GARDEN AT NEMOURS Mask ... with Friends

Working on Fredrix Watercolor stretched canvas, I developed a painting that's shown in its first phase below.

In the upper left I used my 6" x 6" mask Garden at Nemours.

To its right and directly under it, I used my 4" x 4" Fern Fronds Silhouette Mini.

On the lower right I used Silhouette of a Wildflower Bouquet, which measures 6" x 6".

Maybe I should have left the painting as it appears above.  You can be the judge!

Instead of leaving it as it appears above, I decided on further development.  The result is below --

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To scroll thru all my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

GARDEN AT NEMOURS MASK and LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK

Longwood Florals Mask (9" x 12") was the art tool I used in creating the first four art samples below....

 And for a complete change of pace, below is an art sample made with Garden at Nemours Mask and Quilted Flower Garden Stencil (both are 6" x 6".)

This mask and this stencil, separately, look like this --

Quilted Flower Garden Stencil

Garden at Nemours Mask

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To scroll thru my masks and stencils at StencilGirl, please start here.

Figure/Ground Principle with Matching Masks and Stencils

The principle of "figure-ground" contrast can be phrased as a question: “Which part of any silhouetted image is “figure” and which is “(back)ground?”  If a silhouette is considered the figure, then the spaces around that figure is considered ground or background.

The print below was made with Longwood Florals Mask (9" x 12").  In this print, spaces between the leaves and flowers can be seen as “negative” (or "ground" as in "background."), whereas the leaves and flowers can be seen as "positive" (or "figure.") 

The print below was created with the 9" x 12" Longwood Florals Stencil.  Its reddish-purple leaves and flowers can be seen as positive space, while the green-spattered white areas can be seen as negative space.

  
Since this stencil and this mask are mirror images of one another, it's fun to use them together.
You can click on the image below to better see details.  In these details, positive space and negative space intermingle to challenge the eye of the viewer.  The first, darker print was made with  Longwood Florals Mask.  After that paint had dried, I added a layer of lighter color using Longwood Florals Stencil.

This playful combination is a fun option with any stencil-and-mask set.

Another example is combination usage of my 9" x 12" Winter Berries Stencil and my 9" x 12" Winter Berries Mask.

Below is a first step in a series of steps I took with both this stencil and this mask.  This print -- step one -- was made with Winter Berries Mask (and a few glass "pebbles.") 

Below is step two.  Another layer of color has been added.  Here in step 2, I continued to use Winter Berries Mask .

The 2 photos below shows step three.  The top photo shows the artwork in its entirety.  The photo under it shows a close-up detail.  In developing step three, I added another layer of paint using Winter Berries Stencil.  After that layer dried, I drew in squiggles with a Sharpie pen.  My last step was to color in most of the squiggle-outlined areas.

Today's stencils and masks include:

Longwood Florals Stencil

Longwood Florals Mask

Winter Berries Stencil

Winter Berries Mask

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To scroll thru all of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

GARDEN AT NEMOURS MASK and LONGWOOD FLORALS STENCIL and LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK

Today's post starts with 2 art samples made with my 6" x 6" mask Garden at Nemours. 

The first sample below was created on sturdy cardstock that had been previously printed with a variety of abstract designs.  To develop the piece, I placed the mask onto the lower left corner and went over it with a sponge brayer loaded with heavy-body acrylic paint.

And the artwork above was created on Fredrix Watercolor stretched canvas using Golden High Flow acrylics and pigment-particles that I bought years ago from a UK company, Brusho.  I believe that similar powdered pigments, offered by other companies, are available here in the US.  These pigments dissolve when exposed to water and other liquid media.  You can better see this effect by clicking on the above image to enlarge it.

Garden at Nemours Mask

Below is another piece developed on Fredrix Watercolor stretched canvas.  Again I used water-soluble powdered pigments and Golden High Flow acrylics.  This artwork was accepted into this year's annual Open Juried Show at the Guild of Creative Art (Shrewsbury, NJ.)  The main tool used was my 9" x 12" Longwood Florals Mask.

The art sample below was developed with Longwood Florals Stencil, which also measures 9" x 12" ....

These two stencils and masks themselves look like this --

Longwood Florals Mask

Longwood Florals Stencil

-- so, as you can see, they are exact opposites of each other.  A stencil and a mask that are exact opposites, when used together, provide a way to play with the concept of positive space and negative space.  I'll be posting art samples created with the two, used together.  Pictures can easily provide a better explanation than words.

Thanks for your visit today!

Yo scroll thru all my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here. 

LONGWOOD FLORALS MASK

l675 Longwood Florals Mask.....9"x 12"

Longwood Florals Mask measures 9" x 12" and is the topic of today's post.  

I've used it twice to make two 3-D artworks on stretched canvas.  The starting step, and nearly all the following steps, were the same for both pieces.

I designed this mask (and its matching stencil) to be used either upside down, or right-side-up.  However, the original flowers and leaves were dangling as shown in the first photo below.  You can click on the image to enlarge it and better see detail.

First, I'd placed the mask onto the white canvas.  Above, on the left, are the disposable plate and sponge that I used to add Liquitex Super Heavy Gesso over the entire canvas.  I used one hand to hold the mask in place as I dabbed the surface with this ultra-thick gesso.  Since I was working toward a 3-D effect, I did a lot of up-and-down pouncing with the gesso-laden sponge.  I could have used any other white texture medium, such as heavy-body Titanium White acrylic paint, or any of the modeling paste gels, or one of the heavy-body gels.

