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!