PALM FRONDS SILHOUETTE Comes in 3 Sizes with Today's New Release

Have you been wishing the Palm Fronds Silhouette series came in 3 sizes instead of only the 6" x 6" and the 4" x 4"?  

Karen P. Johnson of StencilGirl StencilClub made that wish, and now, like her fairy godmother, I'm waving a wand to grant her wish!  (Thank you, Karen -- it was a brilliant idea!)  A new 9" x 12" version is here!

Click on the image above to better see detail -- 9" x 12" L791 Palm Fronds Silhouette

Palm Fronds Silhouette Small -- 6" x 6" 

Palm Fronds Silhouette Mini -- 4" x 4" 

Now, I ask:

What to do when you hit a roadblock in your art-making?

I started off in neutral gear.  My first step was to spread light modeling paste thru my new stencil.  My substrate was a 9" x 12" stretched canvas:

I lifted off the stencil as soon as I'd finished this step and -- since I couldn't clean it right away -- I placed it in a basin of water to keep the modeling paste from hardening (if 3-dimensional media harden on a stencil, small openings can become permanently clogged.)

After the paste had dried overnight, I introduced color across the canvas.

But that first color application disappointed me.  It was a blah dark-blue, with way too little variation in value.  

Reaching a roadblock, an artist can choose.  Frustration?  Or liberation?

I feel it's liberating to say,  "This can't get any worse -- so I'm free to do whatever I want."  

What was a downer segues into opportunity. Experience has taught me that nothing's ever wasted -- because the art-making process takes us for a wild ride; and that ride always teaches something that will somehow have future value.  

For me, art-making is all about process -- not product.  I think that anyone who starts out rigidly expecting a "perfect" finished piece is setting the stage for failure/frustration.  

Oh, it's nice to hear others say they like, or want to buy, our finished artworks, but for me that will never be my ultimate goal. There's a lot of truth in that old book title Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow. 

 When you're doing something you love, you'll keep at it, and it will get better and better.  At some point this joy that went into the art-making  process will be communicated to some others who see your art.  Not everyone will catch your message of joy, but that doesn't matter.  

The real reward is in the art-making itself.

So when I saw that blah dark-blue background, I decided it was my new "blank" canvas.  

Out came my iridescent beads, bits of multicolor faux foil, string gel medium, gloss liquid medium, Brusho dry pigment powders, Pearl Ex metallic powders, gold "metallic" acrylic paint and Golden High Flow acrylics.  

(Notes:  Inks can be used instead of, or in combination with, Golden High Flow acrylics.  Other brands of dry pigment powder are out there; it's simply that I have Brusho on hand.  Likewise, Pearl Ex is not the only maker of metallic powders.  "String gel" is made by Liquitex; Golden Paints makes a comparable product and labels it "clear tar gel."  Both Liquitex and Golden, as well as other companies, make gloss liquid medium.) 

With these supplies, my plan was to create an ultra-wet, 3-D surface that would contain color, flow when tipped, and accept small inclusions.

I could have used pouring medium instead of liquid gloss medium, but for me, liquid gloss medium works just as well, when sprayed with a little water.

I poured liquid gloss medium across the canvas, spritzed the surface with water, and added all of the above products, a little at a time.

Directly below is a shot of the whole canvas after all the inclusions had been added, and after I'd tilted the canvas a little to encourage some flowing.

Below is a series of close-ups of the canvas at this stage:

I set the piece aside for a couple of days to let the multi-product layer dry and cure all the way thru.  (The top dries first because of its direct contact with air, but everything under the top takes more time.)

My next step was to squiggle string gel randomly over about half of the surface.

After the gel dried, I went over it with gold "metallic" acrylic paint.  Directly below is a shot of the entire finished canvas. 

Above:  My brand-new stencil's imprint is most visible in the bottom half of this artwork.

Above:  A close-up of part of the canvas.  Notice where the string gel has picked up some of the dry Brusho pigments, green in particular. 

