Niamh here from very wet and windy Tasmania! We are just coming out of winter in the Southern Hemisphere and I am desperately looking for some vibrant colours to brighten up my days. This super simple background made me so happy and very much looking towards Spring!
I started in my large dylusions journal with laying down scribble sticks in patches all over the page. Any water soluble crayons would work for this (in fact - any bright mediums - I just used scribble sticks). I then water activated the crayons by spritzing over water and (because it's me) blending the colours with my fingers. What you end up with is an almost patchwork background.
As I am not a fan of very blocky backgrounds, my secret trick is to use a large stencil (in this case: Magic Garden Mask) over the whole surface. This has two benefits, first you have a unifying image over the surface, and secondly, by using white, you can calm down some very crazy backgrounds very quickly. Another reason I used the water-soluble media is because by using white gesso over the top, you end up with patches of pure white, and patches of pastel colours where the pigment mixes with the gesso. This gives you a much softer and more interesting effect.
After I finished stencilling with paint, I added some mark making stamps over the top of the page - while the stencil was still in place. This gives you the effect of just stamping onto the stencilled parts of the image - and creates a bit of a visual brain teaser working out how it was done!
After creating my background - I decided to finish off my page with crazy collage and a quote. It just made me happy, which is one of the benefits of journalling to begin with!
Hope you have a go at doing something similar. It's a blast, plus you can use any stencil you like and you will change to overall effect. Win, win!!! Here is a video of me putting the whole piece together:
As a stencil artist I always push my creative options with each stencil - what else can I create with this- and I so love the results with this fabulous stencil!
Today’s project was an answer to that question.
Get ready to slow down and enjoy the meditative process of stencil art & slow stitching.
I am using Boho Birds stencil designed by Gwen Lafleur and her passion for creating collage animals in here art.
This stencil has three beautiful hand drawn birds as well as words and phrases making it the perfect addition to any stencil collection.
The Process:
With a pencil trace the outline of the bird ( I’m showing two here because we will be bird stuffing later!)
This will be the template for our bird base.
Trace the tail, the wing, beak and eye.
Feel free to piece out as many and multiple pieces of each bird section- in my bird I also cut out a piece for the underbelly.
Cut each piece and we will use them as templates on our fabric or papers.
Trace each piece onto your fabric pieces and cut.
Assemble the bird using a glue stick to temporarily tack down the pieces~ this will make it easier to stitch.
Select your thread and start stitching.
Remember this is not about perfection so create stitches intuitively, some short some longer.
Varied stitches will also add interest.
A variety of thread colours and densities can also be incorporated for further interest and dimension. I am using a crochet thread, feel free to use thread if your choice.
Once you are satisfied with the stitching - this little guy can be used as is in your art.
If you want to use it as decor refer to the next steps.
To create a dimensional bird, grab the second base piece.
Use cotton, batting, tissue or like I did here a dried baby wipe! (Nothing gets wasted)
With the glue stick to adhere the top stitched piece to this base and join them together with stitching around the perimeter.
1.Collage
was calling me, so I started by making a collection of papers to collage with.
Most of them already had some colour as they were produced for previous
projects or used to clean up brayers and brushes. There were copy papers as
well as deli papers.
2.Using
a 9 x 12” gelli plate and stencil
L117 X-12 I added acrylic paints to the gelli plate with a brayer, put the
stencil on top and took partial prints on the papers selected in step 1, then
removed the stencil and took more prints. I used a variety of acrylic paints,
including some metallic ones. Pic2A, 2B and 2C
3.I’m
working on a black Arteza DIY frame sketch pad, where a pre-scored sheet of
black paper can be folded into a 7 x 8.6” frame.
4.Collage
pieces of the papers from step 2 onto the frame. Start with a potential
background lay-out and take a photograph as a reminder before gluing them down.
Once glued down add more pieces until you
are happy with the finished piece.
