Wildflowers

 

W   I   L   D   F   L   O   W   E   R   S

I am so happy to be back on the blog and to spend another year on ®StencilGirl's design team. I am Nancy Curry coming to you from the suburbs of St. Louis.  I'm in pretty dazzling company on the team and look forward to every Tuesday when new inspiration drops. I also love all the guest artist posts.  We all have a different artist voice that sings loudly and I love to hear them all.   For those new to my blog projects, almost all of them are titles of songs.  This one happens to be a Tom Petty song, but my choices head across all genres.  I also paint and design a lot of pieces that are floral related so I didn't leave my wheelhouse this time.  This project came about when I wasn't even thinking about it.  I was walking around my local Michael's looking for frames that weren't dented a few weeks ago, but, of course, I browsed the art materials and did a general loop around the store.  I also needed some foam board for  mailing so I headed off to find that and lo and behold I saw a 22" x 28" piece of translucent polyethylene  (mylar is a brand) plastic that was a nice weight (12 pt) and decided to get it and some day I'd have a spin around it.    Fast forward to this week and that's exactly what happened.  A few minutes in,  the lightbulb went off and this project was born.

I delved into my vast stencil stash and got four out to play with.  The main project and the one featured on the video tutorial was done with a favorite of mine, Cathy Nichols' Love Story (L341).  I knew immediately it was the perfect stencil for me to curate parts of for the ideas going on in my head. I love to use parts of larger stencils.  The others I chose were David Daniels' Rooted in Nature Large Caladium (L810) which is more abstract yet still intriguing, Traci Bautista's organically patterned,  Circles Circles (L301), and one of the most interesting SG stencils, Moths by Jane Dunnewold (L520). All of them were approached in the same matter.  Without further adieu, here's the materials list and then the video tutorial.  

 

MATERIALS:

plastic sheet cut into working size

gesso or white paint

cosmetic sponge

stencils

91% rubbing alcohol in a spritz bottle (good ventilation is recommended when you are using alcohol inks)

Ranger alcohol inks:  wild plum, everglades, botanical, glacier, cloudy blue, sailboat blue, boysenberry

paper towels

plastic wrap or white plastic trash bag cut down to size

mats/frames or deep cradle

Krylon Kamar varnish & Krylon UV Archival spray (spray in well-ventilated area)

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the process.  It is one I have used for years on clear acetate with varous types of ink or paint.  It was really fun to work it with a translucent substrate that was inexpensive so I could save my more expensive Yupo for other projects.  Below you will see a close up of the original piece that really shows how much visual texture comes from the alcohol ink on the backside.  It would have overpowered the gesso to be on the front, but from the back it allows the white flowers have enough high contrast to shine.  I have also included the other pieces I mentioned in the introduction.  This process will work for many genres and I love processes that can be versatile.  I'd love to see what you do with these should you head down the road to try this.  

 

 

 

Rooted In Nature Large Caladium

 

Moths

Circles Circles

 

As promised in the video, I said I'd share the finishing process.  I do two-three light coats of Kamar as an isolation coat and then two coats of UV Archival in whatever finish you want. I am partial to satin.  Let it thoroughly dry in between layers and keep the can 12" away.  Even with this finishing, do not hang in direct sunlight.  Indirect should be fine.  They mat well or you can go the deep cradle route.  Both look great.  I'm sure there will be more great options floating around. 

 

As always it's a pleasure sharing my meanderings with you.  Should you want to see what I am up to more frequently, I post most of my tutorials on Instagram on my grid and reels page and post art almost daily.  I post most of it also on my Facebook art page.  My regular Facebook page includes some art, no politics, and lots of standard poodles.  My website is always a little behind, but when I get a chance I update it.  It does have my online store that carries originals and prints available any time.  To get updates about classes, art sales (one coming in June), please sign up for my low volume newsletter.  

Have a wonderful rest of June.  I'll be back on the blog later in the summer. 

xoxo

Nancy