Immediately after covering the canvas with gesso, I lifted off the mask and placed it in a basin of water.  That way, the gesso on the ask wouldn't harden while I moved on with the project.  Later, I lifted the mask from the water and cleaned it.  I seldom clean masks or stencils, but the exception is when I've used them with 3-D media.  If this kind of medium dries on the stencil or mask, it can interfere with getting detailed prints from that time forward.   

The photo below shows the very start of adding colors to the canvas.  I could have used acrylic inks or liquid watercolors, or even spray paints, but I chose to use Golden High Flow acrylics.  I could have waited for the ultra-thick gesso to dry before adding color, but there was no need, because I planned to allow the color to somewhat sink into the surface.

The above photo shows dribbles of high flow acrylic paint as they began spreading over the surface.

To speed the flow for the sake of complete coverage, I sprayed the dribbles with water in a spray bottle, as shown below.

The above photo was taken while the paint and water mixture were still wet.  I knew there would be a color shift, once the piece had dried overnight...

... and the photo above -- showing the final artwork -- shows that the colors have lightened.  

When I approached the second canvas, I repeated the first few steps described above.  But I used different colors; and when it had dried, I went in with cotton swabs, heavy-body acrylic paint, and a white marking pen --

One reason I like Golden brand is that its high flow acrylics come in colors that match the heavy-body acrylic and liquid acrylic paints.  This came in handy when I was developing the piece above, because I could use the same blue in heavy-body paint that I had used with the water-and-high flow mixture used earlier in the process.

I used the white marker pen to highlight some of the stems and leaves, so that the finished artwork looks like this --

Before ending this post, I want to mention that the titles of this mask and its matching stencil come from my having seen these flowers and leaves at Longwood Gardens, Kennet Square, PA.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! 

Five Recent Releases at StencilGirl -- Stencils and Masks

Five stencils and masks of my design were recently released at StencilGirl.  They are:

s658 Garden at Nemours.....6"x 6"

l675 Longwood Florals Mask.....9"x 12"

L676 Longwood Florals Stencil.....9"x 12"

L677 Winter Berries Mask.....9"x 12"

L678 Winter Berries Stencil.....9"x 12"

Today's post will show samples of art made with each of these new stencils and masks.

l675 Longwood Florals Mask

The artwork above is ready to be framed.  Its background is an old encyclopedia page that has a floral design in the upper right.  Glued over that is the mask itself, stained with paints after being used in a variety of art projects.

L676 Longwood Florals Stencil

Above is a double-print made with the same stencil.  The first print was made with yellow acrylic paint on a yellow-orange background paper.  After that dried, I placed the stencil back on the paper, spacing it so that it would be somewhat off-key with the original print.  Then I used purple acrylic paint to make the second print.

L678 Winter Berries Stencil

The artwork above was created on an old sheet of paper that had been printed and over-printed several times.  I could have used a Gelli Plate to make the topmost print with this new stencil, but instead, I decided to place the stencil onto the paper and go over it using a sponge brayer loaded with heavy-body acrylic paint.  The next 2 photos below show my process ....

Above:  a sponge brayer is being loaded with heavy-body acrylic paint.

Above:  a paint-loaded brayer is being run over a stencil.  (The stencil pictured in this example is Sassy Spray, a stencil previously released at StencilGirl.)

The art below was created with Golden high flow acrylics on a Fredrix Watercolor stretched canvas.  I prefer this type of stretched canvas because it has a smooth surface that picks up even fine details of a mask or a stencil.  

L677 Winter Berries Mask.....9"x 12"

s658 Garden at Nemours

Like an earlier example in this post, my artwork above was created on an old sheet of paper that had been printed and over-printed several times.  I could have used a Gelli Plate to make the topmost print with this new stencil, but instead, I decided to place the stencil onto the paper and go over it using a sponge brayer loaded with heavy-body acrylic paint.
 
Thanks for stopping here today!  

To scroll thru all my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.

Artist Jill McDowell and HERON Stencil -- and a Flip-Flop!

Artist Jill McDowell has done it again!

This time, the way Jill impressed me was to use my 6" x 6" stencil Heron ... along with the bottom of her flip-flop sandal!

That's her upside-down flip-flop on the right, below.  She spread it with black acrylic paint and pressed it like a rubber stamp thru the stencil.  (Her substrate was rice paper.)

Then Jill lifted the stencil  --

Once this paint has dried, the image can be left as-is; or it can be further developed.  It's one of the many delightful choices of an artist!

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To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.

MARBLES 6 STENCIL in the Talented Hands of Cheetarah Cheda

Let's start the new year with a video!  This was posted in StencilGirl Talk several months ago but I want to repeat it here because the first stencil used is my Marbles 6, which looks like this --

The artist who made today's video, Cheetarah Cheda, accidentally left out mention of the name of this stencil, in listing the stencils used in her video.  But -- as the  photo below shows -- what beautiful results she achieved!

You can click on the above photo to better see details.  Better yet, watch the video here.

Thanks for checking out my blog today!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils, please start here.