"Enchanted Garden" - a mixed media pastiche by Sue Plumb

Hi Stencil Lover!

Sue Plumb here today to share my latest project for the StencilGirl® Creative Team. For today's project, I was tasked with the theme "Pastiche". If you haven't been following the team projects that have come before me, then you may not be familiar with the term? Simply put, a pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, or music that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche celebrates, rather than mocks, the work it imitates.

I began by choosing the work of an artist whose work I find not only beautiful but also incredibly inspiring. Being Australian, I couldn't go past picking a fellow Aussie, so the artist I chose was Clair Bremner. Clair creates paintings that are inspired by nature, and she uses an amazing combination of both color and form to translate the things she sees into stunning works of art. I had long wanted to try working in Clair's style, so this provided me the perfect opportunity.

Here's a sample of Clair's work from her online gallery so you can see her style...

I chose this example of Clair's work, as I decided to use a similar color palette and materials. I chose watercolor paper for my substrate (A3 size), and like Clair, I worked with acrylics.

Here's my piece, I entitled "Enchanted Garden"...

I used a combination of brayer, silicone spatula, and brush to apply my base colors to the page. I worked in a random fashion, but unlike Clair's piece, I left some white space as I like the balance between busy and clean. 

With the base colors down on the page, it was then time to begin building the layers. The first stencil I chose was Bouquet Greenery by Wendy Brightbill. This 9x12" stencil features large leafy branches, which I thought would work for trees in the scale I was working in. I used Naples Yellow paint from Monte Marte to provide a contrast to the background colors and applied the paint using a stippling technique with a brush.

Next, I moved onto some Dusky Pink paint and the Playful Petals stencil designed by Jennifer Evans. I masked off a small section of the stencil and used the same stippling technique to add some groups of petals that I thought would make great bushes. 

At this point I felt my painting needed a little more "light", so I chose white paint for my next layer. The stencil I used was June Pfaff Daly's Inspired by Frida stencil. Once again, I masked off a small section of the stencil, this time a leafy branch, and used it to add some branches into my layers, making sure to overlap them with other portions of my design to help add depth to the piece. 

While I was using the white paint, I also added some sweet little fern branches in the foreground using the Maidenhair Fern stencil by Rae Missigman. I adore the whimsical style of the fern branches on this stencil and thought it was perfect as part of my tribute to Clair's work. 

The final stencil I used was the super cute Daisies 6 by Terri Stegmiller. In order to be able to be very controlled with my placement, I masked off a single daisy and used Marine (a very dark blue) to add a few flowers around the page. (Because this stencil design was a little more delicate, I simply painted through the stencil with a small flat brush rather than stippled with the larger brush.)

Once all the painted layers were in place, I used a black Sharpie, white Sharpie, and a Stabilo All pencil to add the finishing touches to my page. This was simply a case of adding a combination of small marks and lines over the top of the paint. (Make sure the paint is totally dry before doing this, or you will completely ruin the tip of your pens!)

I am so happy with how this piece turned out, and I really hope I did justice to Clair's amazing style. You can view more of Clair's work on her website: http://www.clairbremnerart.com/

If you would like to watch me create this painting, I have a video of my process available:

IF the video does not show up on your phone, please try:

https://youtu.be/xnVI_G5Y8Rw

Thanks so much for stopping by today so I could share this with you. Until next time, happy creating!

You can also find me on my channels here:

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Mixed Media Pastiche - We Honor Each Other

Hello Friends,

Shel Cee writing to you today :)

Our newest challenge from the StencilGirl® Creative Team was to create mixed media pastiche art. Art made in a way that honors another artist. A fun and creative challenge for sure as we are always developing our own style each time we work. And always hoping and wondering if our personal style shows through in what we do. 

Peg and I discussed what we would like to do for this challenge and we decided that since we work as a duo for the team, we would make art pieces that imitated and honored each other. Peg and I have often collaborated in many different ways throughout the years. We have sent each other materials to create with to see what would happen. We have started an art piece and then sent it to the other person to finish. We have done journal pages in round-robin journals. Currently, we do a YouTube livestream show each week as a duo. However, our styles are not the same. We do not use the same color palette or always grab the same favorite tools. We might do the same prompt challenge at the same time on our show, and our pieces come out completely different! We think this is why we work well together. Not exactly opposite, but not exactly the same either. It is more interesting that way!

So, how do you figure out how to duplicate someone else's artistic style while also honoring it? My take on this idea started with thinking about a color palette. Peg and I constantly joke that I do not like brown as much as she does. Concurrently, she does not favor purple and that is my confessed favorite color. So to figure out Peg's color palette was my first thought. I chose colors I know she likes, brown, golds, green, teal, and a bit of shimmery copper. 

Next, I thought about what are her favorite StencilGirl stencils? Well, I actually know that her #1 go to favorite is the Stone and Mortar designs by MaryBeth Shaw. We both have that design in multiple sizes...it's awesome! I also know that Peg enjoys Seth Apter stencils and she is really in love with a recent StencilClub® design by Rae Missigman. So these were the stencil choices I made. 

Next came the thought of what are Peg's favorite tools or products. I knew for sure the gel plate. Who does not LOVE a gel plate. I also thought about alcohol inks and distress inks. Some of her most used products. Lastly, I looked at Peg's Instagram account photos to pick a theme or motif. I noticed she uses lots of natural elements and seems to enjoy drawing leaves and vines. So, my plan was set! And here is what I made in 'Peg style' on a 5X7 canvas panel. I think it fits right in with her art!

S375 - Stone and Mortar, Version 2 by Mary Beth Shaw 

L185 – Unfinished by Seth Apter

StencilClub Sept. 2020 Modern Botanicals by Rae Missigman 

If you would enjoy watching the process of Shel making this art piece:

Without any discussion or planning, Peg started her pastiche piece exactly the same way as Shel did. She wanted to work in a multi-step way and needed to create printed painterly paper to use for collage. Of course, our favorite way to do that is with a Gel Press Plate.

Once Peg has her pile of collage materials, she broke them down a bit and adds them into a box she can rifle through to find just the piece of color and texture she wants to glue down.

Peg says - Shel has a fantastic method for collage so I am going to utilize her method to create a collaged animal image. I don't even know how many journals, tags, and canvases she has created this way but all of them are stunning. She was doing an animal monthly and many of her abstract pieces are also collage.

Don't you love all that yummy texture created by the paint and stencils? So I use these papers to glue to a piece of deli paper that contains my initial sketch. You can male multiple layers because the deli wrap is easy to see through and trace your drawing. I don't spend much time on this but I want it to be the right size for the substrate.

So it is all glued and collaged with layers and final stenciling to create a cute purple kitty. for complete instruction, you can find the video process here:

StencilClubMash-Up June 2020 by Mary Beth Shaw & Valerie Sjodin

StencilClubMash-Up August 2014 by Mary Beth Shaw

Small and Large Triangles S425 by Andrew Borloz

ATCMixup #1 by Mary Beth Shaw L543

ATC Mixup by Mary Nasser L763

SoulfulScribbles Dots and Dashes L605 by Traci Bautista

Boro S705 by Kristin Williams

Sidewalk2 of Puerto Rico S782 by Mary Beth Shaw

I am always fascinated When Shel Cee starts to glue papers down. I am never quite sure where the process is going to take her. Anyway. I can see influences from all three of these artists in this piece. Seth's layering techniques show up in the background while Mary Beth's love of the geometric and stitching play a part too. I hope you give this process a try. It is a lot of fun! 

Thanks for the visit. Peg

 

Circus 19 Dream: A Mixed Media Pastiche Honoring Kim Collister

Hi everyone! Linda Edkins Wyatt here, with a project that I really, really love, inspired by artist Kim Collister. 

 Were you thinking, like I was, "What the heck is a pastiche?" It sounded like a portion of pasta, or maybe a dish with both pasta and pistachios (wouldn't that be yummy?) But, it's a 25 cent word for tribute, or honor. 

In my mind, in my journal, and in my research, I tried about a dozen artists whose work I love and admire. I kept coming back to Kim, who I have been following for years. She's whimsical, colorful, introspective, creative, and fearless. Her recent series of faces using a vintage phrenology head really captivated me, so I decided to do something similar. I was a little worried about being too much of a clone or copy cat, but the end result, I think, combines both our styles without infringing on Kim's originality.

In addition to the detailed tutorial below, I made a video of my process.

I started with a 12" x 12" canvas, my gel plate, deli paper, and of course, acrylic paints. I made a bunch of prints using an assortment of stencils. Of the many prints, I liked the ones with the large design from Seth Apter's Borderlines December 2017 club set the best.

I cut and tore the section I liked best and set them aside. 

Next, using matte medium, I covered the canvas with pages from an old book and some washi tape with numbers and letters.

 

On top of the book pages, I arranged the printed pieces of the large Borderlines stencil to my liking then adhered them with matte medium. It had a nice typography look, but I knew it needed more.

I searched The Graphics Fairy for vintage images of a phrenology head, found one I liked, and printed it on good 8.5" x 11" paper with my laser printer. (I didn't want the ink to bleed, so I went with a black laser print rather than a color print from my inkjet printer.)

After positioning the head where I wanted it, and drawing in lines for the neck and shoulders, I added white acrylic and some pink paint as well. Then the real fun began. 

I rummaged through my papers looking for collage elements that I liked, and that was similar to what Kim would have used. After much puttering and switching elements in and out, I added a butterfly, a circus horse under a tent, and a botanical tulip. The "earring" is a small image from Gwen Lafluer's Afraid to Try stencil, done with turquoise paint on yellow cardstock.

The tulip needed leaves, so I stenciled some in using the StencilClub March 2013 set.  I thought circles would add to the circus feel, so I used the irregular circles from Carolyn Dube's August 2018 StencilClub Playtime set, randomly stenciling them around the canvas.

 I also added the small stencil from Tina Walker's October 2020 Vintage Wallpaper set, which felt like pinwheels and added some more whimsy to the canvas.

I added the words PEACE and JOY on the face with stamps, printed on thin tissue paper, and glued to the canvas. I also darkened some of the blacks and whitened the white areas. The last touches were adding depth with a black Aquarellable Stabilo pencil, a black sharpie, and some dots with Posca paint pens.

You can still see the original book pages and washi tape that covered the canvas, along with the deli paper numbers and marks from Seth's stencil. I chose the number 19 because that's my birthday, and the number 7 because that's the age kids are fearless artists. The other numbers around the canvas were random.

Here are some detail shots. I love the way the leaf stencils work with the botanical tulip, and the random numbers from the original phrenology image peeking through. The imperfect circles and pinwheels interact nicely.

Doing it Warhol Style with Natalie May

Hey there Stencil fans!

Pastiche is one of those words I had to look up.
I'm not too shy to say it!  I had no idea what it meant!
In fact, I messaged a friend and fellow Aussie creative, Fiona Paltridge, for her helping me translate the word into a way that I can use it for my creating! And then it made sense ...Pastiche is to 'borrow' inspiration and make it your own! 

So with this in mind, I went to my all-time fave artist, Andy Warhol. and was instantly overcome with ideas!

I narrowed it down to his unique printmaking style using this fabulous piece for inspiration and pulled out the Gel Press!

Here are a few simple steps I used to create my Art Journal Page.

I started with my Gel Press and created a heap of simple backgrounds using a range of colours.  

Next I pulled out all my Pam Carriker 6" x 6" stencils and decided to use the Create Face for the page. 

I then used the stencil and contrasting colours to create the prints.  

This process was so much fun and I love that I created a heap of extra prints from the additional pulls I got from the plate - including the paper towel! 

Once they were all dry, I trimmed them down and shuffled them around my journal page until I was happy with the layout before popping a little stamping and doodling on the finished image.

I am loving how this turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Natalie May

Products Used - Create Face by Pam Carriker