Frieda Oxenham: Art Journaling with StencilGirl® Stencils

I started this month’s project with 6 A4 (or American letter size if you prefer) paper, a selection of colours of acrylic paints that I really did not like, together with black and white paint, and 4 stencils that I had not used much (judging by the lack of paint on them). The stencils were: the large stencil from the October 2020 StencilClub stencil set, Forest Floor, the large stencil from the June 2018 StencilClub and the large stencil from the March 2021 Club set. And I also used a gelli plate, sized 8 x 10”. All this just to wake up to what I am. Because that is the next line in Ben Okri’s poem that I continue to illustrate: “Wake up to what you are”. For me adding an image of Frida Kahlo to the mix suited the words considering my own name. Frida used to spell her name with the additional e too but dropped it during the First World War

Here is the tutorial:

1.      Add a variety of paint colours to your plate using a brayer and take prints on your 6 pages. Add more paint when needed.

2.      When the pages are dry, again brayer on paint and then put one of the stencils mentioned above on the gelli plate and take whole or partial prints. Just keep adding the layers on those 6 sheets.

3.      Repeat step 2 but this time only using white paint on your plate.

4.      Repeat step 2 but using black paint and Mixed Media Mail stencil.

5.      Use the large stencil from the November 2020 StencilGirl® Club to spray some vintage book pages with a selection of Lindy’s Starburst Sprays or any other sparkly spray paint of your choice. 

6.      Collect all the materials made in the previous steps and collage two facing 8 x 11.5” pages by tearing the collage materials with a ruler (I used the Tim Holtz’s one) and adhering them with a glue stick.

7.      Using some of the paint colours from step 1, lightly add paint to the edges of the papers. I used a baby wipe and a small brush as well as my fingers.

8.      Spray with some of the sprays from step 5.

9.      When dry, rub watered down white gesso over both pages with a sponge

10.  Drip down fluid pink acrylic paint randomly.

11.  Using the medium stencil from the August 2018 StencilGirl® Club, mark out the pieces onto the back of wallpaper samples (mine came from the Designers Guild Coromandel range). Cut them out and arrange them on the pages as shown. Glue on.

12.  Using dark blue paint and the large stencil from the September 2013 StencilGirl® Club, add the Frida Kahlo head as shown.

13.  Glue on the postage stamp (from Mexico) and the cut from magazines words of the Ben Okri quotation. Outline as desired. I used permanent white markers and Stabilo Woody.

14.  Spray on some sparkly spray paint (I used Perfect Pearls Mist Forever Blue) through the small stencil from the January 2020 StencilGirl® Club.

15.  Edge the pages with a permanent inkpad.

© Frieda Oxenham 2021. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.

Dogs & Poetry: an Ambitious Weekend Project

Earlier this year I spent an absolutely lovely weekend Art Journaling with a group of fellow Art Journalers. It was inspiring and freeing to know that there was nothing I *had* to do for a couple of days other than experiment with paper, ephemera, and my imagination. What a treat!

Maybe that’s why I took on such an <<ahem>> ambitious project. Which I’ll get to in a moment.

Sidebar: I am an ephemera hoarder. I come by it quite naturally and without apology. I love to go junking and whenever I see a stack of old photos, I am drawn to them. As soon as I start leafing through the stack, I begin crafting stories behind the images. I find it sad and fascinating that family histories end up in shoe boxes at flea markets, antique malls and on eBay. It's my duty to save them for a higher purpose: Art. 

One of my all-time best finds is a stack of over 100 headshots from a carnival photo booth. Based on the clothing, I’d guess they were taken sometime in the 1940s. I haven’t been able to bear to use an original one, but have scanned them for reuse as copies. Aren't the faces amazing???

I also love dogs. All dogs. Any dogs. If I see a dog in person, I am going to pet it. When I find the stacks of photos, I cull out the dogs and keep them in a special place. You might begin to see where this is going. And, a few cats may have slipped in, as well.

Dog pictures culled from years of "junking" as well as ordering off of eBay. I love dogs. 

Totally inspired at this point, I decided that during our Art Journaling Weekend I was going to use copies of Carnival photo booth photos, pictures of the dogs, and create stories or vignettes for the images in a small journal.

