Looking for a New Way to Use Stencil Prints?

Get out your scissors! ...

... and check out today's collage, made with 2 Gelli Plate prints:

The base-print came to life as I made multiple layers of paint, applying them with a variety of stencils.

Then I made a print with my 6"x 6" stencil Pressed Leaves, and cut that paper into the pieces fanned out above.

The whole print is here, but what I've done was to cut it into shapes that fit together; and arranged those shapes into roughly the same alignment as the original print, while leaving a space between each piece.  

I used matte gel medium to add them to the base.

This is the second collage I've assembled that takes advantage of the drama created by strong diagonal shapes/lines. 

Rather than have just a series of strong diagonals pointing off the edge of this piece, I cut 2 pieces of the original print into half-brackets, and placed them in the lower right corner.  This "braking system" coaxes the viewer to keep looking at the artwork.  The series of diagonals alone would have led that eye right off the paper!  But the "braking effect" brings the eye back thru the entire piece.  

And at the very bottom, one horizontal piece gives the eye a comforting illusion of a solid "horizon" -- the "ground" that gives the shattered image a place to rest. Yes, even in abstract artworks, the eye wants recognizable symbols of this kind.       
   

The original stencil Pressed Leaves looks like this:

Thanks for visiting!  To scroll thru the pages of my StencilGirl stencils and masks, please start here.