Leaf it to StencilGirl Products!

I truly love autumn colors -- nature's confetti that falls from trees and bounce-dances with the wind across my driveway.

Leaves are all around us ... even in arid areas, some succulents sport leaves ... so common that we may tend to take them for granted.  But there is beauty in each and every unique leaf.    

And I find leaves in a lot of my StencilGirl stencils and masks.  Below is my very first try at a pour (on a 12" x 12" stretched canvas) -- and the colors came out so dismally dark that I knew I needed to go a step farther, to save it.  As Mary Beth Shaw has shown in one of her many inspirational videos*, a dark background makes a light image "pop" ... so from her I got the idea to use my 6" x 6" stencil Silhouette of a Wildflower Bouquet stencil with white acrylic paint to create the artwork below.  Is this the final version?  I'm not sure.  I may come back in to add pale tints of color to the larger areas of white.

When I designed my 9" x 12" Garden Montage stencil, which I used in making the print below, leaves combined with flowers to make overall connections within the design:

Leaves of my beloved, but now deceased, mimosa tree were the basis for both my 6" x 6" Mimosa stencil as well as its 9" x 12" Mimosa "big sister."  The next string of images was each created with these two stencils ....

Above:  printed with 6" x 6" Mimosa stencil

Above:  printed with 6" x 6" Mimosa stencil

Above:  printed with 6" x 6" Mimosa stencil, used repeatedly across the paper.

Above:  acrylic paint was added over modeling paste imprinted with both stencils used together.

Above:  both stencils were used with Golden High Flow acrylics as well as bottled spray paint.

Above:  this print was made entirely with 9" x 12" Mimosa.

And -- believe it or not! -- it was a spike-leaved plant at Longwood Gardens (Kennet Square, PA) that inspired me to design my 6" x 6" stencil Sassy Spray, which I used in making the prints below --

*One of my favorite videos by Mary Beth Shaw is here.  Great ideas for "popping" images ... and to my delight, she shows a two-page spread in her art journal that she has embellished (along the tops of the pages) with dark paint and my 6" x 6" stencil Pressed Leaves.  I really like the look when a stencil is used partially, while another part of the design "falls" off the edge of the paper.

6" x 6" stencil Pressed Leaves

  
Thank you for coming to see my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here. 

One of Many Resist Technique Approaches -- with Stencils

What is a "resist"?  The word describes an area, or areas, on a substrate (paper, canvas, etc.) that will resist coverage by acrylic paint, ink, watercolor or any other liquid medium.  

The degree of resistance varies -- with a twofold outcome.

First:  Resist-treated areas stand out from their background.

Second:  Because the degree of resistance varies, results are usually faintly tinted, with a mottled appearance; this makes for attractive details that coax a viewer's gaze to linger.

Many resist media exist -- white gesso and wax crayons, to name only two.  

But for today's post, I decided to try it with two liquid-resistant pencils.  

The first photo below shows a white Caran d'ache pencil, which I used to fill in leaf-shaped openings on my 9" x 12" stencil Ivy Frame.  My substrate was a sturdy sheet of white paper.  (You can click on each of today's images for enlargement, to better see details.)

Below:  With the same stencil, on a new sheet of sturdy paper, I used a white grease pencil.  These are also called China markers and the brand I happened to buy was Phano.  If you click on the photo below, to enlarge it, you can easily see that the pigment stick broke.  I was bearing down too hard!

After filling in a number of the ivy leaves, I poured some black gesso into a disposable foam plate and got out an old credit card.  I dipped the card into the pool of gesso, then scraped the card across my substrate, as shown below.

Close-ups are below --

Above:  grease pencil as a resist.

Above:  grease pencil as a resist.

Above:  grease pencil as a resist.

Above:  Caran d'ache as a resist.

Above:  Caran d'ache as a resist

Ivy Frame comes in two sizes, the size used today (9" x 12") --

-- and the 6" x 6" Ivy Frame 6 Stencil, which looks like this --

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

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Artwork in Progress

In the mood to launch a new idea, I got out a brand-new stretched canvas and drew a random series of shapes with brushes dipped into black acrylic paint.