I've got an Epson inkjet printer that I used with regular old copy paper. I used Matte Medium as my adhesive and there was no problem with ink running. I also set the copier to print everything in black & white. Even the modern-day photos I used.

And then, we added in prompts…

While we were Art Journaling, we thought it would be fun to throw prompts into a bowl for when we were stuck or wanted a challenge. I had to pick:

“write a haiku for your page.” 

You remember Haikus from 7th Grade English — 3 lines, 

5 syllables

7 syllables 

5 syllables

Undaunted (and naive), I dove into my project. Determined.

Since I had sooo much going on — dogs, random people, haiku — I thought it best to pick a limited color palette and stick with it. To give it some ooomph, I laid down Gold Gesso on each page. After that I used Paper Artsy paints and my favorite painting tool, the yellow scraper, to quickly spread color and texture on each page.

So hard for me but I stuck to the same colors throughout.

The journal is wired bound and 6" square

Since that time, I’ve been filling in the pages. I choose a spread and add some interest with stencils. I scribble with a grey Dina Wakley Scribble Stick, Signo Uniball white pen, and a use fineline black pen for the poetry. (The best part is giving the dogs and people names.)

Abracadabra!
Bobby loved time travel,
but it wore him out!

Mr. Barton loved Jane.
He called her the Cat's Meow.
Jane's love was elsewhere. 

Tim was a cat guy.
Decidedly, Pat loved dogs.
Could this ever work?

While minding his shop
Stan dreamt of bucolic days
romping with his pup, Max.

When Fran was naughty
her kitten was taken away
Fran never held her. 

See what I mean? Kind of additive, right? Some of the texture you're seeing is stamps on tissue paper then embossed. For a simple effect, it's pretty much a "kitchen sink" kind of project.

Here are some without the Haikus. Feel free to help out in the Comments section!

I think she's comforted by her fluffy pup while her sailor is out at sea. 

I really want to name this dog Mr. Pickles. The bride & groom are Tim Holtz cutouts. 

These sleeping beauties are all mine. Granddaughter and grand-dog on left and husband and prized hound, TeeJay on right. 

My Uncle Billy is in the photograph.

I love their outfits - all three!

This stencil added so much drama! Stern parents sending the twins to the basement???

On the right is my dearly departed old beagle, Daisy.

From the Photo Booth stash. 

When all the pages are done, I am going to use this magnificent tintype to adorn the front cover.

I hope you are inspired to dig out your stash and commemorate your favorite images. There's something about seeing a collection, isn't there?

Now, onto those Haikus....

Stencils used in this project:
ATC Mixups 1, 2, Apter, Borloz & Dube
Shaw-Apter StencilClub-01-2019
Wieber Caves & Ladders StencilClub 09-2018
Rosie O StenciClub 06-2018
Dube Circles Layer Me
Stegmiller Inky Hearts
Wolf Brick Factory
Mary Beth's Private Collection StencilClub 01-2017
Mary Beth's Private Collection StencilClub 04-2016

Painting on Fabric with StencilGirl® Stencils!

Almost everything you can do on paper you can also do on fabric and I wanted to experiment a bit more with layering paints on fabric this month.  I’m very happy with the resulting piece of cloth but haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with it and I’m leaving it up to you to decide for yourself. You could make it into a wall hanging simply by framing, or you could layer it up with batting and a backing fabric, hand or machine quilt it and then make it into a hanging. Beading would also be a good option.  The resulting piece could become the cover for a notebook or an art journal!

Here is my process step-by-step:

1.      Cut a piece of white cotton to the required size. I wanted 4 x 6 squares and the gelli plate I used is 3” square i.e. size 12 x 18” finished, so I cut my fabric 14 x 20”. I put the piece of cotton on a table with multiple sheets of newsprint underneath to make a good printing surface. Secure your piece of fabric to the sheet underneath it with masking tape.

2.      Mount your gelli plate to a perplex stamp holder (it will cling very well).  I am using a 3 x 3” square gelli plate.

  Add paint with a brayer to your plate and stamp square onto your fabric.

