Jennifer Evans: StencilGirl Leaves & Berries Tutorial

 Hi, everyone!

Jennifer Evans here to share a new art tutorial with you for creating this 11" x 14" acrylic on canvas painting
with my home decor Leaves and Berries stencil from StencilGirl Products! 

Step 1: Gesso the canvas and let dry.

Paint background color (I used a dark green, like Sap Green Hue by Golden).

Step 2: Using 2 to 3 lighter shades of green acrylic paint, stencil the leaves.

Using the chart as a guide, stencil the top 3 leaves toward the top of your canvas.

Then move the stencil up and add the bottom 2 leaves (#8 and #9) to the bottom of the canvas.

Next, use your judgment to turn the stencil and fit in leaves #5 and #6, and a berry cluster.

For the berries, I used blue and purple paint.

If you are designing a holiday look, you could change the berries to red (or even white).

Step 3: Gesso the Leaves and Berries chipboard shapes.

While the leaves are still wet, take the opposite end of a paintbrush, or something blunt like a knitting needle, and “draw” with heavy pressure to press a vein into the center of each leaf. (While the chipboard is damp, it will be much easier to manipulate the fibers so that it takes the impression.)

Paint the leaves and berries shapes to coordinate with your canvas. Let dry.

Step 4: Use a collage medium or matte gel to adhere the painted chipboard pieces to the canvas.

Play around with the arrangement before adding any adhesive, to find a composition you like.

Experiment with layering several shapes on top of or overlapping one another.

Set in place with your adhesive of choice.

Finishing steps: Unify any areas of the canvas with acrylic paint, adding light and shadow to the elements.

If desired, detail the veins in the leaves with a graphite pencil, or shade around the berries.

Seal the final canvas with a fixative or spray varnish.

Have fun!
Jennifer