Pretty/Tough Mask by Linda Edkins Wyatt

Hi! Linda Edkins Wyatt here, with my interpretation of StencilGirl's mask theme. I thought long and hard about what kind of mask to make: a Halloween or Mardi Gras festive mask, a Tragedy & Comedy mask, or maybe a medical mask, since I spent the last 10 months wearing a medical mask daily for my job in a New York City public hospital.

 

But, as I was paying the cashier at my local drugstore, I saw a poster of an eye makeup ad that was really bold and unconventional. It got me thinking about how we use makeup, hairdos, tattoos, clothing, and jewelry as part of the mask, we put on daily to present ourselves to the world. Some people go with a natural look, using makeup to enhance their good features and minimize the imperfections. Others take things a few steps further, with extreme eye makeup, striking tattoos, and elaborate hairstyles.

 

An an oil self-portrait from around 2005 was the basis for the mask

I thought back to an oil self-portrait that I had painted years ago, around 2005, when I was having some serious health issues. I looked sullen and unhappy and painted myself exactly the way I felt. I had been taking a medication that had the side-effect of being unable to sleep without a sleep-inducing medications. I was frustrated and bone-weary. It was a vicious cycle of exhaustion and anxiety. Fortunately, I had photographed the painting, so for this project, I printed two copies of the painting from my inkjet printer, using one for the canvas and saving one for the mask.

A printout of the 2005 portrait was trimmed and glued to an unfinished 12" x 12" canvas

I took an unfinished 12"x12" canvas that hadn't turned out the way I envisioned, and glued one portrait on top using matte medium. I added recycled, empty teabags to join the printout to the canvas, then stenciled until it merged  and I could no longer tell where the printout ended and the canvas began.

Recycled, empty teabags were glued to the canvas, uniting the background and the printout

The printout on the canvas with all teabags added

My Spiral from the Lemurian Garden collection was added with Speckled Egg ink to soften the darkness of the teabags

To further lighten the teabags and unite the elements,
the Tapestry stencil was added using Spun Sugar ink

Once the background was complete, I cut out the face from the second printout

My idea was to create a removable mask for the portrait: a tough but pretty mask. So, with the second self-portrait printout, I again used matte medium, but this time adhered it to a piece of rusted fabric. I used flesh-toned paint the way you would use a makeup base, and pinks (the way you would use blush and lipstick). The eye makeup was inspired by one of the makeup ads I saw in the drugstore.

Rusted cotton was the background for the removable mask.

The eyes were enhanced using Posca Pens

Paint and Posca Pens simulated foundation, blush, lipstick, and eye makeup

A comparison of the finished background with the unfinished mask

I gessoed over the glasses perched atop my head in the original painting,
then added wild blue hair. After trying several stencils for a neck tattoo,
I settled on part of a Sacred Heart by Laurie Milka

 Once I had the face and hair painted, I used a plate to draw a circular shape and added extensions at the side to attach the mask to the canvas.

I pinned the painted rusty fabric, along with some felt padding and a purple batik backing, and cut the circle, leaving strips at the sides to attach the mask to the canvas.

Here you can see the "quilt sandwich" layers in the mask

I lightly quilted the mask and stitched the edges closed, adding pink chalk lines and pink stitching radiating out from the face.

The pink chalk lines were intended to be guidelines for the quilting, but I decided to leave the pink chalk, and also use pink for the thread to contrast with the blue hair.

A few spots of Velcro on the side of the canvas and on the mask tabs made it easy to remove and attach.

Velcro tabs were the perfect solution so that the mask would be easily removable.

It was pretty bizarre to try outlandish makeup, hairdos, jewelry, and tattoos on myself! I tried various crown ideas, a few different stencils to suggest a neck tattoo, and gave my mask-self wild blue hair. You can see in the photo below that the features on the mask and the canvas under-painting match exactly.

On the right, the painted canvas, with an understated version of me. On the left, the mask shows what I might look like if I let loose and embraced bold makeup and hair. You can see that the two versions match perfectly since they were based on the same self-portrait painting.

 The final touches were adding a crown, made from Gwen Lafluer's Art Deco Borders stencil done with embossing powder on rusted fabric, fake blue and green gems around the edges of the mask circle, earrings of Turkmen Jewelry Parts from Gwen Lafluer's website, a few strips of turquoise washi tape, and a cross atop the crown, formed from a section of Laurie Milka's Pilgrimage to the Renaissance.

Here's a video (with music) on the whole process, start to finish. Enjoy!

Stencils used:

Linda Edkins Wyatt, Lemurian Spiral

Kristie Taylor, Tapestry

Gwen Lafluer, Art Deco Borders

Laurie Milka, Four Sacred Hearts

Laurie Milka, Pilgrimage to the Renaissance

Additional resource:
For the jewelry, I incorporated bits of Turkmen Jewelry Parts from Gwen Lafluer's website
Inks, paints and Posca Pens from The Ink Pad NYC

 

Art Journaling with Stencils and Posca Paint Pens

Hi all, it's Gwen back with today's column featuring paint (pens) and stencils.

