FANTASIA

I'm 68 years old today!

And still delighting in designing new stencils for StencilGirlProducts!

One of my newest releases, the 9" x 12" stencil Fantasia, has come into play once again, as I work my way thru a new stretched canvas.  Here is the painting in its entirety --

And here is a close-up, showing where I used the central portion of this stencil --

I chose a canvas of this shape for its challenge.  My goal is to create inviting composition within the challenge of an elongated shape.  I found that using this stencil helped give balance to the piece.

But I'm not done yet ... updated versions will be eventually appearing here.

Meanwhile, here is what the stencil looks like in its entirety:

Thanks for visiting!

It's Still A JUNGLE OUT THERE...

Another of my three new stencils that I cut into three pieces is my 9" x 12" It's A Jungle Out There.

Below is a stretched canvas in its very early stages ... I was using this stencil, in pieces, along with fluid acrylics ...

Next, I'll show the middle stage of the artwork, followed by close-ups; most of these imprints were made with the reductive/subtractive technique for using stencils:

And finally, here is the canvas in its entirety -- as far as it has progressed.  Whether or not it's finished, I haven't decided.

It's A Jungle Out There, as it looks before being cut up, looks like this:

Thanks for visiting!

BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED

Blooming Where Planted is one of my three new 9" x 12" stencils that I've cut into pieces.  While still whole, the stencil looks like this:

And what I did was to simply cut along the 2 wide white lines, ending with three stencils.

I often work on several stretched canvases at one time, alternating my attention from one to the next, my goal being to "start fresh" in my outlook as I approach each application.  For me, the process of painting gains extra excitement when I do this, bringing each piece along by installments.  Weeks can go by between these stages.  Altho I like working this way, it can end up causing some confusion in the sequence of photos that I take.  Nor am I as good as I would like to be, at record-keeping!  At times therefore, I may end up posting the same images more than once. 

Here are some photos taken of a piece that's still in progress:

For me, a lot of the joy in painting is the process of building on previous layers.  Some of the areas shown above will probably remain as they are now, while others will become faint background impressions.  When the artwork is finished, I'll show it in its entirety.

All these imprints were made with sections of Blooming Where Planted.

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!

I've now used this new 9"x 12" stencil so many times, in so many different ways, that I have to say it's become a favorite.  One thing I  like about it is that, to my eye at least, it goes with a number of other StencilGirl stencils, including my 9"x 12" Clustered Leaves.

This stencil, It's A Jungle Out There, has met the fate of many of my stencils -- it's been cut to pieces.  But this time, instead of many small pieces, there are now only three big pieces of the stencil that originally looked like this:

And here is one of my works on stretched canvas that uses imprints from these pieces:

Close-ups are below:

I did this piece atop an older artwork that had been layered with crushed tissue paper.  

In all the central areas, I used Golden High Flow acrylics; after they dried, I highlighted some areas with Sakura Solid Markers.

The outer edges, forming a rugged frame around the central areas, were made with a mixture of Golden white gesso and Golden Maganese Blue acrylic paint.  

FERN FRONDS SILHOUETTE MINI and Distress Inkpads with a Gelli Plate

Today's issue of The Scoop newsletter from StencilGirl features photos of a multitude of techniques that work well with stencils, or that work only with stencils.  One of these photos shows a print I made with my Gelli Plate and Distress Inkpads.  

To subscribe to The Scoop, just email Carol Baxter here:

 carol@stencilgirlproducts.com

Below is my Gelli Plate print shown in this issue of The Scoop ...

This was achieved by using Distress Inkpads -- pressing them, wet side down, onto a Gelli Plate.  I used a different (but hue-related) color for each pulling of a print.  I also moved the stencil slightly with each pull, so that the finished image would be purposely off-register, as shown above. 

Fern Fronds Silhouette is a the stencil I used.  It's a mini, measuring 4" x 4". 

FANTASIA -- Stencil Beauty!

Sometimes, after an art project, I find the stencil so beautiful that I want to keep it just the way it is -- never to use it again for art-making, because I can always buy another one!  That's happened again with my new stencil Fantasia, now coated with orange and purple acrylic paint: 

Unfortunately these two shots don't do the purple area (along the bottom edge) justice.  In real life, they are an attractive counterpart to the orange areas.

Eventually I will cut up this stencil to use its pieces as collage elements.

FANTASIA!

In recent posts, I've shown the progression of an artwork (still unfinished) that I've given the working title of Pink Flower Trail, made with one of my new 9"x 12" stencils, Blooming Where Planted.

I began a second canvas at the same time, using an identical starting point -- which was to get out green and turquoise acrylic paints, pair them another new stencil, Fantasia, and use the stencil-scraping method to create an imprint on the surface of the stretched watercolor canvas.

Once that imprint dried, I applied two more layers of paint, one yellow in the upper right and, in the lower left, a pale tan.  Creating these two color fields, I used the subtractive/reductive technique.  

Next, I repeated the process of applying a white grease pencil thru part of the Fantasia stencil.  Over that, I applied a layer of orange acrylic paint.  And, over those two applications, I added another layer of orange acrylic paint, this time using the entire stencil and placing it so as to dominate the upper left of the painting.  Below are both a distance shot as well as a close-up photo...

After the top layer of paint had dried, I placed the stencil back onto the canvas, this time in the extreme upper left, and spray-painted thru it with olive green acrylic paint; this is shown below, in two close-ups:

As my last step so far, I got out orange's compliment, purple, and used it with part of the Fantasia stencil to make a bold statement  nearly down the center of the artwork...

This painting has now, like the flower-trail one, reached a temporary stopping point.    I await further inspiration!

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!

Here is a series of close-ups showing two artworks-in-progress, both on stretched canvas; here, I'm focusing in on areas where I've used one of my three new 9" x 12" stencils, It's a Jungle Out There....

These were created with Golden High Flow acrylics and Golden Fluid Acrylics.

It's a Jungle Out There (9"x 12")looks like this:

And to make the artwork shown here, I've cut the stencil into three pieces.  

Enter Green-Gold!

One of my favorite colors in fluid acrylics, Golden's Green-Gold, was what I chose to use next on the art-in-progress that's been posted here in a continuing series.

Here are some shots, taken at close range as well as farther out:

In the final close-up above, the green-gold area is on the far left.  That layer as well as the pink ones were with my new 9" x 12" stencil Blooming Where Planted.

Some of the imprints were made with the reverse-stencil method and some were made with the subtractive method which also goes by the name of the reductive method .

Now, this canvas has reached a crossroads.  I'm going to set it aside for the time being.  Eventually, I'll be ready to decide what direction needs to be taken next.  

More Layers ...

After analyzing the painting shown in these recent posts, I decided to add a cruciform in bold yellow and to cover the latest Fantasia print with a thin layer of paint that still allows some of the original print show thru.  Below is the art-still-in-progress, with the canvas turned horizontally rather than vertically as it has been shown before.

Clicking on this image to enlarge it, you can better see the lower right area where the Fantasia print has been somewhat obscured by a layer of Titan Buff (mixed with matte medium to keep it from being opaque) ... and over that layer, another reverse-stencil imprint has been added, in pink, using one section of the stencil Blooming Where Planted.

Part of the yellow cruciform has been widened with the use of Fantasia (in the upper right.)

More reverse-stencil imprints have been added to the left half of the painting.

Here are 2 close-ups showing better detail:

My next step was to continue adding reverse-stencil imprints, switching to green-gold acrylic paint.  Here's a close-up of one of those prints:

More photos to follow!