Hello everyone! My name is
Kimberly Jones and I’m delighted to share a fun project with you today
featuring Ken Oliver’s Color Burst watercolors, and StencilGirl stencils!
If
you are new to Color Burst, it’s a richly pigmented powder that explodes into vivid
hues when activated with water. What a fun match for stencils!
I chose several beautiful
stencils for this project including Nature’s Gatherings, Go Your Own Way Arrows, Numbers, and Classic Feather Retake. I decided to create a nature
journal to gather sketches and watercolors and to jot down notes and
observations.
I would love to share some of the details from this project with
you today.
Color Burst is such a versatile
medium and there are infinite ways to use it. You can definitely create a riot
of color, but I like to use it more subtle ways too - for tinting papers and fabrics, and of course
for stenciling. Today I’ll share 3 of my favorite ways to use Color Burst with
stencils. The first way as shown in the photo above is the sprinkle and spritz
technique. Simply gather a selection of your favorite colors that play well
together, sprinkle them in the sections of your chosen stencil and then lightly
spritz them with a spray bottle filled with water. I found it helpful to use
masking tape to hold the stencil in place. Be sparing with the water because
too much will cause the pigment to run under the stencil. This method is very
unpredictable and it’s always fun to lift the stencil and reveal the results!
Technique #2 is a bit more
like traditional watercoloring. I used Chartreuse and Lime Green to stencil a
simple botanical image from Nature’s Gatherings. I used masking tape to secure
the stencil onto a piece of Water Media Paper, and tapped a few granules of
pigment from each bottle onto a craft mat. I like to use a water brush for this
technique, and as you can see I only used a tiny bit of water to create a few
droplets of paint.
Technique #3 is the most
subtle of all and uses my new favorite Color Burst - Burnt Umber!
I like to tap
some into an inkwell or other small container, add a bit of water, stir it up,
and then use it like an ink. I used a cosmetic wedge to sponge some of the
Burnt Umber onto Water Media paper using the tree image from the Nature’s
Gatherings stencil. I used this
technique to create the bird silhouette on the journal cover using part of a
vintage hanky. I also tinted the ledger paper and other paper scraps on the
cover collage using Burnt Umber.
To create the journal
covers I tinted 2 pieces of 6 x 8 1/2 Khadi Paper with more of the Burnt Umber
and water mixture. I covered the front with a piece of vintage ledger paper and
then stenciled over it with random elements from the Numbers stencil using
gesso. I then added a piece of canvas layered with the tinted Swiss dot fabric,
the Burnt Umber bird, some illustrations from a vintage field guide, and a piece of handmade paper stenciled with one of the Go Your Own Way Arrows. A
found metal keyhole topped off the focal point of the cover. Notice that
gorgeous rusty shimmer on the arrow and some of the stenciling? That’s Iron
Oxide Liquid Metals, a new addition to the Color Burst line! It’s actually a
liquid and I used it with a dry paint brush to accent the arrow and some of the
other stenciled areas. It adds so much sparkle! I used a black Posca paint pen
to stencil the word gatherings onto a piece of Burnt Umber tinted handmade paper.
A white Uniball gel pen add some final details to the arrow and other stenciled
elements.
The inside pages of the
journal include an eclectic mix of Water Media paper, parchment paper, and
several pages form a vintage ledger. I used a simple 3-hole pamphlet stick to
bind the journal together using Chartreuse and Lime Green tinted sari ribbon. A
calligraphy brush attached with 24 gauge copper wire completed the project.
It was such a pleasure to
create with these gorgeous stencils and I know they will be making many more
appearances in my artwork!
If you would like to keep up with my artful adventures
please check out my blog Serendipity Vintage Studio or follow me on Instagram@artfullvintage. Many thanks to StencilGirl for inviting me to be a part of
their inspiring community!
