Cecilia Swatton

 Hearing someone's backstory can make you appreciate him or her a whole lot more.

Artwork backgrounds are hardly the same as backstories, but they can work much the same way for your stencil-printing projects.

Backgrounds give you a quick, easy way to liven up stencil prints, especially when the stencil you're using is a text that you want to remain readable. 

Backgrounds can be pictures from old catalogs or magazines or calendars; they can be scrapbook papers; they can be "failed" paintings.  Try everything!  If you don't feel satisfied with the results, paint over it or collage over it -- or both.  Layering can greatly improve an artwork, giving it a quality that some call "history."

Above:  Love stencil (6" x 6") was used, with acrylic paint, over a "failed" mixed-media artwork.  Only 2 actual layers appear here, but the choice of background leads the viewer's eye to perceive a rich history that warrants a second look.



My brand-new 6" x 6" stencil LOVE looks like this:

Above:  With acrylic paint, I again used  Love stencil (6" x 6") atop a "failed" mixed-media artwork.  Only 2 actual layers appear here, but the choice of background leads the viewer's eye around to glimpse a rich history that coaxes taking a second look.

Below:  A print made on an old computer print-out of mine (based on a photo I had taken.)  The heart was made with a hole punch and added as a last-touch collage element.

The above print was made with Pan Pastels.

Above:  This print was made on a sheet of novelty paper that came from an art supply store years ago.  Below:  This time, the background was scrapbooking paper.  Both the above image and the one below were made using Pan Pastels.

 Below is a print that I made in multiple steps, to be described below the image ....

Above:  My original substrate was a sheet of heavy paper covered with acrylic paints in random colors:  yellow, red-green, brown and purple.  

Step 1:  On the left side of the page, with white acrylic paint, I made a print using 2/3 of my 9" x 12" stencil Boxed Vines.

Step 2:  I covered parts of the substrate with papers and masking tape to mask off selected areas.

Step 3:  I sprayed the unmasked areas using a mister bottle filled with this mix -- 2/3 water, 1/3 lavender acrylic paint and 2 drops of air brush medium.

Step 4:  With white heavy-body acrylic paint I used my new 6" x 6" stencil Love to make a print on the far middle right.

Step 5:  After that layer had dried, I added a final layer down the middle of the piece, using a sponge brayer loaded with translucent acrylic green-yellow paint.  I used the brayer to spread the paint below the stencil and above it.

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