Gingko and Bamboo Wall from my Asian series of Stencils

It was the gingko tree in my own backyard that inspired my 6"X6" stencil Gingko, and it's Jenn Mason at Cloth Paper Scissors magazine who teaches the inspired technique below.

I started with a page of old sheet-music that had previously been painted red (as a Gelli Plate print.)

Next, I used a sponge to cover the red paper with Pan Pastels (Yellow Ochre and Orange, blended together.)  Below is the pre-painted paper now coated with the pastels.

Having placed my 6"X6" stencil Gingko onto the paper, I held it in place with one hand, while using a pencil eraser to rub out the areas within the openings on the stencil.  Pan Pastel is easily erased this way.  It probably helped that when I had covered the original sheet-music with red acrylic paint, the paint had sealed the paper's surface.

Above:  The stencil -- stained with green and blue acrylics from a previous project, has been placed onto the paper and the eraser is ready to be used.

Above:  The eraser -- in the upper left corner -- has been used, and all the pastel inside the stencil's openings has been erased.

 After lifting off the stencil, I was rewarded with this:

Above:  This is a close-up of the same results.

To "fix" the pastel, so it wouldn't smear when touched, I used a squeegee to spread a thin layer of soft gel across the paper.  I learned this trick from Carolyn Dube, altho she has a slightly different approach and uses a Gelli Plate for getting the protective gel across the surface of paper treated with fragile media like Pan Pastel.

The gel did a great job of fixing the pastel.  And it slightly darkened the hue of the paper.

Once the protective gel had dried, I decided to highlight the ginkgo leaves with glitter pens --

My 6"X6" Gingko stencil is available here: 

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s076.htm

I decided to try another subtractive/reductive technique taught by Jenn Mason -- and started with a calendar page covered with acrylic paint.

 
Once the pink paint had dried, I added a fresh layer of contrasting color -- Primary Cyan by Golden.

While the fresh paint was still wet, I placed the my 6"X6" stencil Bamboo Wall into it.  Holding the stencil in place with one hand, I used a baby wipe to clean out the openings in the stencil's design.

After lifting the stencil, I quickly flipped it over and pressed it to the pink paper next to the area I had just used for the reductive technique.  This gave a "ghost print" that will eventually be used as a background in a future project.

Above:  The original print is on the left and the ghost print is on the right.

My 6"X6" stencil Bamboo Wall is one in a series of Asian stencils I've created for www.StencilGirlProducts.com.

Kudos to Carolyn Dube!

Recently at www.stencilgirlproducts.com, we saw the release of new stencils designs by Carolyn Dube.  One of these new stencils, the 6"X6" Open Buildings, caught my eye immediately.  I've used it in a new artwork on canvas, currently untitled --

Above:  Not sure if it's finished yet ... it's my try at the challenging "medallion" composition format. 

Above:  a close-up of one area created with this stencil designed by Carolyn Dube.

Above:  a close-up of another area of the artwork created with this new stencil from Carolyn Dube.

Many thanks to you, Carolyn! Click here on her name to see her blog.

Texture Anyone?

Above:  I've used masking tape to secure a stencil by Carolyn Dube onto a canvas previously marked off into sections (and previously painted with gesso, into which I had placed burlap scraps.)

After securing Carolyn's stencil Use Your Words, I spread modeling paste thru the sections of the stencil that I had masked off with tape.



Above:  a close-up of the modeling paste having been spread thru Carolyn Dube's 9"X12" stencil Use Your Words.

Previously, on another area of the same canvas, I had gone thru the same process with another 2 stencils -- Crazed Invert by Wendy Aikin --

-- and  Kaleid, one of my 6"X6" stencils --


 After the modeling paste had dried, I applied washes of water-thinned acrylic paints to bring color to selected areas across the canvas:

 

This piece is not yet finished but it's on its way.

Thanks for stopping by!

No title yet ...

... but, still waiting for a title, here is a new artwork of mine...

Stencils used to create this untitled mixed-media collage include:

Warped Holes by Lizzie Mayne;

Use Your Words by Carolyn Dube (I used this beautiful stencil backwards, on purpose);

Feathers and Lattice by Daniella Woolf;

Map Stencil by Mary C. Nasser;

and a yet-to-be-released 9"X12" stencil of my design, Twinship --

This Twinship stencil -- coming soon to STENCILGIRL(TM)Products -- holds warm memories for me.  The image is derived from a photo I took in the historic village Smithville, NJ, near Atlantic City.  My friend Mary Ann Russo and I had driven down there to meet my "email pal" -- "penpals" no longer exist, do they? -- Cindy Powell.  You can find her ART STUDIO blog on my left sidebar.  Cindy lives in Utah but she and I "met" online years ago and have been friends ever since.  That day, Cindy and her husband had driven up from Maryland, where they had flown in to visit with other old friends of theirs, left from the days of long ago when Cindy had lived here in the East.  (She has lived everywhere at one time or another, including Japan.)  I never look at this stencil design without thinking of you, Cindy!

Afterthought:  There is one small web-like area (black on red) at the center, in the above mixed-media collage, that may appear to be created by stencil-use, also, but that is actually part of the collaged material, a web-like ribbon purchased from Artistic Artifacts.  (The other collaged materials are papers that had been prepared in advance of my painting and assembling this artwork.)

Words to Live By

I got this idea from someone else, and I wish I could remember her name -- my apologies, whoever you are!  I used one of my favorite stencils by Carolyn Dube -- Words to Live By -- with acrylic paints and Sponge Daubers (by Imagine Crafts) on a leftover half-sheet of self-adhesive address labels:

 

 This is what it looks like now, while still intact.  I plan to individually use the labels as envelope-back stickers on snail-mail greeting cards -- I would much rather use stickers than lick the back of an envelope! 

Carolyn's Words to Live By is available here --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/Words-To-Live-By-Stencil-p/l209.htm

-- and while there, check out Carolyn's brand-new stencil series based on a beautiful assortment of buildings.  These new designs were a fantastic idea and I only wish I'd had it before she did!  But her muse is younger than mine and gets around faster ...

Above:  My first layer of paint being applied to the sheet of labels, thru Carolyn's Words to Live By stencil.

 

Did I Go Overboard?

Some of us -- you know who you are -- are thinking about Whitman's Samplers at this time of year, since they (and all their rich, high-calorie friends) will be staring you in the face every time you step into a grocery store.  Well, this is the inspiration for MY title STENCILGIRL(TM) Sampler, which I gave to this new artwork on canvas --

Okay, so maybe I got a little carried away ... but it was fun.  The bottom layer is molding paste and the top layers are acrylic paints.   In no particular order, these are the stencils I used:

Use Your Words by Carolyn Dube --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/Use-Your-Words-Stencil-p/l207.htm

Trivet B stencil by yours truly --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s167.htm

Optical Large by Michelle Ward--

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l040.htm

Blockout Overlap by Mary Beth Shaw --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l073.htm

my two Mimosa stencils (9"X12" and 6"X6")--

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l141.htm

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s126.htm

and a soon-to-be-released 9"X12" stencil that I titled Boxed Vines ...
just keep checking www.StencilGirlProducts.com.