SEPT.1 -- TOMORROW -- MY BLOG WILL HAVE A NEW ADDRESS

Today is the last day I will use this blog.  My new blog address is

ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com 

See you there tomorrow!

Artists Using Stencils!

NOTICE:  Starting September 1, my new blog address will be:

http://ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com/


Artist Linda Webr made today's first print, using watercolor and one-third of my 6" x 6" stencil Quilted Flower Garden ...

... and I really admire the way she used such a "loose" medium to get 

this print -- it has the widely popular "painterly" look yet at the same time retains much of the stencil's original design.  This achievement may sound easy, but not everyone (myself included) can work this well with watercolor and stencils.  

If it sounds out-of-the-box thinking to use watercolor with stencils, just wait!  Another artist -- Melissa Ohlman-Roberge -- has used my 9" x 12" Clustered Leaves to make this print ....

... and the medium Melissa used was stained water left over from soaking a batch of beans!   I take my hat off to creative thinkers like Melissa!  I think the message we can take away from this is:  "Go ahead!  Try anything!"  

And don't forget the fun that springs to life when you spatter your artwork!  

Dena Cusick shows us this kind of fun; she too used Clustered Leaves ....

To read my run-down on a variety of ways to create spatter, please check here.

Today's final pieces of stencil-made art were created by artist Debi Adams. 

 

Check out StencilGirl Talk here -- to see a full-length write-up, with step-by-step photos, showing what Debi Adams did with stencils by Seth Apter and Nathalie Kalbach, alongside my 9” x 12” stencil Clustered Leaves.

Here is just a small sample:

To see more work by Debi Adams, visit her blog.

To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please visit here.

NOTICE:  Starting September 1, my new blog address will be:

http://ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

COMING SEPT. 1 CHANGE IN MY BLOG ADDRESS

NOTICE:  Starting September 1, my new blog address will be:

http://ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com/

UPCOMING CHANGE IN MY BLOG ADDRESS

NOTICE:  Starting September 1, my new blog address will be:

http://ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com/

Black and White Art-Making Ideas with Stencils and Masks

NOTICE:  Starting September 1, my new blog address will be:

http://ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com/

Today's first black-and-white art sample features hot air balloons created with freehand drawings.  

Featured stencil: my 9" x 12" stencil Facets.

Developing the art sample above, I started with a mix of white gesso and liquid matte medium; and I used the subtractive/reductive technique to lay in the stenciled area.  My 9" x 12" Facets, in its entirety, looks like this:

Facets (9" x 12")

After creating today's hot air balloon art-sample, I switched to a second subject -- vases -- and used zinc white acrylic instead of a gesso-liquid matte medium mixture ... 

Above:  These stencil-patterns of smaller vases in the upper left and lower right were created with my 9" x 12" stencil Vases.

My 9" x 12" stencil Vases looks like this:

Vases (9" x 12")

Thanks for visiting my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.  NOTICE:  Starting September 1, my new blog address is:

http://ceciliaswatton.blogspot.com/

CLUSTERED LEAVES 9" X 12" Mask -- and Many Others! -- Highlighted Here Today

Clustered Leaves is a 9" x 12" mask that looks like this--

-- and I continue to be delighted by ways that other artists use it in their art-making ....

Melissa Ohlman-Roberge has created the stunning art below; please feel free to click on it for enlargement so you can better see details in Melissa's masterpiece.

For a hint at the versatility of this mask, my next featured artist is Mary Bucek, who's chosen a cool color scheme and a Gelli Plate to produce the two art samples below--

Next up:  Jackie Giammarco has a novel approach to using my 9" x 12" mask Looking up Through Trees L753.  The stencil itself is shown in the top photo below --

-- and, after making a multi-color print with Looking up Through Trees L753, Jackie grabbed scissors to cut out some of the shapes created by the interplay of overhead tree branches.  Genius-level creative idea!  Some of those cut-outs appear in the photo below; again, you can enlarge it to better see details ....

