Young Artists and Words of Wisdom -- to Remember!

Gymnastic friends and budding artists, Candace Kieya and Olivia Alexander are the young beauties whose art is featured in today's post.

Pictured here (left) holding up art made with a stencil by Jessica Sporn, Candace says,  "I really like the ancient effect with the dark colors, designs and different stencil prints.  I would definitely do this again!"

And Olivia (right) says "that my plan really wasn't to make beautiful art but to just have fun and learn from my mistakes."

Olivia, I would like to engrave your words in stone!  Your statement should be the motto of every person who participates in an art class or workshop.  To use a trite phrase, you are wise beyond your years!  

Olivia above is posing with art she created with my 6" x 6" stencil Heron.

My sincere thanks to Lisa Dobry for this photo and for her kindness in getting parental permission as well as the girls' comments for posting here.  Lisa, you rock!

I'm also indebted to Lisa for her own thoughts about this art-play-date the two youngsters enjoyed --

What Lisa loved about this whole process with the girls was the creativity of their pieces. 

Candace had never Gelli printed before, so Lisa offered a tutorial on that. 

Suggesting they start with 3 colors, Lisa moved the stencil collection closer to them and let them do their thing. 

Occasionally one would express a desire for something specific like, "I want to put something here."  Lisa then would ask the young artist whether she were thinking something random, or something else that would be more repetitive of what was already there.

Lisa told the girls they could use paint or spray ink; she also explained the difference between water-soluble media and acrylic media. 

The two girls made their own choices on everything. 

Below are photos of the projects after embellishments had been added --

It's always a joy to see young artists in action and to hear their own comments about art-making experiences.  

FUNDRAISER AUCTION STARTS TOMORROW

MIMOSA 6 Stencil and Artist Kyriakos Pachadiroglou

Last summer StencilGirl hosted a blog hop featuring a number of artists with a wide range of great ideas.  My last post came from that blog hop and so does today's post.

Artist Kyriakos Pachadiroglou has used my 6" x 6" stencil Mimosa 6 in a fantastic way -- I love the creativity shown in step-by-step detail here, as well as its results!

Post blog hop, Kyriakos Pachadiroglou notified me of another artwork of his using one of my Mimosa stencils (which comes in two sizes -- 9" x 12" and 6" x 6".)  This new, three-dimensional art is a stunning celebration of autumn ... while at the same time, encouraging us to grow and bloom!

Thank you, Kyriakos, for allowing me to share your artwork here!

My thanks also to you readers, for stopping by today; if interested in following this blog by email, please use this option in the upper right sidebar.

To keep up with Kyriakos and his ongoing and beautiful art projects, please check here.

Mimosa 6 stencil (6" x 6")

Mimosa Stencil (9" x 12")

To see all my stencils, you can visit here.  

CLUSTERED LEAVES Used by Karen Gaunt

To see my 9" x 12" stencil Clustered Leaves used to make collage paper on a coffee filter, please visit https://www.karen-gaunt.com/blog/stencilgirl-and-imagine-crafts-summer-blog-hop

Like the last artist I featured here, Karen Gaunt has liberated the stencil from its outer borders.  Doing this is a quick and easy cutting job.  I recommend Joyce Chen scissors.  They're sharp and have short blades.

Thank you, Karen, for having chosen one of my stencils for this project!

And thank YOU, for stopping by my blog today.  To follow by email, you can use this option in the upper right sidebar.

To see all my stencils, please visit here.

Sherry Canino, FERNS 6 Stencil -- and a Blog Hop with Prizes!

Ferns 6 has just been used by artist Sherry Canino -- and her art-making is part of a blog hop that pairs StencilGirl stencils with Tim Holtz' Ranger products!

Check out Sherry's art-making process here.

Hop into the blog hop and you may win great prizes!

More New Art-Prints made with One of my New 6" x 6" Stencils, WEBBED MEDALLION

I found a piece of marbled paper to use as the background for today's first print, made with my new 6" x 6" stencil Webbed Medallion --

Thank you for stopping by my blog today!

To see my full line of StencilGirl masks and stencils, please check here.

SPRIGS, One of My Four Just-Released Stencils

To create the print below, I went with a simple way of layering -- just three coats of paint, stacked one atop the next, each used with a different stencil.

The bottom layer -- red on yellow -- was printed with my 9" x 12" stencil Facets.

The middle layer -- translucent white -- was printed with Mimosa Stencil, also 9" x 12".  (Mimosa also comes in a 6" x 6" version.)

The top layer -- baby blue -- was made with Sprigs, one of my four just-released stencils.

Thank you for taking time to visit my blog today!

Fourth Brand-New Stencil -- 9" x 12" THISTLE

Once upon a time, my farmer-father loaded up the pickup with us kids and a collection of sharp, long-handled tools.  He drove us to pasture land that lay at a distance from our home farm.  

As soon as the pasture came into view, I exclaimed,  "Look at all those pretty flowers!"

To this day, my three-years-younger brother will tell this story with glee.

The "pretty flowers" -- I was quickly informed -- were thistles in bloom.

