Stencils as Structure

Frida Kahlo journal page, made using a Crafters Workshop stencil.

When I first encountered the idea of using stencils in my mixed media work, my first thought was "eeew, no." I had the image of very stiff, uncreative, blocky, hard edged stencils, of penciling in lines and carefully filling the shapes with color, much like a coloring book.

But, as I explored the mixed media artwork people were creating that incorporated stencils, I began to get hooked. They layered them. They were sometimes sloppy (in an artful way, of course). They were shadowy. They were backgrounds, they were foregrounds. Some were detailed and tiny, some were bold and splashy.

My favorite stencils are faces. Why? Because faces are tricky. I have taken figure drawing and portrait drawing classes, and understand the anatomy and mathematics of the face and body. But for a quick midday art fix, I don't have time to waste, so using stencils to get the basic features penciled in correctly is really helpful. Getting the proportions right is important. Getting the eyes right, for placement and size, is especially important.

Lately I have been using face stencils on my lunch break, putting in the lines quickly, but going beyond the stenciled lines and giving them my own scribbly, loose-handed twist. The same stencil can look entirely different depending on the color choices, hair, media (watercolor, colored pencil, paint etc.) or background choice.

A Jane Davenport face stencil, with yellow lips and quirky eye makeup.

Jane Davenport's "Tilted Up" face stencil, with loose lines and wild hair.

Another Jane Davenport face stencil, with colors that reflect the medical greens and blues I see on a typical workday.

These faces were done on cardstock in my handmade journal. While cardstock isn't as great for watercolor as good watercolor paper, I like it in journals because it is strong, inexpensive, and works well for collage and also for stamping and stenciling.

Many of my Jane Davenport face stencils are from Artistcellar, and sadly, have been discontinued. However, Jane has her new line of stencil available at Michael's, and Artistcellar is about to debut a new line of Kylie Fowler face stencils, which I can't wait to try.

I'm Part of Gwen Lafleur's Art Tribe!

This week's exciting announcement was the debut of artist Gwen Lafleur's first design team, which she calls her "art tribe." And guess who is part of the tribe? Yes, me! I am super thrilled to have a chance to play with her amazing papers, stencils (she is one of Stencil Girl's designers), trims, washi tape, stamps and journals, as well as her unique jewelry and decorative components from around the world.

The first items I had access to were some downloadable pdfs of butterflies, flowers, birds and animals. Butterflies always make me feel happy, so after a bad day at work, puttering with some butterflies and using them to enhance some previously ho-hum ATCs made me feel a whole lot better.

Some blah ATCs got a boost with butterflies from Gwen Lafleur's downloadable collection of pdfs

While I waited eagerly for my package of Lafleur goodies to arrive, I kept busy with journaling. I took the little journal I made last weekend to work, and pulled it and my watercolors out on my lunch break. I lightly penciled some old Jane Davenport stencils on the page, and painted for about 20 minutes. At home, I took a few more minutes and added stamps, handwritten thoughts and other accents to complete the pages.

Lunch time journal page before stamps were added

Journal page with Michelle Ward's Greenpepper Press stamps added

Lunch time journal page before stamps were added

Journal page with my own hand carved stamp and Michelle Ward's Greenpepper Press stamps

Lunch time watercolor with handwritten thoughts about starting a new job in a new place and missing my old work friends

Lunch time watercolor with unnatural face colors

Finished journal page with washi tape necklace and third eye from Gwen Lafleur's collection. Hand writtten thoughts were also added.

If you didn't see the announcement about the new Art Tribe on Gwen's website, here's the link. I am super excited to start playing with all the new art materials, and also curious to see what my team members will create.

Doodling and Corporate Layoffs

Sometimes I don't even know I'm doodling. I will be talking on the phone, or in a meeting, and when I look down at my desk, or at the pad in my lap, doodles are everywhere. They show up on the edges of meeting notes, on the backs of flyers, on the top of striped legal pads.

They are subconscious marks and designs that, for reasons unknown to me, pop out of my brain, travel down my arm to my hand, and end up on the paper.

I have begun saving and scanning some of the doodles and using them in my artwork.

This journal page started as a doodle--I spent a lot of time on the phone recently because the company I work for suddenly laid off 70 people--and a very dear friend was one of them. Notice the dollar sign that is coming out of the right eye.

I scanned the design and glued it into the journal that I keep on my desk. I also keep some simple art supplies in my office, which I use on my lunch hour to help decompress.

Over the course of a couple of days, I added color, then stencils and stamps.

After I glued a printout of the design into my journal, I used water-soluble oil pastels to add color. My lunch hour was over, so I put it away until the next day.

The next day I pulled out my art supply bin and played with some favorite items: a new stencil by Seth Apter, which I found at a great little store called The Ink Pad, went on the neck to simulate a tattoo. I had a lot of bubble wrap hanging around my office, so I filled in big blank spaces with bubble wrap dots. I pressed a black stamp pad on the bubble wrap, then flipped the inky wrap over and gently pressed it to the paper.

I also added more of the flourish stencil around the page, and used black markers--both thick and thin--to add some extra doodles and detail.

This may not be the best artwork I have ever made. However, it was extremely therapeutic. I was able to let out my frustration with "big brother" and the corporate axe that fell all around me in a safe, creative way.