Tuesday, July 31, 2018

In Honor of Gramma Bee by Kristin Peterson


I come from a long line of artists. My Gramma Bee was the first, then my mom and myself. When I was a kid, my gramma and mom would make wheat weaving and we would travel all summer long, going to art and crafts fairs in the Midwest.

When I got a bit older we would all take art classes together, and then, staying with gramma, we would do class all day, eat supper and then, break out the paints around the table, and the three of us would paint that evening. 

Now, I need to let you in on the rest of the scoop.... so as it went, my gramma painted mainly in watercolors and was a realist painter. my mom could go between watercolor and acrylic and work anywhere from realism to abstract. And then, there's me.... acrylic and abstract. So, my gramma and I were at the ends of the spectrum.

That is until the last year she was with us. That last year will be something to remember for sure. the art classes would be too long of a day for her, but my mom and I would still come and take the class and stay with her. We would bring home what we had done in class and gramma would critique the work and provide additional feedback for us. We would eat and continue the conversation, and after supper, we would break out the paint again. 

But remarkably, we transitioned to mainly acrylic..... and mainly abstract.... even my gramma.

One of my fondest memories of my gramma was us sitting around her table painting with acrylics when she grabbed one of the plastic forks and started painting with that and exclaimed, "This is awesome! Why haven't we been painting like this the whole time?!"

My gramma was the most prolific painter that last year she was with us. She painted up a pile of little abstract paintings which my mom would cut up and mount onto cards, which were sold locally in a gallery.

Which leads me back to my project.... a handmade card, which I started with watercolor, added a bit of acrylic paint and finished with a stencil making abstract marks. 

Let's walk through the process. I hope you enjoy..... 

xo. kristin

I squeezed a bit of watercolors onto a note card. I am totally obsessed with Payne's Grey and Nickel Azo Gold.


Then, I painted my watercolor paper with the colors and let it do its' own thing- running, mixing a bit and then dried thoroughly.


I looked through my stencils and chose one knowing I was doing to cut it down to fit my card. I especially liked the left hand corner with its square-ish vibe.... 


Here is the entire stencil, Soulful Scribbles by Traci Bautista.


I usually always roll the paint through my stencils onto whatever I am working on, so I will squeeze out a bit of white paint onto a card and run my roller through. (Hint: I normally only use either white or Payne's Grey with my stencils; so I keep my rollers in baggies until I can't use them anymore.)


Place stencil over your work, and roll..... total happiness.


I love the white on top of the Payne's Grey and yellow. It is soft, yet provides a nice contrast with my background.


Then I cut my background down in size, choosing what I wanted for my card and mounted on a small piece of book paper to provide a visual difference between my background piece and my white card.


My gramma was also a seamstress - and I love sewing on paper any chance I get. I glued my background onto the book paper and decided to sew it onto my card.


Here is how my piece looks sewn onto my card..... so much happiness.


I love giving a homemade card. I think of them as little pieces of art. 


And in this case, in honor of my late Gramma Bee.

7 comments:

  1. Lovely story - and card! Thanks for sharing both!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the story and the results. I have foam rollers - I need to find them and use them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved the card, then read the story. Such a beautiful treasure trove of memories to have. Thank you for sharing, & inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Because of you I love rollers! Great story and awesome art!! Tracys’ stencils are incredible!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful and inspiring story and tribute. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this...and your story. Mom

    ReplyDelete

If you are entering a GIVEAWAY, please add your email address in the event we need to contact you.

To avoid SPAM, please write it like this:

marybeth (at) stencilgirltalk (dot com)

Thank You!