Good News! THISTLES Stencils Now Come in 3 Sizes!

More than 60 years ago, 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.

Now that my two StencilGirl ATC stencils are released, I now have 3 sizes of this elegantly tall, flowering plant (that some foolishly consider a weed!)

ATC Mixup Swatton #2 (9" x 12" before being cut up). Thistles is the first image on the left in the second row above.

The other two sizes:

Thistle (9" x 12")

Small Thistles (6" x 6"). This version resembles – yet doesn't exactly duplicate – the original, 9" x 12" stencil.

My newest Thistle is sized perfectly for making Artist Trading Cards, but other art-making opportunities abound.

The first 4 photos below show artwork that give rough ideas as to what these three stencils can produce when used together.  "Rough ideas" because in making these first 4 art samples, I didn't use the ATC-sized Thistles directly.  Instead, I started by making a print (dark green in this case) on sturdy paper using my ATC-sized Thistles, then I scanned that print and enlarged the print in Photoshop; printed it; and cut out that print-out size.  This allowed me to finish the art as a mixed-media collage. 

However, the ATC Thistles do indeed differ in size from the first two Thistles in my series.  The proportions of those differences may not be 100 per cent accurate in these first 4 photos below, but they do serve today's purpose -- they give a sample of exciting possibilities open to the artist when she/he uses the three sizes together.

Above:  In the background is a stencil-print made with with Thistle (9" x 12"). In the center is a pale purple print made using  Small Thistles (6" x 6").  
The red print in the lower right was made with my ATC-sized stencil, in the indirect way explained above.

Above:  In the upper right is a stencil-print made with Small Thistles (6" x 6").  The central area was printed with Thistle (9" x 12").  The dark green print in the lower left was made with my ATC sized stencil, but not directly, as explained above.  Note:  When I used my 9" x 12" stencil Thistles, I didn't use it "as-is" -- instead, I placed the stencil in three areas and made 3 separate prints, allowing drying time between each print.  In that way, I was able to angle the stems to make three of them converge into one point at the bottom.

Above:  In the background is a stencil-print made with with Thistle (9" x 12"). In the upper middle is a blue print made using  Small Thistles (6" x 6").  
The purple print in the lower right was made with my ATC-sized stencil, in the indirect way explained above.

Above:  In the background is a stencil-print made with with Thistle (9" x 12"). In the center is a green print made using  Small Thistles (6" x 6").  
The pinkish-purple print in the lower right was made with my ATC-sized stencil, in the indirect way explained above.

And of course the ATC-sized Thistle can be used independently:

Thanks a lot for coming to see my blog today's post.  To follow this blog by email, please use that option in the upper right sidebar.  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.
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Newly Released: a brand-new collection of 18 images -- mostly stencils, with several bonus masks included -- all sized for creating Artist Trading Cards!  

ATC Mixup Swatton #1 (9" x 12")

ATC Mixup Swatton #2 (9" x 12")