Fun with Seth Apter & StencilGirl

Welcome to the StencilGirl blog hop featuring Seth Apter's newly released stencils.  

I love incorporating stencils subtly into my art for an extra layer of texture and interest.  I started with a canvas I had already prepared with collaged papers and paint - it was waiting for inspiration.  I immediately saw Seth's stencils in this to finish my vision.  In my mind they were just "enough" to add that final touch but still allow the background I created to shine through.

I sketched out my girl reaching for the sky.

I used Golden Fluid acrylic Titan buff and Titanium White with Seth Apter's Techo Insiders Star Stencils and Seth Apter's Urban Outsiders Stencil.

I used some Burnt Umber on the abstract ground and background with Seth's Techo Insiders Tag stencil and the Urban Outsider's stencil again.

I finished up with the details on the piece.

And this is how she turned out.

I may add a word or phrase later or just leave her like this.  I hope you enjoyed. Be sure to keep hopping along with all the artists listed below.  Also if you leave a comment, you will be entered for a giveaway!

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Seth Apter

Mary Beth Shaw

Mary C. Nasser

Carolyn Dube

Gwen Lafleur

Kirsten Reed you are here

Janet Joehlin

Maria McGuire

GIVEAWAY

$25 StencilGirl Gift Certificate to one lucky winner!

All comments left on the hop list participants posts will be entered. 

One comment per blog. 

Comments close on July 24th @ 11:59PM Central.

Creating Owls

Come visit me on StencilGirl Talk all day today where I show you how to create this textured owl.  

It will be a hoot! (okay I couldn't help myself) 

Hope to see you there!

Collage Vignettes

Some days I just want to be in kindergarten again.  I want to cut and paste and glue and color.  I just find it so therapeutic.

So when I took a collage class from Crystal Neubauer last fall, I was in heaven!  She is an amazing collage artist, well-known in the art industry and is a lovely, beautiful (inside and out) person. Her Healing House Art Studio reflects her welcoming spirit and has a line up of fabulous workshops for aspiring and established artists.

As the new year rang in, I wasn't quite up to paint and canvas, so for a therapeutic change, I whipped out my glue and papers instead.  I made several collage vignettes and wanted to share them with you.

Here they are framed in 10x10 frames. The vignette measures 4x4 and they are matted and ready to hang on a wall.

What do you think?

I like 'em Sunny Side Up...

I really love flowers.  I love gardening and growing things.  I love looking out my studio window and seeing blooms.  One of my favorite flowers, besides tulips and peonies, are daisies.  Just simple white daisies.  I know, they are cheap, but there is something so sweet and innocent about them.

I was thinking about them the other day as I started this canvas in my studio and although I didn't quite create a daisy, I was inspired by the simplicity of the white and yellow blooms.

I wanted a simple painting but with a lot of texture.  The entire bottom half of this painting is collage of book paper.

I kept my palette simple ~ blue, gray, brown and yellow.  I used Golden molding paste to create flowers that popped off the canvas. It is important not to use "light" molding paste for this kind of piece or joint compound (which is water soluble and will dissolve with paint on top).  I used a  charcoal pencil for definition.

Can you see the texture?

My flowers kind of look like flying eggs, sunny side up.  I think it works any way ~ a little funky, fun and elegant!

Be sure to check out all my free tutorials on my blog page above marked ART TUTORIALS,
or visit me on my website at Kirsten Reed Designs.

You can also follow me on Bloglovin' and get them delivered to your inbox!

Here are the supplies I used for this piece:

Golden Molding Paste

Charcoal stick

Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints

Liquitex Basic Acrylic Paints

Welcome to Music City! (...and a blog hop!)

Howdy Gals (and guys)!

Today we are going to celebrate the city I live in ~ music city! For those of you who don't know where that is, it's Nashville!   (well I actually live in the suburbs, but close enough) 

I LOVED playing around with Seth Apter's Numbers stencil available at StencilGirl Products.  There are so many possibilities in adding texture or interest to any creative project and I can tell already this will be one of my "go to" stencils. But I am going to show you today how I used it to make a guitar.

So let's begin..

(1) First I took tissue paper and glued it to my wood.  After dried, I layered the background with Mary Beth Shaw's Greek Key stencil in white and in gray.

(2) Then I added in blue with Seth Apter's Numbers stencil. 

I repeated in various places with the stencil again using white.

(3) I then cut out old sheet music in the shape of a guitar. I used a ripped piece of corrugated cardboard for the top (don't know what that is called). I don't play guitar! ;) I glued them to the board using matte medium.

(4) I then did a light white wash over the guitar to fade the music.  It wasn't so important to me the songs I chose, and I want it to have appeal to everyone and not be based on what song music I used.

(5) I then did some light washes of paint in umber and blue to highlight the other areas of the guitar and begin to bring it to life.

(6) I used paint, Faber Castell pens and black ink pens to define the details a bit more. I also used Seth's stencil again to add some texture behind the strings of the guitar.

(7) I took some old chipboard scrapbook letters and laid them out to spell "me & my guitar".  I painted them with raw umber and glued down in position.

 Now you're ready to play!!

 

If you have any questions ~ please sure to let me know! I hope you found this little 'musical' stop fun.  Come back again Monday for a BONUS tutorial using the Seth Apter Numbers stencil again with a whole new project and a whole new look!!

Are you forgetful like me? ~ then make it easier "one less thing to remember" and sign up to get my blog delivered straight to your email box! That way you can do the tutorial whenever you are ready. It's soooo easy to sign up...(look above right on this page...type in your email address!!)

Be sure to keep following along the Hop to learn more new fun and exciting ways to use the stencil!
Here is a list of where to go:

StencilGirl Talk

Seth Apter

Carolyn Dube

Kirsten Reed  (You are here)

Marjie Kemper * Go Here Next!

Janet Joehlin

Corrine Gilman

Linda Cain

Mary C. Nasser

Maria McGuire