Cleaning Stencils & More New Images made using STENCILGIRL(TM) Stencils I've Designed

Now, I know some of you are way ahead of me on this, but I just learned something that makes me happy.  I had been soaking my just-used-with-acrylic-paint stencils in a basin of water, this being a temporary measure to keep the paint from sticking on, while I continued having fun with more paint applications.  Then, at the unfortunate end of play-time, I would bring out the stencils, one by one, and gently scrub them dry with paper towels.  I would do this while pressing each stencil to newsprint, and occasionally this cleaning of the stencil would transfer a nice ghost image onto the newsprint.  That was a surprise-bonus when it happened. 

But I had trouble with this cleaning method.  It consumed too much time (have I mentioned I'm an impatient artist?) and it led to damage of some details in my more intricate designs.

Having watched one of Mary Beth Shaw's two brand-new DVDs --

http://www.northlightshop.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=mary+beth+shaw+dvd

-- I learned that no water-soak was needed if I were to simply use a baby wipe right after using the stencil with acrylic paint.  This did indeed speed the process ...

... but unlike Mary Beth, I have a heavy hand.  So the problem remained: My brute-force cleansing could damage finely detailed areas of some stencils.

Then the light bulb went off -- my eureka moment!  I placed the stencil, still wet with just-used acrylic paint, onto the usual newsprint.  Next I dipped a plain sponge brayer into clean water, and rolled the brayer over the stencil.  Voila!  It worked beautifully without inflicting any damage!  In some cases I still wanted to gently pat the stencil with a paper towel, before setting it aside to dry thoroughly, but was a quick, easy step to take -- thus pleasing the side of my personality that is, um, impatient.

These inexpensive sponge brayers are probably already familiar to everyone; they are sold at stores that sell house paint, at Dick Blick, at some dollar stores, etc.  Many of them are designed to be throw-aways, but I get lots of use out of mine, before they bite the dust.

Above and below are two greeting card covers, created with collage, using cut-outs from prints made with my "Swatton Borders #1 Stencil."  The top greeting card uses some handmade striped paper that I bought long, long ago.  The bottom card's background is a monoprint that I made, folding a piece of glossy cardstock over a dollop of water-thinned aqua acrylic paint. 

This stencil is available here:  http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l220.htm

Thanks for stopping by...  And many thanks to each of you who have been leaving comments on earlier posts.  Your kindness warms my heart.

 

My Stencils are in the Movies!

In a recent post, I shared my excitement over one of my stencils becoming a movie star in Mary Beth Shaw's brand-new DVD Wall Hanging.
I also mentioned that this is only one of two new DVDs featuring Mary Beth Shaw and brought to the world by Artist Network TV.  I've just happily learned that another of my stencils, 6'X6" Ferns, makes its movie debut in this second-mentioned DVD, Mixed Media Sampler Journal:

http://artistsnetwork.tv/p-536-mixed-media-sampler-journal-with-mary-beth-shaw.aspx

Above is the stencil Mary Beth Shaw used.

I'm awed by the DVD's beautiful results that Mary Beth achieved, using this stencil!  That gal makes art that dazzles me!  The stencil can be found here:

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s100.htm

When I give live demos using my stencils, I create glazes over the eyes of my audience by telling the story behind each stencil I've designed.  Altho my memory has more holes than Swiss cheese, I can remember the story behind each stencil design.  Years ago, when I was still collecting and pressing leaves, I received a birthday bouquet of flowers.  Nothing goes to waste around here.  After the bouquet faded into sweetly scented memory, its sidecar-ferns lived on.  After their moment in my Epson scanner, they became one of the images in my collection of digital clipart.  I no longer sell digital clipart, but I've saved the images from those days.  I wade thru them periodically to cull ideas for presentation to Mary Beth.  One day, this search turned up my ferns ... and now, they live yet again, thanks to STENCILGIRL(TM).    Whoever gave me that bouquet of flowers -- and no, sorry, I don't remember that part -- I thank you!
 

Watching Mary Beth Shaw's "Wall Hanging" DVD -- Cozy Twosome of Puma and Myself

 

My office manager is celebrating All Saints Day by slowly turning green, in honor of St. Patrick ... or is her green blanket simply casting its color upward in response to the bright lights in this room?  I like lots of light for art-making.  My husband says surgery could be done in this studio/office.  Probably so ... but some cat hair would end up being stitched up inside the patient.  Sort of like the cat hairs liberally sprinkled thruout the pages of the library book I am currently delighting in -- Kitty Cornered by Bob Tarte -- lending lots of realism as I flip the book pages ...  

