A Happy Accident -- the First of Many Sun-Prints

By clicking on the above to enlarge it, you can see the faint double image especially noticeable in the upper third of this piece.  This happened by happy accident when I was making my sun-prints.  Next time I make these prints, I will be creating these double-exposures on purpose.

I will post more of these prints, along with step-by-step photos, later.  The stencil I used here was my 9"X12" Boxed Vines.

It took some shopping around to find sun-print paper of a size ready to accommodate 9"X12" stencils.  In later posts I will include info on this.

By-Product

In preparing to make sun-prints with stencils, I decided the first step needed to be to cover the stencils with opaque paint.  In the process of doing this, I created a by-product that surprised me --

 

This was what remained on my work surface (which is covered with shiny-side-up freezer paint, and previously used for earlier projects.)

The above was created with my 9"X12" stencil Boxed Vines.

It was quite an adventure making those sun-prints!  I was glad I'd had previous experience with this process, thanks to my friend Mary Ann Russo. My photos and write-up will appear in a later post.
 

Kudos to Carolyn Dube!

Recently at www.stencilgirlproducts.com, we saw the release of new stencils designs by Carolyn Dube.  One of these new stencils, the 6"X6" Open Buildings, caught my eye immediately.  I've used it in a new artwork on canvas, currently untitled --

Above:  Not sure if it's finished yet ... it's my try at the challenging "medallion" composition format. 

Above:  a close-up of one area created with this stencil designed by Carolyn Dube.

Above:  a close-up of another area of the artwork created with this new stencil from Carolyn Dube.

Many thanks to you, Carolyn! Click here on her name to see her blog.

Queen Anne's Lace

Recently I had some leftover dark acrylic paints that I decided to use with my 9"X12" stencil Queen Anne's Lace.  My substrates were prints that I had made previously, using my Gelli Arts Printing Plate.

Soon I'll be making prints with my new, large-size Gelli Plate, recently ordered.  Can't wait!
 

Piggy-Back

To piggy-back onto my post of Wednesday the 2nd ...  More paint-scraping over stencils has been going on.  This time I used my 6"X6" stencil Cats with white gesso and black mulberry paper.  After the paint dried, I cut out the cats with fine-detail scissors.  My last step was to use some of the cut-outs on notecards:



 

Still Scraping Paint ...

I still find myself using leftover acrylic paint, before it dries, to scrape across paper that has stencils underneath.  Below is my work surface covered with (upper left) Borders #2 and (upper right) Trivet A 9 and (lower left) two of my 6"X6" Kaleid stencils.

Below is a sheet of glossy paper taped over these stencils; I have used a credit card to scrape leftover paint across it, picking up the patterns of the stencils underneath.

 

 Below is a close-up:

 

 Below are two more examples created with other batches of leftover acrylic paints. 

Above:  this example was created with my Kaleid stencil (lower half) and my 6"X6" Mimosa stencil (upper half.) 

Below are three close-ups of papers that were paint-scraped as a first step.  After the paint dried, I re-positioned the papers over the same stencils and made new imprints, this time using Art Bar crayons. 

 

Using crayons is the original way to make imprints called rubbings.  I like doing one set of rubbings over another set, and using paint for the first layer makes this easy.  This layering results in a more complex/interesting look in the finished product. 

Two Stenciled Prints, Further Developed

In one of my March 29 posts, I showed multiple steps taken to create a print with my 6"X6" stencil Bamboo Wall and my 9"X12" stencil Two Fans.
Below is the Bamboo Wall print as it appeared at that time:

I could've stopped here.  But I decided to continue working on both pieces, first dribbling tar gel across the surface of both the fans (shown below, cut out) and the bamboo (not shown) --

After the tar gel dried, I made three separate glazes of liquid gloss medium mixed with three colors of acrylic paint.  These mixes were painted over the above prints, one color at a time, with dry-time between coats.

Then I cut out the smaller of the two fans and used it on the cover of a 6"X6" greeting card --

I also scanned the larger of the two fans, cut it out, and adjusted its color in Photoshop, with this result:

Next, I scanned my Bamboo Wall print and, likewise, altered its color in Photoshop:

Despite the altered colors, the squiggles of tar gel and the additional glazes are visible when you click on the above image to enlarge it. 

HERON Earth Did I Forget Your Birthday?

That's the blurb I used on the cover of a greeting card, above a print that I made using my 6"X6" stencil Heron.
Below is a heron print made with an Ink Sweeper and Payne's Gray acrylic paint, upon a monoprint background.


Above:  a ghost print made immediately after the original print was made.