A few months ago I posted several pieces on Facebook that used poster paints and Posca paint pens along with some of my stencil designs. I had several comments both on my post and in person from people who didn't like or were having trouble using their Posca markers, so I thought I'd share a short tutorial showing my favorite way to use them.

Posca paint pens are some of my favorites of the different paint markers out there. I've tried just about every kind I can get my hands on and I use several brands since many of them use different kinds of paint and work best for a variety of applications. Poscas are a water-based paint, very similar to a poster paint but with a thinner consistency. This makes them very opaque, but also easily blendable. I like to use them to create gradient effects that go from opaque to translucent and to layer and blend colors and shades.

To show how I like to use these pens, I put together a short tutorial for a layered art journal spread with bright stenciled and "painted" focal images.

To start, I opened one of my art journals to a spread with nothing but paint that I'd cleaned off of my brushes onto the pages. Lately I'm really enjoying working in mini journals, so this is a handmade 3" x 3" art journal. I added strips from several different rolls of washi tape onto different parts of the background to start building up layers.

Next, I added some stamping in the background using images from my brand new line of rubber stamps with PaperArtsy and VersaFine Clair pigment ink from Tsukineko / Imagine Crafts.

Once I was happy with all of the pattern in the background, I stenciled the focal image onto the background using more pigment ink and a brush applicator. For this spread I used my Chinese Garden - Koi stencil.

This is where the Poscas come in... for this technique, I pick out a few shades in the same color family and then start with the lightest color. I don't color the entire area, rather I just scribble a bit so I can blend it out. Sometimes I do one color at a time, but as you see below, sometimes I also layer several colors at once, coloring wet into wet with the pens.

Once I have the color down, I use my finger to blend it out. (You could also use a sponge or brush if you prefer, but I find that my fingers are my best tools in this case.)

I continue to add and blend out the color, frequently going back over with darker colors in smaller areas to create a sort of ombre, blended effect.

When I've added all the color to the stenciled areas, I'll frequently add shadowing outside of the image with my gray Posca marker, then I'll either replace the stencil and re-stencil the lines or just trace over them with my black Posca pen. Then I use a pen to add marks and journaling and on these spreads I added some dots with my Posca pens. If you like, you can stamp a focal word or title like I've done here:

Here you can see the finished spread with the koi stencil - I love how you can make the color translucent enough that it's still obviously there, but you can also see bits of the background pattern peeking through.

I repeated this technique on a few other spreads in my mini journal so that you can see how the same technique works with different stencils and color palettes. In this instance it was a great way to cover up and push back a background that had gotten way too dark and busy. For this one I used my Chinese Garden - Lotus stencil:

For the next... the one I showed above where I was stamping the words, I used my Collage Textures and Patterns - Leaves stencil.

For this spread, I used my Chinese Garden - Plum Blossoms stencil.

Finally, I did the first page in my mini journal using my Boho Birds stencil.

So there you go... one of my favorite techniques for using Posca paint pens. You can use the same method for stenciling cards, scrapbook layouts, or other mixed media artwork. It also works for more geometric or abstract shapes if you want to do something a little less representational.

That's it for today - I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial and either discovered a new must-have set of paint pens for your studio or found a new way to use Posca pens if you already have some. And if you try this at home, make sure to link me up so I can see what you make.

Until next time, happy stenciling!
Gwen

Let Your Star Shine by Louise Nelson

Hello Hello :)

Louise here today sharing with you my creative fun with the wonderful StencilGirl stencils! This month I want to share with you a gift [framed print], I created for a very close friend [whose fave colour is blue so that is why the background is blue :)]. 

The simple technique used with creating this print lends itself to a variety of arty pursuits; art journaling, painting, and card making for example.

In creating the background for this print I have used the fabulous 'Loopy Ladders' Stencil designed by  Cecillia Swatton. 

I have put together a couple of photo collages that show the basic steps of how I created this print.

I began with applying a coat of acrylic paint on the background paper. When this was dry I sponged on 2 lighter tones of blue acrylic paint through the stencil to create the fabulous 'loopy ladders' pattern. 

Once the paint was dry I drew the basic outlines of my 3 ladies using a black gel journal pen.

To colour in my ladies I have used a variety of Posca Paint Pens. I have also used a black and white Signo gel pens for fine detailing. To complete the print I have added stars and title work using the same black and white gel pens.

Well that is it from me for this month. I do hope you have enjoyed seeing I created this print. Fingers crossed that my friend likes it :) :) :)

Cheers and Happy StencilGirlArting,

Louise :) xxx