5.Using
gold acrylic paint and a cosmetic wedge, stencil on the frames (I worked on two
frames simultaneously) through stencil
S200 Illegible.
6.Using
stencil
S104 Flowerhead, a cosmetic wedge and titanium white acrylic paint, add flowers
to the backgrounds on both pieces.
7.Outline
the flowers with a permanent red pigment marker.
8.Glue
on the vintage text and outline with a black Stabilo All pencil
9.Outline
the edges of the frames with a gold permanent marker.
Admittedly, about a year and a half ago I thought I wanted to do more quilting and had recently heard about TEMU the knock-off online shopping giant. (If you watched the Super Bowl this year you saw the millions they spent on advertising.) I shopped their app, spent about $50, and a couple of weeks later my cheap, plastic quilting tools arrived.
It just felt wrong. And since then I deleted the app and have not gone back.
There is controversy in our Mixed Media World about Temu. They sell products at DRAMATICALLY discounted prices claiming they can do so because of their direct-to-the-consumer approach. But scratch below the surface and you find out that is not the entire story.
Part of the reason they can sell cheaper is they steal designs from artists. I don’t want to lead you there but if you know StencilGirl Stencils and take a gander at Temu’s stencils there are some shocking similarities.
For the record, I am biased - I am a StencilGirl designer. StencilGirl is one of the most ethical art supply companies I’ve had the pleasure to deal with. It is an Angel Company meaning you can use their stencils in the artwork you sell. They pay quarterly royalties to artist designers so we receive a portion of every stencil sold for as long as StencilGirl is around. Finally, StencilGirl is a small family-run company that is based in Missouri, transparent, generous, approachable, and charitable.
Great image from The Cranston Herald Online
When Temu sells designs lifted from StencilGirl images, they are stealing from the company, the shops that sell StencilGirl Stencils, the designers, all of their communities, and the charities they support.
Temu has come under scrutiny for its lack of transparency regarding labor practices. According to the BBC “US lawmakers are warning of an "extremely high risk" that products sold on the Chinese online shopping site Temu have been made with forced labour. The claims arise from an ongoing investigation into compliance with a 2021 US law that bars the import of goods made using forced Uyghur labour.” So, if you don’t pay your workers or your manufacturers don’t pay their workers, you can sell far below the average retail price.
The quality and customer service of Temu is questionable. As of February 2023, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) gave Temu a C+, and the FTC had received 3,323 complaints since the company began operating in September 2022. The items they sell are unbranded and knockoffs of other products.
Finally, although Temu states it doesn’t “sell” your information, they do “share” it. As explained by ZNet “Per Temu's privacy policy, the company does not "sell" your data -- for money, at least. However, Temu does share your information with shipping affiliates, marketing providers, and consumer research companies, which in turn generates revenue for Temu. Temu also "shares" your data with third-party advertising, marketing, and analytics companies to target you with ads.” When you download the app or buy from Temu you agree to this.
It is enticing to think you can spend a fraction of US prices for art supplies, but please consider the costs to the forced workers, designers, and small businesses when you do.
It’s probably not a secret that I love creating grungy background papers. I use these papers to add to the mixed media layers in my artwork.
However, these papers aren’t just for future art. One of my favorite ways to “meet” a new stencil is to spend time getting to know it through creative play. A stencil always looks different unused and even in another artist’s work. It’s through using my own style, color palette and creativity that I discover new ideas and the wheels start turning on how I might use it in the future.
To begin, I always lightly gesso whatever papers I’m going to use. I use white gesso as it helps tone down some of the yellowing in old book pages, and because I like how it mingles with the paint and ephemera. You could also use clear gesso if you want to keep the page as is.
The process is simple, and I don’t really worry if I have the entire page covered. I just add a dollop of gesso on the page, spray with water and quickly spread it with a large flat brush.
Do you have to use gesso? That’s completely up to you. My answer would be yes, because it not only adds a bit of integrity to the old pages, but it helps seal them for all the paint, water and mess that will be layered on top!