And we had arrived in this pasture to level them with weed-whackers!

Well, I maintain one person's weed can be another person's pretty flower -- and my fascination with thistles has never waned.

One day an idea marched into my head -- why not make a thistle stencil?

So I did.

Here are prints I've made with my fourth just-released stencil --

Above:  (foreground) Thistle Stencil and (background) Mimosa Stencil (both 9" x 12")

Above:  (foreground) Thistle and (background) Mimosa Stencil (both 9" x 12")

Above: (foreground)  Thistle Stencil; (background) Loopy Ladders (both 9" x 12") Stencil; (central background) Ornamental Iron Curls Stencil (6" x 6")

Above:  Thistle and (background) Vases (both 9" x 12")

Above:  (blue foreground) Thistle Stencil; (distant yellow background) Mimosa Stencil; (gray background) Loopy Ladders (both 9" x 12")

Above:  (foreground) Thistle Stencil; (background) Tangled Pods Stencil (both 9" x 12"); (background) Tiger Lily Stencil (6" x 6")

Above:  a greeting card cover collaged with a partial print that was made with (background) 9" x 12" Prayer Flags Stencil and (foreground) 9" x 12" Thistle Stencil.

My four new stencils are also busily making Christmas cards.  More about that in December!

In its entirety, 9" x 12" Prayer Flags Stencil looks like this:

Thank you for taking time to visit here today!

TIGER LILY -- Brand-New 6" x 6" Stencil!

Today's post focuses on Tiger Lily, one of my just-released 6" x 6" stencils.  Here are prints I've made with it -- 

The three prints above show Tiger Lily used alone.  Below are prints showing combinations with other stencils ...

Tiger Lily and Two Vases

Tiger Lily (top) and Webbed Medallion (bottom)

Tiger Lily (bottom) and Tangled Pods

Thanks for coming by to see my blog today!

Help from Mary Beth Shaw, New-Release Stencils and Old Favorite Stencils

The July/August 2017 Somerset Studio magazine carried Mary Beth Shaw's write-up about using silhouette stencils with patterned stencils.

Following Mary Beth's directions, I came up with this:

The "silhouette" stencil in this case is my 9" x 12" stencil Fantasia.  It left unpainted areas on the substrate (a colorful old map.)

The two 6" x 6" stencils that I paired with Fantasia are brand-new releases -- Sprigs (topmost in the image above) and Tiger Lily (bottom).

Mary Beth's technique is quick and easy:  

(1) Secure the substrate to the work area with masking tape; 

(2) use the same tape to layer the "silhouette" stencil atop the substrate.  (In the magazine article, Mary Beth used my Heron stencil and my Osprey Wings stencil -- both of which are closer to what we think of when we say "silhouette."  Here however, I chose to use Fantasia because I was curious to discover what the result would be.)

(3) Add a layer of acrylic paint over the stencil that's fastened to the substrate under it. (For this, I used a sponge brayer loaded with heavy-body blue paint.)

(4) After that paint dries, add one or more stencils with densely figured patterns; use masking tape to hold them down, if desired.

(5) Using a different color acrylic paint, go over the top layer of stencils.  (I used another sponge brayer, loaded with heavy-body white paint .)

Here are two close-ups of the above print:

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

SPRIGS -- One of Four Brand-New Stencils

Today's post features the second of four just-released stencils, all available here.

s523 Sprigs, my second new stencil measuring 6" x 6", has already been used in so many of my artworks that I will need to spread the photos over two days.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!  

4 NEW STENCILS RELEASED TODAY AT STENCILGIRL.COM!

Happy to announce today's debut of four new stencils -- all of which appear here.

Today's post showcases art samples made with the first of them -- s522 Webbed Medallion --

Tomorrow's post will introduce the second of my four brand-new stencils -- s523 Sprigs.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

More Stenciled Art Prints by Mary Ann Russo!

My friend Mary Ann Russo has let me borrow more of her stenciled art prints so I can show them here, before she cuts and rips them into pieces for collage.  Many thanks, Mary Ann!

Above:  Made with 9" x 12" Clustered Leaves Stencil (which has been cut free of its original outer frame.)

Above:  Made with 9" x 12" Clustered Leaves Stencil (which has been cut free of its original outer frame.)

Above:  This art print was made with Marbles, a 9" x 12" stencil that also comes in 6" x 6". 

Above:  This art print was made with Pavilion Shadows, a 6" x 6" stencil.

The art print above was made with the 6" x 6" stencil Ski Lift Works. 

Above:  This print was made on pre-printed paper with Swaying Grasses stencil, measuring 6" x 6".

The stunning red prints above and below were made with my 9" x 12" stencil Marbles.  This stencil also comes in a 6" x 6" version.

Above:  Mary Ann made this print with Trivet C stencil, which is 6" x 6".

Above:  This antiqued piece of collage paper was created with vintage papers that Mary Ann sandwiched between two sheets of art tissue, held together with matte medium.  After staining the paper tan, she used brown paint to made an imprint with my 9" x 12" stencil Vintage Script. 

To see my full line of stencils, please visit here.

Many thanks for visiting my blog today!