Welcome New Designer, Sally Hirst!

Novi Sad Bridge (S937)

This stencil is based on a new bridge in Sally’s home city of Norwich, UK. She was inspired by its clean lines and the way it reaches over the river joining the two sides of the river that runs through the city. The angles and shapes provide energy and movement. An excellent design to use in printmaking Sally also uses it to provide a strong graphic element to her mixed media paintings. The lines and perspective of this stencil will make it a wonderful addition to your own mixed-media artwork.

Bridge Combination L947

This stencil celebrates the lines, shapes, and construction of bridges. Sally is interested in the idea that bridges provide connection, and symbolize transition. We build bridges to take us to new places, connect previously isolated places, and allow people to come together.  In the process of creating we bridge areas of a piece to provide unity and composition. This stencil offers a range of lines and angles, positive and negative shapes that work together in unison. The perfect stencil to provide a lively urban background for prints or paintings in a range of media.

Colemans L948

Sally was inspired by the skeletal structure of a disused riverside warehouse to create this design.. She often finds the structure of a building that has been stripped of its outer layers reminiscent of skeletal trees in winter. She loves the negative spaces that create patterns across the surface. Coleman’s works as both a mask and as a stencil. It is a versatile design that can be used in a number of ways. Sally would use parts of it to mask off areas of a print, use the negative spaces to stencil through, or roll it with paint to use as a relief print. 

Sally Hirst lives and works in the UK. Her work is about journeys, those she takes, and the journey the art goes on in her studio. The textures, shapes, and structures of the urban environment inform her work. Whilst the results are predominately abstract, they are firmly based on fleeting images and experiences. 

She holds both BA and MA degrees in Fine Art and studied teaching at Cambridge University. She is also an educator for GOLDEN. Having taught for many years in colleges, Sally is now a full-time artist creating mixed media paintings, collages, and original prints. Running a wide range of online courses for artists enables her to reach students at all stages of their creative journey worldwide. You can discover more about her on her website, blog, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and YouTube

Sally's stencils are available now at stencilgirlproducts.com

Get Bold with Our Newest Designer, Diane Reeves!

Diane finds herself most inspired by architecture both grand and modest, nature both soft and severe (she has a rock and stick collection she thinks of as little divine sculptures), and the places she's lived for the stories they hold. Someone said once that “Beauty is my food” and that could be her mantra.

Diane grew up mostly in Texas, where she learned to do things her own way; spent a few years in St. Louis, a city she thanks for teaching her to love cities; and with her family she currently lives in Pueblo, Colorado, where she loves the seasons and is finding that she loves the high-desert.

Diane has five children, from 18 years old to 3 years old, and she is married to a charming and creative entrepreneur and writer (who wrote the “charming” and “creative” part of that sentence and insists on the Oxford Comma).

Diane is a painter and she recently finished an interior design program (recognizing now that she shouldn’t have changed her major from Interior Design in college). She thinks grocery shopping must be the worst thing ever, not counting moving cross-country or putting the groceries away. Diane hopes, maybe more than anything else, to travel more in the future.

Diane's first collection of stencils are available today at stencilgirlproducts.com. 

New Architectural Stencils by Ann Barnes

Hello Stencil Enthusiast!

Build architecture into your art journal, greeting cards, and mixed media work with these four new stencils by Ann Barnes.

She says, "I am excited to share my newest SG stencil designs: architectural. These four stencils are based on residential architectural design, the foundation of my work in the field. I love the linear quality of architectural plans; each line type and width represent different elements found within the design. A concept is developed into a vision, which begins with a set of plans."

Master Suite Stencil, S871, 6" x 6"

One of Ann's favorite aspects of the Master Suite Stencil design is the unexpected, angled passage that splits the traditional plan. 

"Rectangular spaces throughout the residence sometimes need a shake-up.," Ann says. "Envision yourself encountering a passage that appears to go in an unintended direction, when followed, it brings you to a vaulted space with the finest finishes and the grandest views. This angled corridor brings a lot of interest to the plan as well as the experience and will also create interest when the stencil is used." 

Ann used the stencil as a framework for the design of the art journal spread below. 

Beginning with essentially blank pages and an inspired color scheme, she inked the entire stencil design onto the upper left and bottom right sections of the pages. 

Next, she tore various handmade papers and added them using the stenciled lines as edges and guides. 

She added painted lines and drew lines with paint to create a cohesive design. 

"This was a very different way for me to work in my art journal," Ann says. "I loved the idea of letting the plan layout dictate the design and not having to consider the areas generated, just allowing the creativity to flow. I will definitely be trying this method again in the future." 

Back Hall Stencil, M330, 4" x 4"

The Back Hall Stencil was derived from a floor plan of the more utilitarian areas of the residence. As one enters the back hall they can access the more personal spaces within the residence, a very different experience from the grand entrance of the foyer. These spaces are smaller and more functional. This stencil provides linear graphics with perpendicular intersections and dashed lines. Its small size can have a big impact and would work wonderfully within a linear or grid journaling format. Small sections of the stencil can also be used for mark making.

Ann envisions this stencil being used with inks and paints, perhaps even textural pastes to give the appearance of raised lines within a piece of art. 

