Alternative Gelli Plate Prints

At our open studio this morning we played around with an alternative Gelli Plate printing technique, using stencils from my good friend Cecilia Swatton, via Stencil Girl.  Along with a variety of texture tools, these were some of the prints that were made.  Totally had a great time and will be making some fun and funky jewelry next week from these awesome papers.

 

 

Welcome to the Artistcellar Blog Hop!

It is my privilege to participate in this current Artistcellar Blog Hop and Thank You for joining in on the fun.  I hope you have had a chance to visit all the other blogs on the list of participants (see below if you missed one!) and I hope you left comments along the way to be entered for a chance to WIN this amazing stencil set!  If you leave me a comment before midnight, Oct. 31st, I will enter your name in my drawing as well.  Please be sure to leave me a way to contact you along with your comment.  (If I cannot contact you, I have to disqualify you and I want everyone to have a chance at WINNING!)  Please visit the Artistcellar website to view many more designs and get your creative Mojo on!  The other Participants are:

Oct. 25^th – Lisa Cousineau (Artistscellar) Official Start Date of this wonderful Blog Hop!
Oct. 26^th – Effy Wild
Oct. 27^th – Lisa Chin
Oct. 28^th – Cheryl Sleboda
Oct. 29^th – Paula Phillips
Oct. 30^th –Cindy Powell (YOU ARE HERE)
Oct. 31^st –Cecilia Swatton

My technique for using Cecilia Swatton’s “Kaleidoscope Series” of stencils involves something unusual.  It involves the art of watercolor.  Much like acrylic painting, watercolor is a fascinating medium in that it is usually transparent and can be removed. 

 

In order to design backgrounds in a free form painting, I like to incorporate a variety of techniques but one of my favorites is removing paint through a stencil so that it leaves an imprint of the stencil behind.  (Similar to a ghost image if done correctly) 

 

Since I am using a 140 lb. watercolor paper I must be careful not to scrub the paint off, but gently remove it with a slightly damp sponge.  If the sponge is too wet, it will seep under the stencil and create an undesired effect.  (Just like too much paint on your brush). 

Another way to remove watercolor from the paper is to use a baby wipe, but these are moist towelettes, so if using them, this process needs to be done carefully.  Moisture from the towelette will seep under the stencil, but if you blot it on a paper towel first-like a sponge, it can be used with wonderful results.

 

I have used Cecilia’s stencil collection for many art projects including of course the Gelli Printing Plate to create background pages for art journals.  I won’t go into details as there is an over abundance of information out on the web about this topic.  But I will give you a tip:  I paint a lot of paintings on some of the most fabulous papers, but, not every painting is a keeper.  I never throw them out; I recycle them into awesome art journals by applying acrylics & stencil patterns over them.  Once bound, they become books full of ideas for future projects and experiments.

Whatever medium you use, stencils can add such interesting depth to your work, so I hope you will give this a try in your art journal or fine art piece.  Experiment and have fun with these unique stencils by Cecilia.  Don't forget to leave me a comment below to be entered to win one of these wonderful sets.  Or browse the Artistscellar website for more designs.

Starts Today!

A Blog Hop!
It is a great honor to be selected to participate in this Artistcellar blog hop that is introducing this wonderful NEW set of stencils called: “The KaleidoscopeSeries”.  My friend Cecilia Swatton is the featured artist/designer, who has created four unique abstract stencils called: Trillium, Sunflower, Black Orchid and Lily, for us to use in our art projects.  You could win a set of these amazing stencils if you visit the blogs listed below on the days that are posted and leave a comment on their blog.    Please be sure to leave a way to contact you in case you are the Winner! 
These stencils are of the highest quality and can be used for a variety of art projects.  If you would like to see some unique, inventive ideas for using stencils, scroll down to earlier posts on this blog, to see how I’ve used stencils in the past or come back to this blog on October 30^th, 2014 when I will be sharing a unique way to use these stencils for Fine Art paintings.   Leave me a comment on my Oct. 30th post or before midnight on Oct. 31st and you will be entered in my drawing to WIN this fabulous set of stencils!  Go check out these artists fun and inventive techniques for using the Kaleidoscope stencils!
Here is the list of participants. 
Simply click the name in the list below to be taken to their blog:

Oct. 25^th – Lisa Cousineau (Artistscellar)  Official Start Date of this wonderful Blog Hop!