Below is a photo of the iridescent beads that I found at AmazonSmile.  These beads are translucent so that paint colors show thru them, but at the same time, they add a multicolor element that shifts from color to color as you view them from different angles.   

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What Would that New Stencil or Mask Look Like?

Below:  This new background for an art journal page background started with a solid, dark-blue print made on a Gelli Plate.

After the first paint layer had dried on the paper, I used a brayer to spread Titanium White acrylic paint over the Gelli plate.  

Next, I pressed the masks Palm Fronds Silhouette Small (6 X 6") and Palm Fronds Silhouette Mini (4 x 4") atop the plate, then lifted them off; this left5 their imprints in the white top layer of paint on the plate.  

My next-to-last step in creating this background page was to pull a print using the dark blue paper.  And the very last was to glue it into my art journal, ready for further development.

On a different day, I started a new painting with Palm Fronds Silhouette Small (6 X 6") and its imprint below (in paint-stained modeling paste) is a close-up of that still-in-progress artwork:

On yet another day, after using the Gelli Plate to make new prints with these two masks, I came away with some papers that I decided to cut up and use on a collage.  Below, the central image (lower right) was printed with Palm Fronds Silhouette Small (6 X 6"); and Palm Fronds Silhouette Mini (4 x 4") was used in making the subtle prints on blue paper that appear in the upper right and lower left:

It was right around this time that I started to wonder, "Since I get so much fun out of pairing up Palm Fronds Silhouette Small (6 X 6") and Palm Fronds Silhouette Mini (4 x 4"), why don't I try designing a 9" x 12" version?

What would that look like?

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Collages Developed with Stencil or Mask Prints

Today's first collage features (upper middle) a digital image based on a photo I took of my daughter when she was young.  Her image is surrounded by cut-outs from prints made with stencils and masks.  These include:  Mimosa Stencil (9" x 12"), Garden Montage mask (9" x 12") and my 6" x 6" mask Trivet A.

Below:  an ornate greeting card cover with an orange Solvy background embossed with my 6" x 6" mask Trivet A:

Above:  another greeting card cover, this one using a tag printed with ATC-sized Diagonal Mania, one of the stencils and masks that make up ATC Mixup Swatton #1.


Below, a simple yet multi-paper collage sporting a bright orange-and-purple  embellishment which had been printed with Garden Montage mask (9" x 12") --

Above:  Another simple theme, this one starring a wooden heart over which I've glued a print made with Palm Fronds Silhouette Small (6" x 6".)

Below, another greeting card, this one sporting a background printed with my 6" x 6" Small Tangled Pods mask (part of my Pods series of stencils and masks.)  The foreground embellishment was made with heavy gloss gel medium, glass beads, spray wartercolor and one of the stencils from my Ivy series, Ivy Frame 9 stencil.

Today's last art sample collage is a giftbag decorated with an easy two-paper collage:  

Its orange and yellow section was printed with m267 M and Y alongside m268 R and E.  Atop that, I used blue acrylic paint in making the image with my 9" x 12" stencil Heron.

Many thanks for taking time to come here strolling thru here today!  To scroll thru all my stencils and masks at StencilGirl, please start here.

Surprising Stencil Use!

Today's first image (believe it or not) is a greeting card cover ...

And the second image is the stencil I used ...

KALEID (6" x 6")

My process was simple:  I held the stencil up next to a window, positioning it so that sunlight cast a pattern thru the stencil and onto a sheet of green paper that I'd had secured nearby. 

This stretched the stencil's design into an angle that interested me.

I snapped a photo, printed it, and used it as a greeting card cover -- embellishing it with a curl of glitter in the upper left corner.

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Want a New Way to Use Stencil Prints?

Get out your scissors! ...

... and check out today's collage, made with 2 Gelli Plate prints:

The base-print came to life as I made multiple layers of paint, applying them with a variety of stencils.

Then I made a print with my 6"x 6" stencil Pressed Leaves, and cut that paper into the pieces fanned out above.