Orientation Stencil, M331, 4" x 4"

Every set of architectural drawings references a building geographically as Ann's Orientation Stencil graphically depicts. The elevations are typically labeled north elevation, south elevation, and so forth. Each drawing then contains a graphic that relates the “building north” as depicted on the drawing labels to “true” north. These types of orientation graphics can be as simple as overlapping rotated axis or as complex as the architect desires it to be. 

"I like to include an aerial view of the structure atop geographically accurate compass points," Ann says. "The combination of the circular opening and the roof plan creates a unique graphic."

Foyer Stencil, S872, 6" x 6"

Some of Ann's favorite aspects in architectural design are portals that give glimpses into spaces beyond. She says, "Sometimes these offer only subtle hints while other times they can provide a full understanding of what lies beyond." 

The Foyer Stencil evolved from one of Ann's residential designs. The double story entry contained a barrel-vaulted passage through to the main living space as well as a turned staircase that, when ascended, provided sweeping views of the property all along the upper-level corridor.

This stencil contains both large and small openings. It can be used for the simple repetitive patterns that symbolize the stairs and railings or the more open geometric shapes that form the arched passage, trimmed paneling and cased openings, or as a complete architectural design. 

"The geometric nature of this stencil will lend itself to many different styles of art," Ann says. 

This stencil is perfect for use with all types of inks and paints, as well as different types of mediums. The larger openings are well suited to doodling or filling with color, images, or even ephemera. 

Access different projects by Ann with these stencils on her blog.

Discover these architectural stencils and wonderful alphabet stencils by Ann Barnes on StencilGirl Products.com.

Little Village Home Decor Piece - by Claudia

Hi, servus and thanks so much for stopping by! Claudia here today as it's my turn again to share some artsy inspiration with you and - despite my love for everything weathered, textured or grungy (actually I can't do anything else...somehow everything I create turns towards at least one of these without me even aiming for it) - this project turned out almost clean and simple...well, as clean and simple as a grunge-lovin' girl like me can get. There's still a grunge feel to it though I think - and the use of thick cardboard, one wooden house shaped block and a wooden tray as a base also adds cool texture - even though it is rather subtle. 

 

My husband and I have just bought a house in the countryside and it has come as quite a surprise to us that we found one that we truly love that fast and in a spot we couldn't wish for to be any better! We had always planned (or hoped) to spend his retirement in the country with our beloved mountains, forests and lakes nearby - and now our dream has come true...which makes me feel utterly blessed and thankful - and happy of course! 

The project was done during the hard time of waiting for the seller to accept our bid. I tried to not think too much of the house (in case some competitor would snatch it away) - but that of course was almost impossible - somehow I just found myself over and over again thinking and dreaming of it. So I decided to put my "house-thinking" into houses right in front of my nose and create a home-decor piece in industrial-grungy style. Either I was going to put it up in our new home soon...or at least I had spent some relaxed time distracted from the stressful thoughts and insecurity. A kind of win-win situation ;) 

The style of my project was inspired by the many beautiful concrete home decor pieces and I wanted my houses to look as if they were cast from concrete - kind of massive, with simple straight lines and shapes. And I wanted the base to look as if it was done from concrete, too. So I went for colours that all have warm grey and grungy beige and white tones. The use of rough cord and an old book page for the clothes line adds even more texture and interest to the project. 

My aim was to have the designs from the used stencils to be the stars - so there was another reason to keep the shapes of the houses and clothes as simple and straight as possible. 

I've used the "Tiny Houses" Sizzix die to cut my houses from thick cardboard leftovers from packaging. The picture also shows the balsa wood tray (looted from the sales section of a home decor store) that was going to be the base for my village scene (in the upper left corner). 

I also like to use little wood houses (also from the home decor store's sales sections) - the grey one became the largest house in the village - the other houses were all done using the cutting die. 

As the die cuts give projecting roofs...

...I shortened these so their ends lined up with the houses' edges. Remember - simple, straight lines! 

StencilGirl stencils used: 

- Building Perspective Italy - designed by Chris Cozen

- Gaol Doorways - designed by Tina Walker

- Totally Triangular - designed by Wendy Aikin

- 1700s Building Stencil - designed by Carolyn Dube

- Large Hall Stencil - designed by Mary Beth Shaw

But first I primed the die cut house parts using DecoArt Americana and Americana multi-surface satin paints Lamp Black, Charcoal Grey, Zinc, Pewter, Cotton Ball, Mushroom and Dolphin. 

Once that had dried I used the same colours (contrasting the ones used before on each house) with the stencils. The paint was applied using a cosmetic sponge. 

I love how beautiful the awesome stencil designs look on the house shapes! 

Time to assemble the houses! I've used Tacky Glue this time as it dries really fast. 

The wood tray was flipped over to form the "faux concrete base" and painted with DecoArt Chalky Finish paint "relic". 

All I needed to finish off my little village was some laundry for the clothes line. I cut that free hand from an old dictionary page. 

Again I used Tacky Glue to fix the clothes to the (thin packaging cord) line. 

Done!

With my additional new home in the countryside (and close to the beloved lake since my childhood days) I will have both - the pleasures and drive of the lively city of Vienna and the stillness and beauty of nature in one of Austria's loveliest holiday spots! I am sure commuting will be quite a challenge at first but also a great adventure - and I will always be remembered of these exciting times and of how blessed we are when looking at my home decor piece. :) 

Hugs and happy crafting!

Claudia

xxx