Cecilia Swatton

For the first time since 2019, I'm hoping it will work out for me to take part in the Canterbury Art Show and Sale.  One of the pieces I plan to enter -- maybe in the juried section, maybe not -- is a piece that I created using a combination of elements.  The main element:  my 9" x 12" Fantasia L450.  

Mardi Gras is the title that I chose for this mixed-media collage on stretched canvas.

My first step, shown below --

-- was to spread an even layer of metallic gold acrylic paint across the surface of the stretched canvas.  To reach near-perfection for an even surface, I used a tool that's found in home improvement stores, a 12-inch-wide tape knife.  These "knives" come in several widths; I chose this one because my stretched canvas was 12" x 12".

For me, it takes several passes over the surface before I'm satisfied that the result will be smooth enough to accept a stencil print.  This means starting with more paint than needed, and catching leftover paint along the edges of the canvas, after each pass of the "knife."  (Each pass of the knife is a gentle pull all the way across the surface, without pausing.) Collecting leftover paint would be really sloppy if I were using liquid acrylic paint, so I use heavy body acrylic for this kind of project.

Above:  After the gold metallic paint dried, I added 9" x 12" Fantasia L450 and some of the Artist Trading Card-sized stencils that come in ATC Mixup Swatton #1 and ATC Mixup Swatton #2.   (Each "mixup" sheet measures 9" x 12" and contains 9 stencils or masks, along with some free-bonus masks.) In the photo above, these small masks have been cut free from their original 9" x 12" sheets.

I added Golden High Flow acrylic paints as my next step.  After those dried, I lifted off the stencils and masks.  Results are in the two photos immediately below...

A close-up of one section of the paint-stained canvas.

The entire paint-stained canvas.

At this point, I'd achieved my background.  To continue, I placed 9" x 12" Fantasia L450 onto the back side of paper bonded with blue textured metallic foil -- shown below:

With a Sharpie black felt-tip marker, I traced part of the pattern of this mask onto the back of that metallic paper.  A close-up is below ....

Once I finished tracing as much as I wanted, I cut around that traced area with scissors.  To cut out the individual shapes, I switched to an Xacto knife and a cutting board --

Next, I turned the metallic paper right side up and, with gloss gel medium, glued it atop the painted background.

After adding that paper cut-out, I went on to add some scissor-altered stencils paint-stained from earlier projects.  Some of those customized stained stencils came from The Script Collection: May 2019's Stencil Club 3-piece set at StencilGirlProducts.com.  I also used -- the yellow circles in the lower right) -- part of Puddles s331, designed by Ray Missigman.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  To scroll thru the pages of my stencils and masks at StencilGirlProducts.com, please start here.