Easy to Resist

Some time ago, my friend Cindy Powell and I were exchanging ideas about different ways of creating resists.  I think she's the one who gave me the idea to trace around the openings of a stencil with a Sharpie oil pen -- available at Smile.Amazon.com -- and following this with a coat or two of acrylic paint.

These were my results:

 

 The image above and the image below were both made with Mary Beth Shaw's 9"X12" stencil Blackout Overlap.

 

 The page below was made with my 9"X12" stencil Ivy 9.

Speaking of Mary Beth Shaw -- her 6"X6" stencil Leaf Diamond works nicely when paired with my 6"X6" stencil Quilted Flower Garden.  Try using them together, and see what I mean!

A Follow-Up Free Webinar ...

http://www.createmixedmedia.com/editors-picks/stencil-girl-free-webinar-q-a-with-mary-beth-shaw is where you can catch up with Mary Beth Shaw this coming Thursday, to see and hear answers to questions that arose after her earlier and recent webinar.  I'm signed up!

Love that "Curvie Lattice" stencil!

I've used Mary Beth Shaw's 6"X6" Curvie Lattice stencil twice today; it's in one of my earlier-today posts, below; and it appears again here ...

Above:  I've used masking tape to secure a piece of cardstock to my working surface.  I've placed the stencil over that, and have used more tape to mask off its center area.  My next step will be to use a wedge-shaped cosmetic sponge to apply several acrylic paints -- green, yellow, white and red.

Above:  The finished greeting card -- and I love how these 6"X6" stencils are perfect fits for 6"X6" blank greeting cards.  The "Happy Anniversary" blurb was created on my PC and added with a glue stick.

 

This and that...

The above greeting card was made with a STENCILGIRL(TM)Products stencil --
Curvie Lattice by Mary Beth Shaw.   I masked off the central area before using a dauber to add assorted acrylic paints.

Above is a Gelli Plate print  created with my 9"X12" stencil Boxed Vines

 Below is another Gelli Plate print created with the same stencil:

 

Thanks for stopping by!

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


 

Make a "Sandwich," Then Sand or Scrape

Anyone who missed Mary Beth Shaw's recent stencil-using webinar can still get all it had to offer, at this link --

http://www.createmixedmedia.com/events/stencil-girl-webinar

I had known about the sanding technique but hadn't tried it, till the webinar reminded me, with one of its three embedded how-to videos, the one on dry techniques:

http://www.createmixedmedia.com/events/stencil-girl-webinar

Below is a scan that shows two separate pieces, each with a tree-related theme--

 

In the lower left corner is part of a magazine page originally printed with bare trees.  Using Mary Beth's sanding technique shown in the above video, I created a "sandwich" that had my 6"X6" stencil Gingko as the bottom layer (held in place with masking tape.)  Over that I placed the magazine page, securing it, too, with masking tape.  The top "layer" was the sanding block (available at hardware and home supply stores) ... altho a plain sheet of sanding paper could be used, I prefer the block because it saves the fingers!  One quick sanding session resulted in the over-print of gingko leaves that you see above.

 

The larger, whitish background paper started life as a calendar page, a photo that originally contained a lot of dark green.  Under it, I placed a stencil as the bottom layer -- this time, my 12"X12" Mimosa stencil -- again, securing both the stencil and the paper to the work surface with masking tape.  As a last step, I used a credit card to scrape zinc white (also called "blending white") acrylic paint across the paper, moving with the same firm strokes as needed for the sanding technique.  It's important with the scraping technique to go over each area of the paper one time only.  That second swipe is tempting, at least for me, but it never improves the looks of the piece.

 

The sanded piece will be a greeting card cover but it could just as easily become part of a large collage or part of an art journal page.  The larger, whitish paper will be cut into smaller pieces to become gift tags, greeting card backgrounds, and collage components.

 

These 2 stencils can be found on my web pages at STENCILGIRL(TM)Products.com --

 

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/category-s/1832.htm

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

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!



 

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.





 

I took the Plunge ...

... I've used two cut-up stencils in mixed-media collages!

Cutting up stencils may not sound like a walk on the wild side to some artists, but I come from Germanic stock who are currently spinning in their graves over my having "destroyed" a pair of perfectly good tools.

