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.)

3 New Stencils Just Released at STENCILGIRL(TM)Products!

The newcomer Boxed Vines measures 9"X12" and is derived from an old design I created for my own amusement long ago.

This design started when a friend gave me several stacks of paint chip samples -- the kind that come in long strips, each roughly the size of a large bookmark.  While watching TV, I idly began to use my fine-detail scissors to freehand-cut these long strips of glossy cardstock into vine-and-leaf patterns.  One thing leads to another; after cutting out several of them, I decided to scan them and incorporate them into a design.  All of this happened several years ago, before the happy day a little over a year ago when I came onboard as one of the designers with STENCILGIRL(TM)Products.  It delighted me to convert this favorite design into a stencil.  I've been using it madly, with my Gelli Plate and with dabber-applied acrylic paints, and will post 2 examples here:



Above:  This artwork was created on gallery-wrap canvas where some other STENCILGIRL(TM)Products stencils helped form the background.*  The individual blue vines are freehand-cut from those strips of paint sample colors.

Above:  a close-up detail of the canvas.

My other pair of brand-new stencils continue my Asian series, which started with my 9"X12" stencil Two Fans, shown below:

Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Bonsai.  Brand new!

Above:  my 6"X6" stencil Bamboo.  Brand new!

 

These three newcomers are available here --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-s/1846.htm

Below are some other artwork samples created with these two new additions to my Asian line; each of them is a 6"X6" greeting card:

Above:  Two shades of green acrylic ink were used, with a cosmetic sponge.  After that paint dried, I added a gold "garland" and a silver Christmas tree ball with glitter glue.

Above:  I used a tri-color dye inkpad (meant for rubber stamping) by inverting the pad and rubbing it over the stencil.  This method works IF you first place the cardstock-substrate on a mouse pad.  It will not work if you are working on a solid, hard surface. 

Above:  I used the same technique with a different stamp pad, with a watercolor-like finished product.

Above:  a "non-Christmas" version of the same type of greeting card as shown above.

Above:  This greeting card cover was created with a Gelli Plate print as its first step, followed by blending chalks and a fine-tip marker.

Above:  This greeting card cover was created with Titanium White acrylic paint applied thru the stencil with a cosmetic sponge.  Later, I added gold and red highlights with glitter glue.

All of my stencils, including these three brand-new ones, can be seen on my web-pages here:
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/category-s/1832.htm

* Other stencils used in this wall art include:

Twist Lattice by Lizzie Mayne

my Borders 2 stencil

Web by Mary Beth Shaw

Map by Mary C. Nasser


 

In Living Color!

Just finished ...

Click on the above artwork to enlarge it.



... and titled In Living Color, this artwork on a 9"X12" canvas, was built up around a homemade stencil and matching masks --

For the homemade part, I used strips of clear packaging tape to laminate an ad showing a row of three young models; after burnishing the tape to make sure the stencil and masks would survive lots of use with acrylic paints and inks, I cut out the row of young women to create the mask.  The resulting borders around the models were way too thin to be used as the three separate stencils that I would need, so I created my own stencils using cardstock and tracing around the three figures in the 1-piece mask:

Above Top:  The 3-part mask, already darkened with multiple paint applications. Bottom:  One of the matching stencils that I made from cardstock.

I started by placing the 3-figure mask over a sheet of newsprint that had been previously sealed with assorted acrylic paints.  I secured the mask with masking tape.

I colored in the background with a layer of acrylic paint, using a sponge brayer.

Above:  Clicking on this image to enlarge it, you can see narrow strips of masking tape that I used to secure the 3-part mask to the substrate (pre-painted sheet of newsprint.)  These strips were eventually removed during the multiple background re-paintings done later in this multi-step process.  The next background painting was in dark blue, as seen below.  It was to be the first of several times that the background received a new coat of paint!

After lifting off the 3-part mask, I used an assortment of STENCILGIRL(TM) 6"X6" stencils, with a variety of acrylic paint colors, to create overlapping imagery across the entire surface of the paper.

This process continued for a long time, adding new stencils and colors, one by one, with dry-time between.  Using acrylic paints shortens drying time, as long as they are not "open" acrylics.

I repeated all of these steps numerous times, allowing dry-time between each, until I was satisfied that the three figures had the look I wanted, against a background that satisfied me.  This repetition included multiple re-paintings of background (so many that they are not all shown in this post.)  The original three-figure mask, and its matching three stencils, were used over and over.

Next I used matte gel medium with a Princeton paint spreader to adhere the paper to the canvas.  I made sure to apply hand pressure to the center of the paper, as I was pressing it to the canvas, and to then work outward from that center.  This allowed the paper to gently stretch with the moisture of the gel so as to avoid wrinkles.  As a further step in preventing wrinkles, I covered the paper with a sheet of resist paper and rolled over its surface firmly with a rubber brayer. 

