Cecilia Swatton: Part One of Two -- Learning Something New with BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED Stencil

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Part One of Two -- Learning Something New with BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED Stencil

Something interesting happened when I was working on this art (on stretched canvas)...

Above: an early version. Please click on it to better see detail.

This early version was developed in part with the dry-brush technique, which will be explained fully (with photos) in Part Two of this two-part post.

Another approach, in developing the early version above, included collage, using red and gray paper scraps previously printed with Ornamental Iron Curls stencil (6"x 6".) The narrow vertical paper (red and gold) had previously been printed with a 9" x 12" stencil, Blooming Where Planted. This latter stencil was used again in making layers of patterns across the upper left of the canvas, as well as at the central bottom area.

Shown below: For the third time, I used part of the same Blooming Where Planted stencil -- this time, as a collage element. The stencil was already stained from earlier projects. I felt the stained stencil added more interest, as well as an area of flow-thru yellow. I added it to the stretched canvas with extra heavy matte medium.

Above: final version.

The interesting thing happened later, after the matte medium had dried. For some reason that I can't explain, I decided to see what would happen if I were to pry off the stained stencil. This wasn't hard to do.

To my delighted surprise, the acrylic paint that had stained the stencil remained behind on the canvas. That's what you see in the image above.

The stencil itself came cleanly off the canvas -- ready to be used again!

Important note: This will not work if you're using an art journal or any other kind of flexible, fragile surface. The best substrate, instead, would be stretched canvas or any of the hard-board substrates sold at art supply stores.

Stencils used in today's post: