make a few other greeting cards for any occasion.

To create some of these cards, I used my three 9" x 12" stencils released October 13.  I used an older stencil, Boxed Vines, on one other.

My first two shots below show greeting cards after my stencils were used -- but before top layers were added:

Stencil used above:  Blooming Where Planted

Stencil used above:  Fantasia

Now, these two finished greeting cards:

My any-occasion greeting card line-up continues:

Stencil used above:  Blooming Where Planted

  

Stencil used above:  Boxed Vines

Stencil used above:  It's A Jungle Out There.

Stencil used above:  Blooming Where Planted

Here are these stencils themselves:

Above:  Boxed Vines (9" x 12")

Above:  Blooming Where Planted (9" x 12")

Above:  Fantasia (9" x 12")

Above:  It's a Jungle Out There (9" x 12")

Thanks for visiting!

Really? Still Another Layer?!

Um ... yeah.  I just can't let this go!

The first layer (shown below) had been made using my new 9"x 12" stencil Fantasia, on a background created with my handmade rubber stamps --

Above is the original artwork, posted a few days ago.  It was done in a horizontal format, then; now, I like it better vertically.

-- and now, it seems right to end the artwork with the same stencil, except that this time, I used orange acrylic paint blended with lavender; and this time, I used only the center part of the stencil.

Am I done yet????

The stencil Fantasia looks like this:

Tomorrow I'll switch to showing a different piece ... promise!

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!

Sometimes I want to just keep working on a piece, never knowing where I'll stop, till at some point I reach that finish line.  Today's post shows yet another layer on an artwork that I've been showing, step-by-step, in its progress:

Today's top layer was made using a mixture of light modeling paste and purple acrylic paint, spread with a palette knife over my brand-new 9"x 12" stencil It's a Jungle Out There.

That stencil looks like this in its entirety:

L451 It's a Jungle Out There

If you want a background -- or foreground -- with a stencil that says I'm different! ... this stencil wants to play.

FANTASIA teamed with BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED -- New 9"x 12" Stencils

Recently, in my announcement of my 3 brand-new 9"x 12" StencilGirl stencils available here ...

... I showed an artwork sample created with Fantasia:  Bright orange acrylic paint over a dark green background (slightly textured with my handmade rubber stamps.)  

Above, I'm showing the same artwork -- taken further, with the use of Blooming Where Planted and diluted Titan Buff acrylic paint.

The orange layer was printed in the tried-and-true way of placing the stencil over the substrate, then adding acrylic paint thru the stencil openings.

The top layer (of diluted Titan Buff) was created using the subtractive/reductive technique -- demonstrated here in step-by-step photos, with directions.

The photo above shows the piece horizontally, while still in progress. Below is a close-up showing the combination-print later in the process, vertically:

These two new stencils themselves look like this:

L450 Fantasia

L449 Blooming Where Planted

BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED -- Crackle with Stencils

The close-up details shown below are part of a larger work-in-progress on wraparound (gallery wrap) canvas.  Because it is an unfinished work, I know that I will be covering these imprints with layers of translucent paint, to enrich and perhaps change the colors.  These, like a similar one posted yesterday, were made with my new 9"x 12" stencil Blooming Where Planted, which I have now cut into three pieces, to make them more easily used separately from one another.  

Clicking on the above photos to enlarge them, you may be able to detect the subtle crackling of the top layer of paint.

There are many crackling kits out there, but I did this crackling on my own.  

A dry layer of acrylic paint had been the base.  Over that, I brushed on a layer of matte medium liquid.  While it was still tacky, I added a layer of slightly diluted Titan Buff Golden Fluid Acrylic.  As the layer of matte medium liquid dried, crackle formed in the Titan Buff top layer of paint.

Blooming Where Planted looks like this:

Thanks for stopping by to see one of my three just-released stencils!

Encore, Lisa Dobry!