For this entire play time, I’m using papers from an old ledger. It’s important that you use papers that aren’t brittle or too thin. If you aren’t sure if the papers you have will work, use several types to get to know them, too! Ledgers aren’t always easy to find, so if you want to add that fun handwriting layer, you could always stamp all over paper before adding the stencil. I also often use old book pages as well. They look just as neat as the ledger pages.
Once all the gessoed pages were dry, I grabbed my paints of choice, an applicator, my stabilo all pencils, palette paper and a spray bottle to begin.
A lot of my play is intuitive, paint-throwing, fun!
And, here are a few short and simple instructions. For each one the general rule is to use an applicator with paint through the stencil, add water + watered down paint, scruff up the stenciled image to distress it, sometimes add walnut ink, and use a hair dryer on the cool setting to move the paint around + help dry. Sometimes instead of drying completely, I mop up the puddles with other gessoed pages. This adds a first awesome layer of grunge to stencil over.
Once dry, layer the other stencils on top (two of the stencils I’m using are ones that layer) or even add additional marks with my stabilo pencils. Most important, however, is to have fun and be creative.
I began by stenciling with Payne's gray on the top and bottom. Before each one dried, I added watery paint for some grunge. Then, I flipped the stencil for layering. I added titan green pale to the larger side and sepia India ink on the smaller. I finished with some loose stabilo traces around the shapes.
Paper Two:
I started off tracing the larger open space with stabilo all in graphite and then black. I activated them with my dirty paint water. On the bottom I stenciled with titan green pale and traced loosely around with a stabilo all activating it a bit with the dirty paint water. Then, I layered the smaller design on the top with Payne's gray. (Note: this page started with Payne's gray mopped up paint in the background)
Paper Three:
For the last paper, I stenciled with Payne's gray, grunged up my stenciling with watered-down paint, and then added walnut ink crystals on top allowing them to drip to the bottom.
I stenciled Payne's gray on top and added grunge and repeated with titan green pale on the bottom. Then, I added walnut ink to both, traced the top shapes with stabilo, and added smaller Paynes gray shapes to the bottom. I finished with some paint splatters.
Paper Two:
After stenciling and adding grunge, I flipped the stencil and added the opposite color to each side. After adding the Payne's gray on top the titan green pale, I decided to move the stencil a couple times and add a few more layers.
Paper Three:
I began with Payne's gray and lots of grungy water and ended by topping it off with walnut ink splatters.
First, I prepped the pages with some walnut ink. Then, I added Payne's gray through each stencil and lots of grungy water and ended by topping it off with more walnut ink splatters. I love that these papers are going to be ready for me to rip out a "listen" or "dream" when I need to add it to my art.
For this first paper, I stenciled with titan green pale and then added partial stenciled images with Payne's gray.
On the second paper I stenciled two Payne's gray (left and right) and titan green pale (top and bottom)
On both papers, I added lots of dirty paint water and watered down paint, and then topped both off with walnut ink crystals for aging.
Second Set:
On the second set of papers, I used India ink. One with Payne's gray and one with sepia, topped off with watered down ink of both colors.
I really love old, worn floors and walls that are painted. I think that's where part of my love of making these grungy papers comes from. They remind me of church frescos or painted floors that are worn from time and use. They hold stories and patina only time can create.
Do you have new, unused stencils? I hope this inspires you to grab them and "meet" them through creative play!
Check out a couple of my other blog posts where I make grungy papers:
One thing I always keep in mind when I create these papers is that they don't have to (or need to) be perfect. In fact, it's better when they aren't. I love the moments that different paint applications, amounts of grunge, etc, make on the papers. There are so many different ones to rip out and isolate to create with.
I had so much fun with this creative play time that it was hard to stop! I discovered a couple stencils and shapes that I'm excited to play with more and created papers ready for me to add to my collage and layers.