Make sure to clean your plate after each color change. I had a journal to hand to clean both brayer and plate after each printing and ended up with a good background for art journaling.

I used So Soft fabric paint which is a dedicated paint for fabric. Fabric paints are much more transparent than usual acrylics but you can just as easily do this step with transparent acrylics. The transparency is important for the layering effect.

3.      Repeat step 2 using contrasting colors on each square and putting down a stencil on the square before over stamping with the gelli plate. Use stencils with a small pattern. The stencils I used were: small stencil from May 2016 StencilClub, the small stencil from July 2014 Club, the small one from June 2018 Club,  small stencil March 2015 Club as well as stencils S371 Past Paper and S372 Brick Factory

4.      Repeat step 2 but this time using a small 3” circular gelli plate and putting the center of the circle plate where 4 squares meet.

5.      Repeat step 4 but this time use opaque paint in black and white (I used Titanium White and Mars Black from Golden) and put stencil S631 Spiral Petals down on the circles before stamping with the 3” circular gelli plate.

© Frieda Oxenham 2019. To see more of Frieda's work, please visit her BLOG.

Pumpkins + Stencils + Original Fall Decor!

Hello from Desiree!

I LOVE this time of the year! The weather is cooling off at night and the colors start to change all around us. It's the time for harvesting and canning for the winter. Its a time for pumpkins, gourds and ornamental corn. I am thinking early this year so I can get some things on sale, like those white pumpkins at Michaels. I saw something similar to this in a catalog and thought we could make them using our stencils and paint. I hope you enjoy.

Supplies needed for this project:

• A white pumpkin, preferably one that is not real from a craft store. I got mine at Michaels.
• Black, orange and white acrylic paint.
• Paintbrush and dobbers for stencils, Q-tips for clean up
• Black and white paint pens.
• My Rosie 'O StencilClub Stencil Set (a club member exclusive) or your favorite StencilGirl® stencils.
• Painters tape
• Fun decorator Ribbon
• High gloss sealer (optional)

This is a fun way to use some stencils for the holidays. You can do this too!

1. First I taped off some of the sections of the pumpkin. I tried to follow the natural line but that didn't always work. Try to make them similar in size and not too small or your design might not show up well.

2.  Next, I begin by deciding which stencil I will put in each section. I used my stencil from StencilGirlproducts© Stencil Club called Rosie O and I am using the 6" stencil first. I pressed it down onto one of the sections and using a dabber or dobber I applied paint with a pouncing motion. FYI - since the pumpkins are rounded it is a bit tricky to hold the stencil down, use tape to help you and I pushed it against the pumpkin to make sure the image was clean. You can clean them up later also.

3. I kept going around the pumpkin using different areas of the stencils to create the look I wanted. As you start to work on sections next to each other you will have to move the tape to get all of the section painted but you will have a nice line to follow. Make sure you don't stencil over the line.

4.  After the sections are complete I remove the tape completely to finish up the design. You will notice that they are not all perfect but I will clean them up a bit now.

5. You can use a Q-tip and some water to get off any paint that might have been put down somewhere you don't want it to be. I also used my small brushes to fill in the missing paint. My secret tools are paint pens! I used black and white paint pens to clean up edges and add more designs.

Don't these look a bit like spider webs or eyes?

6. I decided to separate the sections with a black line, I like the way it cleaned it up and made it pop. I also added dots later. I liked that look so well that I added some black outlines to the flower stencils and details to some of the other sections. Let your imagination go, have fun. A whole section of spiderwebs would have been fun! I made these little pumpkins by putting my thumb in the orange paint and then making thumbprints in one section, then added faces.

7. Now for the finishing touches and we are all done. Take a good look at your pumpkin, are there areas where it feels empty? Use your paint pens and add other stencil designs or add something free hand. Circles, dots, and stripes are easy to add with the pens.

If you would like them to look like glass you can spray them with a high gloss spray or leave them as they are.  I added a bow, which was easily attached with a straight pen or a glue gun.

My Rosie O stencils from StencilGirl® Stencil Club 2018 (Members can order past club sets!)

Thumbprint Pumpkins

Happy October and Fall!! Have fun designing your own pumpkin this year with your StencilGirl Stencils!

Desiree Habicht