The whole print is here, but what I've done was to cut it into shapes that fit together; and arranged those shapes into roughly the same alignment as the original print, while leaving a space between each piece.  

I used matte gel medium to add them to the base.

This is the second collage I've assembled that takes advantage of the drama created by strong diagonal shapes/lines. 

Rather than have just a series of strong diagonals pointing off the edge of this piece, I cut 2 pieces of the original print into half-brackets, and placed them in the lower right corner.  This "braking system" coaxes the viewer to keep looking at the artwork.  The series of diagonals alone would have led that eye right off the paper!  But the "braking effect" brings the eye back thru the entire piece.  

And at the very bottom, one horizontal piece gives the eye a comforting illusion of a solid "horizon" -- the "ground" that gives the shattered image a place to rest. Yes, even in abstract artworks, the eye wants recognizable symbols of this kind.       
   

The original stencil Pressed Leaves looks like this:

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StencilGirl StencilClub Party Call -- April 2020

Want to make your own party girl?

April's Party Call project at StencilGirl's StencilClub provided the challenge of creating a paper doll -- a jointed one, if that was our choice.  

I'd created paper dolls as a child, and now at 71, I'm back at it again!

I knew I wanted my doll to be African American, and I knew that I wanted to use a stencil-and-mask set by Valerie Sjodin  -- Figures Praising -- to make my doll's body.  Valerie's joyous figures have arms and legs long enough to let me use them in making jointed limbs:

Above, I traced around one of the Figures Praising masks, then brought out my fine-detail scissors to cut out the image.

Below:  After gluing my doll outline to cardboard for extra strength, I auditioned faces cut from clothing catalogs that often clog my mailbox --

Above, I've switched to my Joyce Chen scissors, now that the cardboard is making the figure harder to cut.  I've also added a heart, altho it will be covered later by clothing.

Below, I've drawn lines where the limbs will be cut, so they can return as jointed limbs with the help of mini-brads.

Above:  I've cut off the limbs, ready to cut slits for inserting mini brads.

You can click on the image below to enlarge it and better see detail.  This captures the auditioning of scraps cut from stencil-prints.  The orange and aqua scrap was printed with my 9" x 12" stencil Wrought Iron Gate. The green-and-white scraps came from paper printed with my 9' x 12" mask Looking Up Through Trees.  And the large scrap at far left was printed with my 6" x 6" mask Sprigs.  The Sprigs print is the one I decided to use in making my doll's clothes.

Above, I've placed the skirt on the doll just to check for size.  It was easy to make a full skirt from my Sprigs print, because of its design.

I've also added a tiara cut from a strip of Dresden's embossed foil embellishments (available at AmazonSmile and Etsy.)

Below:  I've turned the doll's torso and arms, as well as the Sprigs print, back-sides-up.  (Yes, the print had been made on an old calendar page photo!)  With a black pen, I have traced around the torso and arms, on my way to creating the doll's blouse.

Above, you can see I've moved the doll pieces aside so I could finish drawing in lines that would be needed for cutting.

Below:  The blouse pieces have been cut out and placed on the doll to double-check for fit.  The strip of Dresden's embossed foil embellishments -- shown along the top of this photo -- have been used again, to give the doll a collar matching her tiara.

You can click on the above image to enlarge it and better see detail.

In the above photo, the skirt has been placed on the doll temporarily.  It won't be glued down until the legs have been re-attached.

Below, with an embellishment gluestick in hand, I've started to paste the blouse pieces onto the torso and arms.

Above:  I've started to cut slits for mini brads that will give the doll back her arms and legs.  A close-up is below --

Again, you can click on the above photo to enlarge it to see details more clearly.

The photo below shows the back of the doll after her legs have been attached with mini-brads.

Above, a front-view shows both arms and legs jointed with mini brads.

Below:  I've pasted on the skirt, along with a belt and two bracelets, all cut from Dresden's embossed foil embellishments.  The doll is finished!

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