Oh yes, let's call Lisa Dobry back out to front stage!  Why?  A picture's worth a thousand words, and I have plenty of pictures here!  Lisa pulled all of these prints using my 9" x 12" stencil Tangled Pods in combination with my 6" x 6' stencil Heron.  She's used fall colors -- which I love -- and she's shown me how well these two stencils work together, much to my surprise and delight!

If I'm not mistaken -- Lisa, please correct me if I'm wrong -- I believe that the print below is the one she chose for decorating the inside of the pretty gift-box that she made recently, using Tangled Pods.

Lisa, I'm so very grateful you're letting me post these gorgeous prints here!

Lisa Dobry!

Artist Lisa Dobry says -- "I simply cannot throw a good box away.  [Lisa, you and I must be twins separated at birth! -- I'm the same way!]  This [shown below] was a candy box.  Black box, apply black gesso.  Stencil [with Tangled Pods] using Dina Wakley heavy body acrylic Penny.  Apply 2nd coat of Golden Fluid acrylic Micaceous Iron Oxide.  Once dry, apply coat of Golden Self-Leveling Clear Gel.  It gives a glass-like finish."

The first three photos below show the top of the finished gift-box -- complete with a gift-tag cut from the same stencil-printed paper:

The final photo, below, shows the top as well as the bottom of Lisa's gorgeous gift-box.   

Inside this box lid, Lisa has added a Gelli Plate print that she has made with another stencil of mine.  It will be shown in an upcoming post.

Many many thanks to Lisa for allowing me to show your outstanding artwork here!

Letter Mania Stencil by Suzi Dennis

One of my favorite 9" x 12" stencils is Letter Mania by Suzi Dennis.  I used it recently in developing this artwork on stretched canvas:

My first step had been to spread heavy white gesso thru the stencil in three areas across the canvas.  The three areas formed a path from the upper left, across the middle, to the lower right.

After the heavy gesso had dried, I painted and scraped layer after layer of paint over it, following the path already laid out.  

Then I came in with regular (liquid) white gesso, mixed with a little magenta, to paint out some areas, forming my main shape.

I use heavy white gesso for applications like this because it's very study when dry -- capable of being harshly scraped.  

Kudos to Suzi Dennis for creating this fantastic stencil -- one of my special favorites!

Sherry Canino!

That name in my title says it all, really!

These tags, with their matching envelopes, are dazzling!  Actually my vocabulary isn't capable of stretching far enough to express my delight with the ways Sherry Canino has used my 6" x 6" stencil Ferns, so I had to settle for "dazzling!"

When touring the Finger Lakes area of upstate NY, you're welcome to visit Sherry's store, Canino's Artistic Café, at 106 Metropolitan Park Drive, Liverpool, NY, where Sherry offers workshops.  

Liverpool is a community on the north shore of Onondaga Lake, offering a range of one-of-a-kind shops and restaurants, as well as scenic lakeshore trails. 

BOXED VINES Stencil

Artwork created with the help of my 9" x 12" stencil Boxed Vines:

Above:  a collaged greeting card cover, created with a Gelli Plate print from this stencil.  Note:  The purple vine at center stage is freehand-cut.  It complements the stencil design but is not made from the stencil itself. 

Above:  the envelope made to match this greeting card.  I've collaged the scrap onto the far left side to leave room for both the return address and the outgoing address.

Above:  a collaged greeting card cover.  The dark orange background was created with a Gelli Plate and this stencil Boxed Vines.  The green vine in the foreground was freehand-cut, in the same style as the stencil, but was not made from the stencil itself.

Above:  the ivory vines-and-border pattern was created with this stencil -- a Gelli Plate print.  The overlay of two white "ghost" vines was also printed on a Gelli Plate, using freehand-cut vines that resemble the stencil.

Above:  Today's final the Gelli Plate print, ready to be cut up for making art journal backgrounds, as shown earlier in this post.  The pale aqua part was created with the stencil Boxed Vines.  The two white vines, an over-print created with the same Gelli Plate, were made from freehand-cut vines, not from the stencil itself.

The stencil itself looks like this:

And back when I was designing it, I worked from freehand-cut vines with leaves like the ones shown throughout this post.

Thanks for visiting!