  

After its borders have been removed, and after it's been used for multiple painting projects, Looking up Through Trees L753 looks like this --

Above:  This is my own well-used mask.

Photographer-artist Kim Ross has used my 6" x 6" stencil Feathers 6 in making the simple yet truly dramatic print below:

Rae Missigman, an exciting artist to search out and follow, created the gorgeous prints below; in the lower right, with bright pink and yellow paints, she's made a print with my 9" x 12" Longwood Florals Mask.  I love what she's done with this entire collection of masks and stencils from StencilGirlProducts.com!  

9" x 12" Longwood Florals Mask itself looks like this--

--and it has a matching stencil here.

I sincerely thank each and every artist who granted permission for me to re-post her art here today; and I thank every one of you who have come for a quick visit to today's blog post!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl masks and stencils, please start here.

3 Artists Using my Stencil and Masks from StencilGirlProducts.com

Whether an artwork is abstract or representational, adding abstract imprints is a quick, convenient way to ramp up complexity in that artwork; and complexity increases visual interest.  One goal of an artist is to capture and hold the viewer's attention; stencil- and mask-imprints are steps in that direction.

Today's post shines a light on artists who have used some of my stencil and masks, and the ball starts rolling with Carolyn McGowan.  The 3 photos immediately below are close-ups of prints she made with 3 stencils from the 9-stencil sheet ATC Mixup Swatton #1.  Carolyn's substrate was brown packaging paper, and her technique was to apply a variety of commercial color sprays and next to add a whimsical touch by sewing around each of the images.  This project was part of a bigger project done at StencilGirl StencilClub for a project-of-the-month swap with a washi tape theme.

Hot Air Balloon ATC 

Hot Air Balloon ATC

Cat ATC

Cat ATC

Below:  The 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #1, which holds 9 stencils and 3 bonus masks, all Artist Trading Card-sized.  Cats also comes in a 6" x 6" size and Hot Air Balloon, two additional sizes.

Coming up next:  A new-to-me artist, Claudia Holland, has used my two stencils below --

9" x 12"  Branching Blossoms Silhouette

... and ...

9" x 12" Garden Montage

-- to make the following prints using her Gelli Plate:

The above Branching Blossoms Silhouette print was made with luscious metallic paints.

Below are two Gelli Plate prints Claudia made using Garden Montage, first as a positive image and second as a negative image.  Both were made with a variety of paints blended together; my favorite is the second one -- I love these mysterious colors!

The photo below comes from another project made for the washi tape series mentioned at the top of this post.  You can click on it to enlarge it and better see details.   The artist here is Joy Bayus, and, among the other images she chose for making her washi tape, she included prints made with my Artist Trading Card-sized stencil Osprey.  This is one of nine stencils that come with my 9" x 12" ATC Mixup Swatton #2 ....

The ATC stencil sheet itself -- along with its two bonus masks -- appears directly below, and is available here.

Osprey and many of the others also come in larger sizes.


My sincere thanks to today's artists, who generously allowed their artworks to be shown here! And thanks to all who took time to stop at this blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Botanical Designs -- with Stencils, Masks and Ready-made Appliques

Any quick skim thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks -- starting here -- quickly highlights my love for botanical designs.  

Below:  The black background is my freehand painting-sketch of a very special personal favorite, bamboo.  The over-print in pale green was made with acrylic paint pressed thru my 6" x 6" stencil Bamboo Wall.  I had to trim the print so as to fit onto the front of a 5" x 7" greeting card ....

.... so I decided to use the leftover scrap as a decoration on the left side of the card's matching envelope:

My love for botanical designs stretches beyond my own creations.   Recently I discovered a source of botanical laser cut-outs that add dramatic punch to greeting cards that I'd created farther back in time--

Above:  The original print was made on Chinese Joss Paper using my Artist Trading Card-sized stencil Ginkgo which is one of nine stencils included in ATC Mixup Swatton 2.  The white lace edging and leafy sprig were late additions -- using a gluestick -- that really sparked life into the overall image.