(Because I was working on a pre-stretched canvas -- which has a "hollow" area in the back, within the wooden support frame -- it was also necessary to brace the bottom of the canvas with some paperback books, placed within the frame.  This gave the pressure of the rubber brayer a firm supporting surface, necessary for forming a good seal between the canvas and the sheet of paper being adhered to it.)

After the matte gel had an overnight wait to dry and cure, I went to the next step, of painting the rest of the canvas with Titan Buff.  Oh yes, I should have thought to do this first -- but I didn't.  So I just plowed ahead with doing it out-of-order, and that worked fine.  Fortunately!

Over the Titan Buff, I placed the 9"X12" stencil Tangled Tribal Hand Large by Lizzie Mayne.  I used a variety of acrylic paints with this beautiful stencil, masking off one section at a time with masking tape, so keep the colors separated.  I allowed drying time between each paint application.

Above:  close-up detail of the decorated hand area of this artwork.

The last stage of the process was to use a variety of other 9"X12" stencils, along with the same decorative hand stencil, to fill in the area along the bottom left two-thirds of the canvas.  Again allowing dry-time between applications, I used one stencil after another and one color after another.

Above:  close-up detail of the 3 figures in the final version of this artwork.

Above:  close-up detail of part of the bottom area of the artwork.

 

The 6"X6" stencils that I used:

Stitch a Doily by Maria McQuire

Seaweed and Mimosa 6 by myself (Cecilia Swatton)

Fibonacci by Lizzie Mayne


The 9"X12" stencils that I used:

Tangled Tribal Hand Large by Lizzie Mayne

 

Wrought Iron Gate by myself (Cecilia Swatton)

 

Feathers and Lattice by Daniella Woolf 

 

and a soon-to-be-released 9X12 stencil of mine entitled Twinship:

The above stencil will be available soon at www.STENCILGIRL(TM)Products.com.

 

Stencil Mania?

This as-yet-untitled artwork might end up with the title Stencil Mania --

Click the image above to enlarge it.
 

Nor am I certain it's entirely finished.  I may go back in with some opaque neutrals to create "rest areas."

In no particular order, here are the STENCILGIRL(TM)Products stencils that I used, with acrylic paints, to create this artwork:

Lizzie Mayne's Fibonacci stencil -- http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s143.htm

Maria McGuire's Stitch A Doily stencil --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/Stitch-A-Doily-Stencil-p/s169.htm

Bubbles stencil by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l007.htm

Michelle Ward's Optical Large --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l040.htm

Broken Circles by Terri Stegmiller --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l099.htm

also by Terri Stegmiller -- Unconnected Circles --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s112.htm

and these stencils by Mary Beth Shaw --
Circle Tile --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l015.htm

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

Unblocked --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l078.htm

Curvie Lattice --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l020.htm

Random Circles --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l071.htm

Is there any stencil or STENCILGIRL(TM)Products designer I've left out?  I hope not, but if anyone spots a stencil design in the above image that is not cited here with its designer, please leave a comment to let me know.  Thanks!

Coordinate!

In a mood to buy yourself a Christmas present?  (Don't forget, "Little Christmas" comes after Christmas -- so you have plenty of time!)

http://www.artpapersonline.com/ carries papers that coordinate beautifully with stencils by STENCILGIRL(TM) Products -- look at the examples below, and just imagine how you can use these papers with your stencil-prints, in art-journaling and lots of other paper arts!

If you have the Tribal Hand stencil by Lizzie Mayne --

 http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s180.htm

-- and/or the Arabesque stencil by Nathalie Kalbach --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l197.htm

and/or Swirly Floral by June Pfaff Daley --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l060.htm

--and/or my Wrought Iron Gate stencil --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l224.htm

-- you can coordinate with any or all of these ArtPapersOnline papers:

And if you have Twist Latice by Lizzie Mayne --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s152.htm

--and/or Net stencil by Mary Beth Shaw --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s129.htm --

you can pair prints from them with this paper:

 

Or this:

 

 

Again: Prints made with any Connection stencil by Andrew Borloz --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/category-s/1817.htm --

and/or Web stencil by Mary Beth Shaw --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l064.htm

and/or X & O Stencil by Andrew Borloz --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l108.htm

-- will coordinate beautifully with this ArtPapersOnline paper:

And one last example of great pairings--

The above ArtPapersOnline paper will coordinate nicely with all the circle stencils at STENCILGIRL(TM) Products; here are only a few examples:

Stitch a Doily by Maria McGuire--

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/Stitch-A-Doily-Stencil-p/s169.htm

Border Circles by Michelle Ward --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l003.htm

Random Circles by Mary Beth Shaw --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l071.htm

And many, many more!

As you scroll thru the ArtPapersOnline website, you will find other examples of happy pairings with prints made with stencils from STENCILGIRL(TM) Products.  Happy scrolling!