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


 

Nothing Special But ...

Now, I want to start by saying that Mary Nasser --

http://www.marycnasser.com/blog.html

-- is going to come out with something a lot more spectacular than this, when she starts using her own coasters made from compressed paper.  Her art rocks!

These blank coasters come in plain-Jane form, just begging to be backgrounds for stencil-art.  They are available at Amazon.com and many other online venues.  They come in assorted shapes -- square, round, flower-petal-like; and maybe more.

I'm going to show two (one round and one square) that I've used to make stocking-stuffer Christmas gifts; I decided that they will enter their next  life as coasters, rather than refrigerator magnets, altho I had the option of veering in either direction.  And, if I were into book-arts, they could also become the covers of a small, round handmade book.  (I admire book-arts but don't dabble there.)

Click on the above image to get a closer look.

Here are the two coasters, having just received their first red acrylic coat, inside the spray-box.  (My current camera makes all reds come out with a yellowish tinge, like Chinese red; the actual color is much closer to a Christmas red.  And yes, there is likely some way of adjusting my camera, but only God can understand the directions that come with that camera ...!)

Once upon a time, I would just let loose with spray paints, telling myself to be careful, but that never worked.  Then I learned, during my SpinArt phase, that spray-boxes are a huge blessing!

I make most of my own sprays, including this one, using spray bottles from beauty supply stores and filling them with a mix of roughly 2/3 water and 1/3 acrylic liquid paint, with a few drops of airbrush medium to keep the pain spray nozzle from clogging.

I sprayed the coasters twice, once from each direction, to make the tops moisture-resistant and to coat the edges, all the way around, with matching color.

In a newer post, I will show what comes next...