 

 http://www.bobtarte.com/

I'm not reading at the moment, however.  My office manager is supervising as I watch Mary Beth Shaw's new DVD Wall Hanging.  It -- and a sister STENCILGIRL(TM) DVD -- have just come out:

http://www.northlightshop.com/stencil-girl-mixed-media-wall-hanging-group

http://www.northlightshop.com/stencil-girl-mixed-media-sampler-journal-group




 

Not that this can compare ...

http://www.northlightshop.com/stencil-girl-mixed-media-wall-hanging-group/?lid=AJcmmar102913

... Above is a link to a clip from one of Mary Beth Shaw's two brand-new DVDs.  What makes this particular DVD especially dear to my heart is that I've had the honor of her using my 6"X6" Mimosa stencil as the first stencil featured in this clip.  When she makes that one lift off the Gelli Plate to reveal what's underneath, I can almost hear the "Ah!" echoing thru cyberspace, coming from everyone else watching along with me.

Now I know this is not going to compare, but I happen to be working on a mixed-media collage that has gone a bit farther in its development from the last time I posted about it.  And both my Mimosa stencils have fit in with the overall direction this artwork is taking.

Below, I'll post what came after the background collage of tissue paper had thoroughly dried; and I do mean thoroughly -- because the tissue paper background will rip if masking tape is applied to it while it's still damp with the matte medium gel and the spritzed-on water from a mister (as described in my earlier post.)

Above, you can see my 9"X12" stencil Mimosa --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l141.htm
-- and the Squares and Circles 9"X12" stencil designed by Jessica Sporn --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/l203.htm
-- and, in the lower right, the same 6"X6" stencil that's now been happily immortalized by Mary Beth Shaw in that new DVD of hers --
http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/product-p/s126.htm.

The above shot shows a previous use of this 6"X6" stencil -- in the lower left, you can see the first time I used it, taping it to the surface and spraying with a mix of water, white acrylic paint and Golden Airbrush Medium.  (That "recipe" is:  just a tiny tiny amount of the airbrush medium added to a mix of roughly 1/2 water and 1/2 liquid Titanium White acrylic paint.  The main function of the airbrush medium is to keep the mister bottle's spray-hole from getting clogged with dried paint.  'Cuz boy does it bug me when that happens!)

The above shot was taken right after I had added another application of white spray -- this time using my Pat Dews mouth atomizer (Cheap Joe's Art Supplies) and Titanium White Liquitex acrylic ink.  My goal was to get a stronger white than the first step had given me.

Above is a close-up of the next step I took:  With scrap paper and masking tape, I masked off areas to keep them clean, surrounding my two 6"X6" Mimosa stencils.  Then I sprayed the stencils with my mouth atomizer using Golden High Flow Acrylic in Naphthol Red Light, followed by another spray using a mix of Liquitex Titanium White Acrylic Ink and black Sumi ink.

Below is a shot of the whole canvas, with the stencils, masking tape and masking papers removed.  Still a long way to go, but my stencils and I are taking the journey together...  while my office manager naps on the job ...

 

Osprey Wings

Coming to www.StencilGirlProducts.com:  One of my newly designed stencils, measuring 6"X6", features a pair of soaring osprey (fish hawks) and goes by the title of Osprey Wings.

This particular design happens to be one I developed a long time ago, after taking photos at Sandy Hook National Park, NJ, a long peninsula jutting up between a wide double-bay and the Atlantic, with the NYC skyline as background.

The above image, which features one of the two osprey silhouettes on this new 6"6" stencil, was created long ago in Photoshop.  But I could have created the exact same results using this new stencil -- I simply would have placed the Osprey Wings stencil atop yellow-to-purple paper, traced the outline, cut out the silhouette, and adhered it to a piece of background paper. 

This particular background paper started life as a sheet of black glossy cardstock.  I then pressed it, glossy black side down, to a sheet of Plexiglas randomly spread with aqua and blue acrylic paints.  I twisted the sheet of cardstock a few times before lifting it off the Plexiglas and setting it aside to dry.  This method of monoprinting often yields results that remind me of seawater.  This particular piece of paper made me think of soaring over ocean waves, looking down ... so it was natural to add the osprey gliding along below the artist's hypothetical viewpoint, watching for a fish.

Below --

 

-- is another image created the same way:  The background is a monoprint.  After the monoprint paint has dried, the next step is to place the 6"X6" soon-to-be-released stencil Osprey Wings atop the background, and use a dark contrasting color (via spray paint or paint dauber) to add the osprey.  In the above example, the stencil would be used twice, in two chosen locations, to space the pair of birds farther apart than they appear on the stencil itself.

The 6"X6" stencil Osprey Wings:

 

To watch a video of monoprinting using a sheet of glass or Plexiglas, go to:  http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/monoprnt.php

Note that the speaker on this video says you have the option of using "open acrylic" paints to prolong the printing time and to facilitate easier lifting of the finished monoprint.  I agree this is a good idea for beginners.  My samples shown here, however, were created with normal acrylic paints.  After these projects were completed, I bought a Gelli Plate and began using it for my monoprints; this technique is shown in action by Mary Beth Shaw in one of her two new DVDs:
 http://www.northlightshop.com/stencil-girl-mixed-media-wall-hanging-group