Creating a Koi Pond with Stencils

One (there are many) favorite artist is, Claude Monet. I am so drawn to his paintings especially his water lilies. I could stare at them forever and so I decided to create my own water lilies painting.

I started with a 11x14 cradled wood board and painted in with TCW Black Gesso. Then using acrylic inks and water added green, yellow and some blue to the background.  When all the paint dried I used TCW433 Wildflowers stencil to the background.

Using modeling paste I added the fish from TCW499 Koi Pond stencil. 



 

 

 

 

After the modeling paste completely dried I painted the fish and then added the lily pads.

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the fish. 

 

I also added flowers to the lily pads with modeling paste and painted them in magenta.

Here is the finished piece. I really enjoyed creating this and there will be more in the future.

 

This painting was put up for a Breast Cancer auction where one lucky winner took it home.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Finding Art - Florida

On New Years Eve my niece was married. I was in Florida for two weeks finishing up on wedding decorations, bachelorette party, family parties, and then the big day setting everything up. It was perfect. It was amazing how everything came together.

In our hotel I found these prints. I love the lines in each. I drawn right to them.

This one I loved because its a map but printed on glass. The wall was a pale yellow so it enhanced the map colors.

 

 

After we ordered the cases of champagne, we wondered around the liquor store. I know nothing about wine other than I like red. I usually buy wine by their interesting labels.  Here are few of my favorite labels.

 

This one I loved the pink and gold together plus I love trees.



 

 

Love this one. I wish I bought it to taste it.

This is a very striking label. The picture doesn't do it any justice.

 

The simple labels draw me in every time. 



Aren't these labels pretty. Just loved the colors.

 

Typography - my favorite. Gold letters win, win!



 

 

 

Like I've said before .. look up, look down, look all around, Art is every where!

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!



Mixed Media Art Tags: I Spy .....

Stencils!  Can you see them on these tags?

There are many times I use stencils just for texture and you can't really see them. Stencils also can be used for many other elements in art.

Lets start with this art tag. I used two stencil images; one you can't really see and other you can.

I start my art tags by going through my drawer of scraps.

Then pull out scraps I want to use and start adding paint to the tags, scraps of paper and TCW Modeling Pastes.  This swan tag I painted the tag white and added the Ornate Border stencil.

Then I used acrylic paints, paper scraps to create the background. My mother painted the swans. I took a photograph of her painting and printed out the swans on card stock, fussy cut and used on this tag. To add the water I used the Ornate Border stencil with modeling paste and painted it in shades of blue.  Do you see the first stencil? You can see it a little behind the green branches behind the swans.

My next stencil I painted the tag in bright colors, used TCW modeling pastes, and paper scraps.

 

Stencils Used: TCW773 Connected Dots, TCW756 Magic Ladder (green paint), TCW764 Number Scramble, TCW761 Solemn Branch.  Mediums Used: TCW Champagne Gold Modeling Paste, TCW Black Modeling Paste

The new metallic modeling pastes by The Crafters Workshop are fantastic. Not because I'm on the design team but because I truly love them. There are a must try!!!   I also used the Ornate Border stencil again on the front of the tag, rub-ons, and scrap paper at the bottom. The butterfly is from my drawer of scraps.

My tags look so much better in person. You can see all the layers that were used to create them. Here are two more art tags I created for The Crafters Workshop. You can see how I created them by clicking HERE.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you so much for stopping by and reading it.

Cheating with Stencils: Abstract 5x7 Shapes

Received an email giving their opinions on my art that using stencils was cheating. I should learn how to create art without them. They were also of the opinion that abstract art is not art. I don't think using stencils is cheating and Abstract art is my favorite. I use stencils for mark making, texture, and the designs add to my paintings not the opposite and yes, I do create art without them too.

Today's Abstract painting is created entirely with stencils. It's one of my favorite paintings and it was created on a 5x7 wood panel that was actually on sale in my local arts and craft store. I love creating on wood but it can be expensive. Stores that carry those wooden signs with quotes go on sale and I find some for $2 to $4 in all sizes and I just paint right over them.

I started this by painting over the sign with black gesso by The Crafters Workshop (TCW). To add texture I used TCW Matte Gel Medium and added tissue paper and some painted deli paper to the wood panel.  I also added a few pieces of paper towel.

I let it dry over night and then I added more yellow, orange, and black acrylic paint.

Now I could paint my own shapes on this or use some other items to make some marks but I used the Shapes stencil (TCW762) by The Crafters Workshop.  I started by adding the shapes in the same yellow and orange paint and then started using black.

To finish it I added my scribble. I love to add scribbles or sometimes it's hard to read word but this one is just a scribble.

I use stencils for 75% of my art and I don't think it's cheating using them. There are many artists who do use them. I love hearing others' opinions about art whether its mine or others. This email wasn't very friendly towards the end but everyone has their opinions. I have mine too.

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read this post.  I hope you enjoyed it.

Butterflies 2: Mixed Media Canvas

Sometimes creating art and blogging don't mix. I'm creating lots of art but I don't have pictures of my process so I feel like I shouldn't share it. I know...share it anyway.  But today's post I have a few pictures of my process YAY!!!

   

I started this piece using a 12"x 12" cradled wood panel. Almost all my art starts with painting the substrate black. I love the way the colors pop off black so that why I start this way. This piece I painted over the black with green, white, and yellow. The globe is from a napkin and the hot air balloon is a stamp on tissue paper I found in my stash. The bottom is a mixed of book pages, music paper, tape, and scrap paper.  

I used The Crafters Workshop (TCW) Matte Gel Medium to adhere all the bits and pieces of paper. All the other marks were created by using TCW stencils: Ornate Border TCW785 and Distressed Details TCW754.

In the photo below the paint was dry and I started adding rub-ons. I believe they are from Tim Holtz but I don't keep any of my packaging so I'm not sure. I also added more yellow paint and my favorite color, black. I love the darkness and looking up to the top of the canvas to the light.

With the addition of black paint I decided to add more from the Ornate Borders stencil and added more rub-ons.  If you notice I used all the words from the rub-on page. I love to do that although its expensive having to buy them all over again.  I also use TCW gel medium over the rub-ons so they stay on permanently.  The butterflies are from my stash.

Here is the finished piece again. The only change I'm going to make is to add shadows to the butterfly wings.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop and read to the end of this post. I truly appreciate it. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment.