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.

How to Pop Your Art with Subtle Use of Stencils

Hi! Kirsten Reed here today and I am going to show you how to incorporate stencils into your art in a subtle way.

I decided to work with a small 5x7 canvas, perfect size for gifts. 

I begin by marking my blank canvas with Marie McGuire's Doodle It Tornado Flowers stencil in various bright colors and no pre-determined pattern all over the canvas.  I use a cosmetic sponge for light dabbing.

The canvas begins to look like this:

I then sketched a small country church on to the canvas.  I see a lot of these where I live here in TN and they are so charming to me.  You could really sketch anything you wanted.

After my sketch is on the dried paint, I begin to block out SOME of the background.  I like to let bits and pieces "peek" through.  I continue by painting in some of the church.

I then decide to use one of Mary Beth Shaw's Stencil Club stencils to add in some cobbled looking roof tiles in gray paint.

I get this look.  I am not finished.  I purposely did not use paint everywhere, again to allow the background colors to peek through. 

I finish up the roof with some light dabs of white in various spots with the same stencil.

 Now, I do my finishing work.  I add shadows, paint the door and add some layers of blue in different shades to my sky.  All the while, allowing some colors to peek through.

I finish up the piece with a little pen work for details and incorporate the word "peace" along the front of the church.

Thank you for joining me.  I hope this helps spur some ideas on how you can use stencils subtly to rev up your artwork!  If you would like to see more of my work, please follow me on Instagram and Kirsten Reed Designs on Facebook.  Hope to see you again!