The Many Faces of WINTER BERRIES

Developing the art sample below, I started with Winter Berries Stencil, printing thru it onto a red background.  After that layer dried, I placed Winter Berries Mask over the paper and ran over it several times with a sponge brayer loaded with heavy-body translucent yellow acrylic paint.  The translucency allows glimpses of the background show.

The art sample above was created on stretched canvas with Winter Berries Mask and a few glass pebbles, along with aqua and blue Golden High Flow acrylics.

Below is a greeting card cover created using Winter Berries Mask and spray watercolors.  The decorated wooden heart was added (with an embellishment-strength glue-stick) after the watercolors had dried.

Above is another artwork on stretched canvas.  My tools were Winter Berries Mask, some glass pebbles and Golden High Flow acrylic paint.  These glass pebbles are the kind that usually decorate the bottoms of fish aquariums.  They're responsible for the bigger circles in the painting above.

The art below was created with Winter Berries Stencil.  The stencil was heavily covered with red acrylic paint, having just been used to make a red print on another paper.  While this heavy-body paint was still wet, I turned the stencil over and pressed it to an old sheet of red and lavender printed paper -- using it the same way as a rubber stamp is used, to make this reverse print:

Today's last art sample created with Winter Berries Stencil and Winter Berries Mask -- one artwork; three photos --

Close-up 1

Close-up 2

Full-size

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To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

The Beauty of Complexity -- with Stencils and Masks

How's this for a complex image?

My first print, with black acrylic paint and my 6" x 6" Swatton Links Stencil, was on an old certificate that had previously been tinted blue.

After the black paint dried, I did a "rainbow print" using 6" x 6" Garden at Nemours Mask.  ("Rainbow" printing will be the topic of a future post.)

Below is another complex image of several layers. This time, I used my 6" x 6" stencil Kaleid with pink acrylic paint to create a base layer on dark gray paper.  Once that paint had dried, I again added a rainbow layer with yellow and red acrylic translucent paint, with 
Garden at Nemours Mask.

Below is another kind of complex image, this one created on stretched canvas with modeling paste applied thru my 9" x 12" Longwood Florals Stencil.  After the modeling paste had hardened, I sprinkled the canvas with water-soluble pigment powders.  (I use Brusho brand but others are available.)  The complexity happened when I gently misted the raised floral elements, and the negative space around its elements, with water in a spray bottle.  The pigment powders then released their individual colors.  You can click on the image below to enlarge it and better see detail --

Of course, the most popular way to achieve complexity is to use layer after layer of paint and either a variety of stencils, or, as in the case below, the same stencil.  Over and over, using different colors within the same color family, I used my 9" x 12" Winter Berries Stencil on stretched canvas.  Each time I applied a layer, I not only changed shades of color, but also changed the stencil's position on the canvas.

Today's stencils include:

Garden at Nemours Mask (6" x 6")

Kaleid (6" x 6")

 Swatton Links Stencil 6" x 6")

Longwood Florals Stencil (9" x 12")

Winter Berries Stencil (9" x 12")

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To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Right-Side Up or Upside-Down -- LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK and LONGWOOD FLORALS STENCIL

Longwood Florals Mask and Longwood Florals Stencil, both 9" x 12", are -- like Winter Berries Mask and Winter Berries Stencil -- exact opposites of one another.  Some effects can be achieved with a stencil, whereas others call for a mask.

Above:  Made with Longwood Florals Mask

Another character trait shared by Longwood Florals Mask and Longwood Florals Stencil is that they are designed to be used right-side-up or upside-down.  The original inspiration for this design was actually dangling greenery with flowers.  But -- as shown in the example above -- they work equally well when presented as upright plants.

Above:  Made with Longwood Florals Mask

Above:  Made with Longwood Florals Stencil

Above:  Made with Longwood Florals Mask

Above:  Made with Longwood Florals Stencil

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To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK and GARDEN AT NEMOURS MASK

Longwood Florals Mask (9" x 12") was the art tool I used in creating the first four art samples below....

 And for a complete change of pace, below is an art sample made with Garden at Nemours Mask and Quilted Flower Garden Stencil (both are 6" x 6".)

This mask and this stencil, separately, look like this --

Quilted Flower Garden Stencil

Garden at Nemours Mask

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To scroll thru my masks and stencils at StencilGirl, please start here.

GARDEN AT NEMOURS MASK and LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK and LONGWOOD FLORALS STENCIL

Today's post starts with 2 art samples made with my 6" x 6" mask Garden at Nemours. 

The first sample below was created on sturdy cardstock that had been previously printed with a variety of abstract designs.  To develop the piece, I placed the mask onto the lower left corner and went over it with a sponge brayer loaded with heavy-body acrylic paint.

And the artwork above was created on Fredrix Watercolor stretched canvas using Golden High Flow acrylics and pigment-particles that I bought years ago from a UK company, Brusho.  I believe that similar powdered pigments, offered by other companies, are available here in the US.  These pigments dissolve when exposed to water and other liquid media.  You can better see this effect by clicking on the above image to enlarge it.

Garden at Nemours Mask

Below is another piece developed on Fredrix Watercolor stretched canvas.  Again I used water-soluble powdered pigments and Golden High Flow acrylics.  This artwork was accepted into this year's annual Open Juried Show at the Guild of Creative Art (Shrewsbury, NJ.)  The main tool used was my 9" x 12" Longwood Florals Mask.

The art sample below was developed with Longwood Florals Stencil, which also measures 9" x 12" ....

These two stencils and masks themselves look like this --

Longwood Florals Mask

Longwood Florals Stencil

-- so, as you can see, they are exact opposites of each other.  A stencil and a mask that are exact opposites, when used together, provide a way to play with the concept of positive space and negative space.  I'll be posting art samples created with the two, used together.  Pictures can easily provide a better explanation than words.

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Yo scroll thru all my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here. 

LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK and Friends

Creating the art below, I used Longwood Florals Mask (on the left) and, on the right, It's a Jungle Out There Stencil.  Both measure 9" x 12".

Below is another piece, this one developed by pairing Longwood Florals Mask with Garden Montage and Buds Stencil.  All three are 9" x 12".

The three photos below show art developed with Longwood Florals Mask and Garden Montage.  

The other stencils used in today's samples include:

It's a Jungle Out There Stencil (9" x 12")

Buds Stencil (9" x 12")

Garden Montage (9" x 12")

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WINTER BERRIES STENCIL and WINTER BERRIES MASK

Winter Berries Stencil (9" x 12")

Winter Berries Mask (9" x 12")

This stencil-and-mask set are exact opposites of each other. 

Today's post includes art made with the two together ....

Above:  a close-up showing detail.

These combinations barely scratch the surface of possibilities of pairing these opposites.  You will think of better ways to do it!

To scroll thru all my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.