Above:  Likewise, this original print was made on Chinese Joss Paper using my Artist Trading Card-sized stencil Ginkgo, one of nine stencils included in ATC Mixup Swatton 2.  The white leafy sprig is a late addition -- adhered with a gluestick -- that really sparks new life into the overall image.

Above:  The original print was made on a blank tag using my Artist Trading Card-sized stencil Sprigs, which is 1 of 9 stencils included in ATC Mixup Swatton 2.  The white flower-and-bud sprig is a final-step addition; I believe I'd already added the butterfly (created with a paper punch.)



Below:  a variety of prints (some with close-ups) made with my 9" x 12" Winter Berries Mask and my 9" x 12" Winter Berries Stencil ....

The topmost photo was done with Winter Berries Mask with a base coat of pale yellow acrylic paint on a 9" x 12" stretched canvas.  Having lifted off the mask and allowed the paint to dry, I placed strips of masking tape across some areas, giving myself guidelines for creating vertically slanted areas of various colors and shades.  (I carefully pulled off the masking tape after applying paint.)  Next, I used the patterns of the imprint itself to guide me in developing horizontal, wavy sections that, likewise, varied in color and shade.   

  

Thanks a (botanical) bunch for visiting my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl masks and stencils, please start here.

Mica and Stencils!

From US Artquest (maybe other vendors as well) you can get mica, a translucent mineral that comes in thin layers; and it can be split into even thinner layers. 

It arrives looking like this:

 
You can easily cut these tiles with scissors to form any shape you want.

In the samples directly below, however, I've used the shapes just as they came out of the package.




Above: printed with my  9"x 12" stencil Clustered Leaves and white acrylic paint; my last step was to strengthen the leaves' lines using a red permanent marker by Sakura.

Above:  my 9" x 12" Loopy Ladders was used on a piece of reflective mica

Above: I used 9"x 12" Clustered Leaves to print the background and and 9"x 12" Loopy Ladders to print the middle, barrel-shaped layer.

Above:  Clustered Leaves was used with metallic silver paint to make this print on mica.

Above:  Printed with one leaf from Clustered Leaves (notice the translucency of the mica that lets you see part of the background, which was created with both Clustered Leaves and Loopy Ladders.)





Above:  Again, an image printed using one leaf from Clustered Leaves.

Note:  For each of the 2 above prints that feature just a single leaf from Clustered Leaves, I masked off a single leaf as shown below.  Notice there is a sheet of mica under the masked-off leaf:

Because mica is translucent, it can become the "glass" window atop a photo, a drawing or any other image.  You can create a frame around the edges of this "glass" using a stencil with acrylic paint; mica's slick surface readily accepts acrylic paint.

On each of the three images below, I've used the same sheet of transparent mica, trimmed around the edges with metallic acrylic paint applied thru parts of my Loopy Ladders stencil.  

These three temporary placements are here to show how a piece of mica -- with its edges stencil-printed -- can be used as a frame-accent for areas you want to highlight in any artwork.  Altho these three are temporary, please note that it's easy to permanently attach mica to any sturdy surface; just use a small dab of heavy gloss gel medium.

The heron framed here was printed with my 6" x 6" Heron stencil.

Today's two line-dominant stencils look like this:

Loopy Ladders (9"x 12")

Clustered Leaves (9"x 12")

Because it's flat, mica can be used for layered art that will fit smoothly onto the pages of an art journal.  But -- because it's rigid -- you may want to use it instead on a journal cover.

Mica can also morph into 3D art, when you support it underneath using 3-dimensional glue dots.

And mica makes great dangle-art -- just use a grommet tool to punch a hole in the top of stencil-printed mica pieces to make dangle earrings, Christmas tree ornaments ... you name it.

Thanks for visiting!  To follow this blog by email, just use that option in the upper right sidebar.  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.