Once that paint had dried, I used blue masking tape to cover 3 areas of the canvas with three stencils -- my 9" x 12" Facets, the 6" x 6" stencil from the May 2019 StencilClub set and my 9" x 12" stencil Fantasia.  To better see the placement of these stencils, click on the image below to enlarge it ....

After lifting off the stencils, I had created what you see below:

Notice (above) that, with each stencil, I used only some of the stencil openings.

As each layer of paint dried, I re-used the stencils, placing them in a variety of positions, building up layers.

9" x 12" Facets stencil

9" x 12" stencil Fantasia

Used in this project:  the 6" x 6" stencil shown in the lower right above.  This set is available here.

This project is ongoing.  More black lines are coming!

Thanks for visiting here today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Spotlight on StencilGirl Artists!

My hearty thanks goes to photographer/artist Kim Ross; she receives the credit for today's first photo, as well as the art it contains.   Kim used StencilGirl "StencilGuts" in making the artwork labeled "epic."  These "StencilGuts" were created in StencilGirl's manufacture of my 6" x 6" stencil Osprey Wings.

6" x 6" stencil Osprey Wings

In the lower left of the photo above, Kim has crafted an artwork using another 6" x 6" stencil of mine, Cats.

6" x 6" stencil Cats

Thank you, Kim Ross!

And a warm thanks to artist Martie Rowen, who used my 6" x 6" Heron stencil in this eye-catching art journal spread --

What delights me most about this art of Martie's, is the fact that she embellished the heron's silhouetted shape, developing realistic-looking feathers, eyes, etc.  The stencil itself looks like this --

6" x 6" Heron stencil 

I thank Martie sincerely for reminding me, and everyone else, of the value of thinking outside the box -- or in this case, outside the outlines of a silhouette stencil!  And for allowing me to show her art here.

Shifting gears ...

You can click on the image below to better see three prints (all in one photo) in gorgeous earthtones, all courtesy of artist Heather Baley.  She made the prints using my 9" x 12" Longwood Florals Mask, shown partially at the right of Heather's photo. 

Longwood Florals Mask was designed to be used "right-side-up" -- as shown in Heather's photo above -- or "upside-down," as shown below.  In fact, if memory serves me correctly, the plant that inspired this mask was actually growing in the direction shown below!  Heather Baley, thanks so much for allowing me to show your artwork and your photo here!

Longwood Florals Mask (9" x 12")

Longwood Florals Mask was also chosen by Ju Misty, another artist/member of StencilGirl StencilClub, when she created a sequence of three Gelli Plate prints, which she has graciously allowed me to share here --

Above:  Ju Misty created this 3-dimensional print following a tutorial previously posted in my blog; that tutorial can be reached here. A similar tutorial can be reached here.

 Ju Misty, I thank you sincerely!

Last, but far from least, a thank-you goes to fellow StencilGirl designer Carolyn Dube, for the art shown below.

Today's final photo, above, was developed during an art retreat -- delightfully entitled Dancing with Your Muse -- facilitated by Carolyn Dube.  One of the workshop participants, an artist named Chris, gets the credit for this exciting pair of orange, yellow and white prints, and the stencil she used was my 9" x 12" Prayer Flags, shown below:

9" x 12" stencil Prayer Flags

The 2019 Dancing with the Muse art retreat has ended, but you can catch glimpses of it here -- and by scrolling down to the end of that post of Carolyn Dube's, you can learn how to get in on the ground floor for next year's retreat.

Thanks, Carolyn Dube, for letting me use a photo from your fun retreat!

And a thank-you to you, for having come to check out my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

A Video by Sherry Canino!

Leaves!  Is anything prettier in autumn? 

I’m thrilled and honored that, among many other StencilGirl stencils and masks that Sherry Canino chose for one of her  art-making adventures, she included my 9” x 12” stencil Clustered Leaves (see the far left and the far right, above.) She has been generous in allowing me to use her video --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDf2YSolNzk

Many thanks, Sherry, for letting me post your work here!