Oh yes, at first whack of the blades, I felt as if I were cutting into my own flesh ... but I got over that.  "The diligent make use of everything they find," reads Proverbs 12:27.  And what I "found" was delightful color and patterns on two of my StencilGirlProducts stencils --

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l046.htm  (Rafters, designed by Mary Beth Shaw)


http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l137.htm (Calligraphy, designed by Daniella Woolf)

-- as result of my having used them several times for my stencil-and-stain technique (described in my Sept. 5 blog post.)  These altered stencil-bits enhance the artworks in such a way that I just know it was meant to be, all along.  I haven't yet used the gel medium to seal down the stencil-bits, so I can't post the photos yet.  (The collages don't look quite as good while still wearing those temporary pieces of masking tape!) 

This means adding to my "order-next" list, at StencilGirlProducts, since I can't live without replacement stencils.  Besides, I just noticed a whole lot of new exciting stencils on the newly redesigned StencilGirlProducts website.  It's just about time to place that next order!

 

History Repeats Itself...

It happened again ... I used Mary Beth Shaw's 9"x12"Rafters stencil --

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-9x12/view/255

-- and the stencil itself came out so beautifully stained that I can't bear to wash it to ready it for another use as a stencil.  Instead, as I've done before, I will order a new stencil of the same design -- and cut this one up to embellish a collage.  Here is the part that would fit on my scanner; click on it to better see the details:

Ode to StencilGirl

Presenting my abstract artwork Ode to StencilGirl, which was created on Yupo using Mary Beth Shaw's Web Stencil ...

 

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-9x12/view/261

 

... and my Kaleid Stencil ...

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-6x6/view/705

 

... among others.

 

I started with the stencil-and-stain technique detailed elsewhere on this blog ...

 

http://heartworkbycecilia.blogspot.com/2013/02/flowers-v-1-comes-to-center-stage.html

 

... and finished with overlays of acrylic paint, applying it with brushes, rubber stamps, spray, and the kind of paint transfer called a monoprint.

 

Ode to StencilGirl copyright 2013 Cecilia Swatton with all rights reserved

 

Maelstrom!

This is a close-up detail; click on image to enlarge it.

To create my mixed-media collage Maelstrom, I needed two stencils:

http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-9x12/view/310 is where I bought the 9"X12" stencil Eddy Rose, created by Mary Beth Shaw of StencilGirlProducts.com -- and, at the same website, I bought Circle Play, a 6"X6" stencil created by Margaret Applin ...
  http://stencilgirlproducts.com/stencils-6x6/view/672

In my thick base coat of black acrylic paint, I made impressions with the same stencils named above.  That part of this mixed-media collage is not shown here because, despite repeated tries, I couldn't take a photo of the whole piece due to its stubborn refusal to give up areas of reflected light!  I had to content myself with the close-up detail shown above.

After the black base coat, I added layer after layer of stenciled-in patterns in yellow, orange and red acrylic paint.  Between these layers I added strips of paper that I had previously painted in matching colors.


 

Close-Ups of Stencil Work

Above:  On canvas, I used purple acrylic thru a stencil, then over-stamped the dried acrylic with matte gel; after that dried, I added highlights with a Conte crayon.

Below:  After using a stencil with green acrylic in another area on this canvas, I flipped the still-wet stencil over and used it as a stamp, leaving the ghost print on the lower part of this close-up.



Above:  I used green acrylic thru a stencil to make the first impression on this canvas; after that dried, I used an old credit card to scrape over layers of other paints, especially Zinc White, which is translucent.

All stencils used in this post are available here --

www.StencilGirlProducts.com -- and most are designed by Mary Beth Shaw.

Stencil, Scrape & Stamp

 

Above is the start of a new painting, created with 4 stencils from www.StencilGirlProducts.com -- two stencils designed by Mary Beth Shaw and two that I designed.  I used high-viscosity (heavy-body) gold metallic paint thru the stencils as the first step.  I gave these imprints dimension by being generous with the amount of paint.  The red shape came next, followed by another application of gold.

In adding that red "backbone" for the composition, I used a flat paintbrush in some areas but for the most part, I applied the red paint with a scrape-tool -- an old credit card.  Below is a close-up showing the white of the original canvas, and the stenciled-on gold pattern, showing thru the red paint.  This layered look is easily accomplished with the scraping method.

 

Below is the painting at a later stage; I've been repeating the same process of adding paint with a scraper.

 

Here are two later-still-stage close-ups showing more scrape effects:

 

 

Altho not shown here, something more that I often do is to use a stencil as a "stamp," immediately after it has been used with heavy-body paint.  I lift the stencil off the substrate, turn it over, and press the still-moist paint into the substrate, usually in an area far removed from the area of original use.  I like to work toward unity in an artwork by repeating some elements across the substrate, and this method of twice using a stencil, before placing it into a soak-basin, provides a quick and easy way to work in that direction.