Hi, everyone! Diane Salter here! Happy to be here today as guest designer for StencilGirl
products and share with you my latest art piece using one of my favorite art
supplies...stencils! I have to say that I have an obsession for
stencils with StencilGirl being at the top of my list. When I make
art I usually have to have a plan in mind. My stencils are always a
great source of inspiration for me, and for this project, I used a number
of them, but the 2 that gave me my main theme were Carolyn Dube's Once Upona Time and Are We There Yet stencils.
The way I get started
most times is by painting papers; this is how I warm up with more ideas coming
to mind. I like to use 110lb cardstock with my favorite paints, Golden
Fluid Acrylics, and of course stencils. The stencils that I used were
Carol Weibe's Machinations WP, Laurie Mika's Pilgrimage toMexico, Maria McGuire's Doodle It Borders, and Carolyn Dube's Circular Patterns for Play and Are We There Yet. I also like to combine the stencils and painting with other mark making tools,
such as a texture comb, brayer, paint splatters, bottle caps, foam stamps,
rubber stamps, etc., basically whatever you have in your home that will make a
fun mark on your paper. Here are my finished papers:
The surface I chose was
a 12 x 16 birch cradle board, and I decided to adhere (using gel
medium) a map on to it for my first layer. I knew that I was going
to make hot air balloons with the theme being travel, so the map was an obvious
decision for me.
I pretty much covered up
the map in my next layer with paint (yellow ochre, Indian yellow hue
and Quinn azo gold), but when the paint was dry I brought some of it back by
using 91% alcohol. I spray a little of the alcohol on selected areas
of the surface and wipe off a little of the paint in those areas so parts
of the map can peek through. I also added my 'landscape' using my papers
and also some more of the map. I used gel medium for the collage part. A good tip: when adhering heavier papers, it makes it easier to work with
them by moistening the back of the paper with some water, which also helps
avoid air bubbles, using a brayer to adhere them.
So next was creating my
images. I drew a basic hot air balloon template, and then cut it into
sections as seen in the photo. I numbered the sections, and then used
these pieces as pattern pieces for my chosen painted papers. I numbered
the back of the painted papers also to coincide with the template pieces.
Next was creating my
castles using Once Upon a Time. And how fun
is this stencil with masks?!
Now it was time to bring
everything together. I went back to my surface with Once Upon a Time again using the small row of castle masks
for the background.
Then I added the
balloons and castles bringing them all together with the gel medium. I
also added a layer of gel medium over the top of the collaged pieces
when I was finished to seal everything in. This prepares the surface for the
next layer.
After everything was dry
I added highlights and shadows to the balloons with Faber Castell Pitt
pens. They have every color of the rainbow (which I have), so I was able to
find colors for this next step. I also outlined the images with
carbon black paint and a black Pitt pen. For added depth to the
background I used some oil pastels, which are very fun to work with. I
also added some more words from Are We There Yet.
To finish up I used the
stencils for the castles from Carolyn Dube's Once Upon a
Time for a little more detail, using a little titan buff and a
permanent pen to add to the windows. And also added shading to them
with my Pitt pens as I did in the balloons.
I always like to spray
my pieces with a workable fixative before I varnish them. And then I'll
apply a couple coats of gloss varnish, which I prefer, but you could also use a
satin or matte finish, whatever you favor.
Thank you so much
StencilGirl Products for asking me to be a guest. I love sharing my art
and techniques, and if anyone would like to see more of my work, you can visit
me at my blog where I also have other tutorials. My blog is: http://dianesalter.blogspot.com. You can also find the
link to my Facebook art page at my blog.