And thank you too to visitors at my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

3D Fun with Stencil Prints

Earlier posts have focused on the use of stencils in developing surfaces that appear to have 3-dimensions; or, to put it differently, depth.

But what about genuine depth?  Three dimensions can really enhance art journal covers; hand-decorated picture frames; gift-tags; Christmas ornaments; etc.* 

There are many ways to build up three dimensions on a flat surface, especially when using acrylic media like modeling pastes, high-viscosity ("heavy body") gels and high-viscosity ("heavy body") paints.  

Today's post, however, highlights a different approach to building depth.  I completed this project on stretched canvas, but the wooden shapes shown here today are lightweight; any sturdy surface can hold them.

Below:  I've chosen a sheet of foreign newsprint stencil-printed with my 6" x 6" stencils Trivet A (top print) and Quilted Flower Garden (bottom print.)

Atop that printed paper, I've placed a wooden pre-cut shape.**

Clicking on the above photo to enlarge it, you can see that I've freehand drawn an oval line around the wooden shape -- not the same size, but about 1/4" wider than the shape, all the way around.  I've used a blue color pencil so that the line will blend in with one of the paper's colors.

Clicking now on the photo above, you can see I've removed the wooden shape and have begun to cut along the oval that I drew.  

I could have worked from the back of this print -- by flipping the paper over to the "wrong" side and tracing my line-around-the-shape on that side -- but, working from the front, I could easily choose the area of the print that I most wanted to highlight.

In the photo below, I've turned the cut-out over onto its "wrong" side and placed the wooden shape atop it, getting ready to use my embellishment-strength gluestick.  I could also have chosen to use heavy gel medium, applying it with a cotton swab, but I prefer these gluesticks because the drying time is shorter.  

In the next photo, below, I have started applying glue to the edge of the paper shape.  I could have added glue to the wooden shape itself, but experience has taught me that with this glue, no additional application is needed.

If this had been a project calling for a larger wooden shape, I would have cut slits in the paper before folding its glued edges up over the  wooden shape.  But since I was working with a small shape, and since I knew this print had been made on flexible paper, I went ahead with folding the paper over the wooden shape, overlapping the folds all along the edges.  See below:

Above:  the "wrong" side of the wooden shape with the edges of the print wrapped around it.

Below is the paper-covered shape, shown right-side-up.

Now that the 3D shape was finished, it was time to put it to work on a 9" x 12" stretched canvas that I'd prepared in advance; it's shown below.

Above:  On stretched canvas:  art developed with acrylic paints, stencil prints and 3D elements that include the oval shape described in this post.  Stencils used in making the prints include Garden Montage (9" x 12") and the May 2019 StencilGirl StencilClub 3-stencil set.  The artwork above was jury-chosen to be included in two gallery shows at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft, NJ.

Having decided to use the same approach to another artwork, I pulled out another stencil print, this one made with my 6" x 6" stencil Marbles 6 (which also comes in a 9" x 12" size.)  The photo below shows where I've traced another line around another wooden shape.

You can click on the above image to enlarge it and better see detail.

Above:  As before, glue has been applied.  This time, since the shape was quite small, I added glue to both the paper edge as well as the wooden shape itself.

This small squarish shape hasn't yet been used but it will eventually be an embellishment on another artwork similar to the first one displayed in this post.

Don't stop at using wooden shapes!  Look around and you'll find lots of other 3D shapes that can be covered with stencil prints.  Some, like the cardboard coasters shown below, are large enough to become Christmas ornaments.  Let your imagination soar!

Above:  Click on this photo to better see details in its enlargement.

Stencils used in making today's featured prints:

 6" x 6" stencil Marbles 6

6" x 6" Quilted Flower Garden 

6" x 6" Trivet A

And of course ...

May 2019 StencilGirl StencilClub 3-piece set

*If you want wooden picture frames to decorate, you may want to try these or these.  If you want wooden tags to decorate for attaching to gifts, you might like these or these.

** These thin wooden shapes come in packages available at brick-and-mortar craft stores or here.
Thank you for stopping by my blog as part of your busy day!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.  To subscribe to this blog by email, please click on that option in the upper right sidebar.