Oct. 26^th – Effy Wild
Oct. 27^th – Lisa Chin
Oct. 28^th – Cheryl Sleboda
Oct. 29^th – Paula Phillips
Oct. 30^th –Cindy Powell (YOU ARE HERE)
Oct. 31^st –Cecilia Swatton

Updating This Blog

Our recent move has been completed and we are finally-well almost-settled into our new home.  We are loving the new location, which is central to the whole valley and closer to most of our friends.  We have changed a number of things over the past few months, downsized a whole lot and I'm able to devote more time to my beloved passion of painting.  I have started a new "Open Studio" paint group at the Taylorsville Senior Center on Plymouth View recently and it has been well accepted by the community.  Each Friday AM we have a small group of artists get together, but the group will be growing as the word spreads that there's a new paint group opened for seniors to join.  You don't have to live in Taylorsville to use the beautiful facilities, but you will have to be a member of at least one local senior center.
We recently went up to the canyon to grab some pics of the amazing fall colors.  This is a shot of Bonnie getting a shot of our darling hubbies taking a break in the shade.  An interesting photo, the shadow from the trees looks cave like.  There were so many people that we ended up parking in a no parking zone and of course, anticipating the outrageous crowds of illegal parkers, the state raked in the bucks from all the tickets that were issued!  Probably met their whole yearly budget!  LOL!  Seriously though, the parking needs improvement! 
We ended our day by having the experience of watching a D-box movie: "The Maze Runner".  If you have not had the experience of a D-box movie, save your money!  The chairs were the most uncomfortable chairs ever in a theater!  They were suppose to move, but ours rarely did.  They actually kept me awake the entire movie though.  I liked the movie but you can tell there will be a sequel because it leaves you guessing about what's next. 
I will be updating and working on this blog again in the near future.  I also will be participating in a new blog hop in October, so I hope you will follow the blog to get updated as the fun approaches.  I will have a stencil tutorial to share with you and there will be a blog giveaway!  Add your email in the sidebar to follow....

5 Stencil Techniques To Share!

The following posts are each a technique that can be used with stencils.

My friend Cecilia has a new line of beautifully made stencils at Stencilgirl and I wanted to share some techniques for using them with you.  I am a hoarder of stencils.  I love, love, love them and have them hanging on pegboard hooks.  I have them filling plastic bins and simply overflowing in some drawers.  They are like rubber stamps, just can't ever have enough. 

Here is a quick and easy way to get layers of fabulous color:
Start with a decorated Artist Paper, also known as: Scrapbooking Paper.  Thin some acrylic paint in your choice of colors and base coat the paper.  You want the paint to be transparent so you see some of the decorative paper underneath.
Once this paint layer is dry, you will want to work relatively fast for the next step.

Paint this paper with Black Gesso and while it is still wet, lay your stencil down on top and spritz with rubbing alcohol.  (The cheapest you can find is OK.)  Keeping the stencil in place, take a paper towel or baby wipe and lightly scrub away the gesso from the design.  As you can see from these samples, what you get is determined by the acrylic paint you first selected.  Let everything dry and your newly made paper is ready to use in a journal, add images, etc.

PS The gingko leaf is one of Cecilia's stencils available at Stencilgirl. 

To view even more techniques and stencils that were designed by Cecilia, please visit her BLOG

Scroll down for another stencil technique!

Stencil Technique #2

This technique is super easy and done in no time at all.  Any paper that is thin enough to do a rubbing will work, even a shipping tag!  You will need a clear wax crayon, a piece of paper (I used an old ledger paper) the stencil of your choice, (again I used Cecilia's Gingko stencil), and a dye based inkpad in your choice of colors.
Lay your stencil down on a hard work surface, place the paper over the stencil and rub the crayon around to get a rubbing of the stencil.  You might have to rub fairly hard to get a decent imprint.  This creates a wax resist that can now be used with the dye inkpad or thinned acrylic paint.  If you use paint, you will need to wipe of the wax areas with a baby wipe, but since I used a thin paper here, I chose to use a piece of polyfil to apply my ink.  The polyester in this fiberfill allows the ink to blend on the paper if using multiple colors, but it also will remove any ink from the waxed areas, polishing the wax to a soft shine. 

Scroll down for another stencil technique!

Stencil Technique #3

For a quick watercolor effect, I used a watercolor paper as the substrate, my stencil of choice, a baby wipe and ink color of choice.  The baby wipe has enough moisture in it that a watercolor effect simply appears.  I dabbed the color through the stencil, but didn't try to get color over the whole stencil.  I like the grungy look of the hit or miss approach.  Randomness is a good thing. 

Scroll down for yet another great technique!

Stencil Technique #4

The substrate I used for this technique was a recycled cardboard that I salvaged from a cardboard shoe box.  (See post below for another project I did using recycled shoe boxes).  I didn't have to paint a base coat of paint on this since it already had a black paper coating, but if the substrate you choose to work with needs a base coat, choose any color you like.  Next, grab a glue stick!  That's right, you want to cover the substrate with a glue stick, this will give you the amazing crackle texture you see here in the background.  Let this set for just a couple of minutes and apply an acrylic paint that you slightly thinned.  You don't want it too thick, but you don't want it too thin either.  Just like Goldilocks, you want it just right-like thick gravy!  LOL!  Let this dry, then take another stencil and dab another acrylic with a stencil brush in a random hit or miss action.  (The lines are from a beautiful heart stencil from Stencil Girl).  The red design is another stencil from Stencil Girl, but to apply this I again used a baby wipe and an inkpad.  A hit or miss action for applying, allows all the underneath colors to show through. 

Want more techniques?  Keep scrolling!

Stencil Technique #5

This will be my last technique and I think you will love it.  Start with a sheet of glossy photo paper, a cosmetic sponge and some Mod Podge or a liquid gel medium.  (I used mod podge for my sample that is shown here.)  Lay your stencil of choice on top of the glossy paper and using a cosmetic sponge, simply dab the mod podge on the stencil.  I tried to make sure it was evenly coated so I got a good impression from the stencil design.  Set this aside to dry.  I let mine dry overnight since you will be doing multiple steps on top of this. 
So, the next day, when it is dry, you will need to use a dye inkpad or various inkpads of your choice.  (I choose to use a denim blue and walnut. inks.)  With a polyfil, buff the ink over the entire surface of the glossy paper.  this will stick everywhere but over the mod podge.  This acts as a resist.  The darker the color of the inks, the better the resist will show up, so you may want to apply several applications of ink.  Now you need a texture plate of some sort.  Something like this collagraph I made using Tim Holtz's grunge board design.  (To make this I simply glued the design onto a thick cardboard.) 
Place the texture plate, collagraph, rubber stamp, etc. on a hard surface, lay your glossy paper over the top, grab a nail file or piece of sand paper and lightly sand along the surface of the paper at an angle.  You don't want to drag the file over the whole paper, just the edge of the file, over the texture plate.  This produces what looks like a rubbing even in the resist areas.  Move your texture plate as often as needed, turning it in different directions. 
I hope you enjoyed these quick and easy techniques for using stencils and please, go venture over to Stencilgirl to see who else has some amazing stencils being offered there!  I was pleasantly surprised!  A great lineup!