Beach Memories

For about 20 years, our family lived within walking distance of a beach. We went to it in all seasons--not just the bright, sunny, peaceful days of summer--but on the days that it was freezing, and there were big chunks of ice cluttering the beach...or the crisp fall days when it was too cold to swim and the leaves were golden and covered with frost. In any weather, the beach was a place to rest, gather our thoughts, meditate, and recharge.

Now we live in a small city apartment and that beach, on the eastern end of Long Island, lives in our memories. My daughter was recently redecorating her city bedroom. The gauzy curtains and green plants she chose reminded me somehow of that serene beach. I realized that her walls were bare, so I thought: "Why not gift her with a painting of our favorite beach?"

I didn't want to start with a plain white canvas. To add texture and color, I used my go-to supply--recycled turmeric teabags. (I save all kinds of teabags, dry them, empty out the contents, then flatten the teabags and use them in my paintings and mixed media projects. You can see my tutorial on using teabags by clicking here.)

First, I chose a 12"x12" stretched canvas. Next, using a spatula, I covered the canvas with matte medium, added teabags, and covered them with a layer of matte medium.

 

 

I like to use the tops that are cut off the teabags to create visual interest, forming X, L or + marks. 

Next, I pulled out acrylic colors that reminded me of the sun and sea and sand, and a whole bunch of StencilGirl® stencils. I looked for designs that would hint at waves, rocks, clouds or the sun.

The lacy lotus design by Jessica Sporn and Gwen Lafluer's decorative medallion gave the feel of clouds.The golden ochre of the turmeric background gave a sense of sunshine.

A design from the September 2018 StencilClub® set by Carol Wiebe was perfect for rocks--since the beach is on the bay side of Long Island's South Fork there are quite a few rocks mixed in with the sand.

 The painting was starting to shape up!

 I added layer after layer until I got the look I wanted.

I wanted to create a feeling of the little hill on the right side of the beach and the rocky paths leading to the shore. When I added the dark teal wavy marks, I realized it was too much. The color was too dark, and the shapes to obvious. So, I just stenciled over it with a lighter color and the dark teal receded into the background.

There are also wooden fences here and there to help prevent erosion, and also to keep people from trampling delicate beach grasses and flowers, so I used brown paint with a medium sized StencilClub® mash up set from January 2019 designed by Seth Apter and Mary Beth Shaw to give the worn fence effect.

 Another StencilClub® set, Mary Beth Shaw's February 2019 private collection, was used to add the feeling of rocks and water.

A final touch was adding little brush marks and dots with the dark brown paint to make the viewer's eye follow the Z shaped path from the sand and rocks, through the fence opening, and down to the waterline.

I hope she'll love her new painting. I'm pretty sure it'll look great on the wall of her newly decorated bedroom!

Be sure to hop over to each fantastic project and leave a comment for the artist! 

The more comments, the more chances you'll have to win $50 worth of StencilGirl® stencils! Good luck!

Sue Plumb's Cookie Jar and Art Bag

Claudia Neubacher's Tote Bag

Sunila & Aditi Mahajan's Treasure Box

Peg Robinson's Necklace

Shel C's Journal Set

Jennifer Gallagher's Paper Mache Gift Box

Linda Edkins Wyatt's Beach Memories Painting

Jill McDowell's Twisted Treasure Pouches

Carol Baxter's Advent Calendar

Contest closes 10-8-19 at 11:59 p.m. CST.  Winner notified by email 10-9-19.

My StencilGirl Creative Team Debut!

My first post as an official StencilGirl® Creative Team Member debuted on May 7. I went back to my fabric designer roots for my project. (Here's the link to my debut.) The theme was "abstract" which was a bit of a challenge...my work tends to be a combination of collage, faces and paper dolls, so abstract was a little out of my comfort zone.

I decided to embrace my roots and instincts, work with my favorite colors and shapes, and create giant doodle-inspired geometric painting. I pulled out a 12"x12" canvas, my drawing pencil, my favorite colors, and got to work. Here's a few how-to steps. For the full tutorial, please click on the link above.

Stencils used:
Stencil Club, March 2019, by Ann Butler, large stencil
Stencil Club, January 2019, Mash Up by Mary Beth Shaw and Seth Apter, medium stencil
Stencil Club, April 2013, Stitchery by Mary Beth Shaw, medium stencil
Grove Street by Nathalie Kalbach

Turning Over a New Leaf

Doodles, doodles, doodles. I am constantly doodling flowers, leaves, geometric shapes, alphabet letters, names, and faces. I often collect my doodles and turn them into a design, or just tape them on a journal page for later reference.

After I doodled a leaf on a little blue sticky note the other day I realized the symbolism--I am actually in the process of turning over a new leaf--a new job, new duties, with a new location, new co-workers, a new commute--so what could be more appropriate than a journal page about turning over a new leaf?

Then, yesterday morning, I got a package in the mail with some art trades in it, and the trade hostess had included some little cutout pieces of...guess what?...leaves of course. So, I painted them green, and also used them as a stencil while I was painting them.

I was in love with my old journal. It was square, which is perfect for Instagram. Perfect for a Virgo who likes everything neat and square and tidy. But the new journal is a horizontal rectangle, which has me less in love with it than my old journal. Previous to the square journal, I used, or made, journals that were rectangular, but vertical.

So, I decided to create a square space on each page of my new journal, and either leave the extra space blank, or do something unrelated in that space. Sometimes I incorporate it into my design, sometimes not. On the page below, I put the blue sticky-note on the top right, and underneath, some of the little stencils of the cutout leaf shapes I received in the mail. The main design is on the left. I started with a page painted in a bright yellow--one of my favorite colors.

"Turning Over a New Leaf" journal page

 I used acrylic paints, paint pens, and Jane Davenport paint-over pens. Once it was dry, I added white printmaking paint with a Nathalie Kalbach Versailles art-foamie stamp around the edges.

When I was done, I realized it was strikingly similar to a design I made several years ago and turned into fabric. Here is the link to the fabric I designed a couple of years ago, and the blogpost about it. Not only do I keep doodling the same thing, I also seem to choose the same color combinations. I guess they are my happy shapes and colors.

Below is an art journal page that I did a few days before the "turning over a new leaf" page. Again, I used the happy yellow acrylic in the background, then added whimsical vintage paper doll parts, a model's face from a fashion magazine, and some of my own fabric scraps. I finished it with some handwritten words, a Retro Cafe Art solar flare stencil and Artistcellar inspirational word stencils.

"Riding the Waves" journal page

I realized recently something I have always known, but had forgotten: that I love not only making art, paintings, and designing fabrics, but I love turning them in to a useful, beautiful end product. Below I took some paper I had designed in Photoshop and output with a color laser printer on 8.5" x 11" paper, and, using an old envelope as a template, cut, folded and glued my own envelope. I added paper scraps and assorted washi tape. I used the fancy envelope to send out my folding ATC doll to the winner of the Paper Traders June "winner take all" ATC lottery. Here's the link to last week's post in case you were wondering what is inside the envelope.

"Mail Art" handmade envelope

Crazy Messy Faces with Jane Davenport Stencils

Jane Green, finished. mixed media journal page

Above is the finished journal page I named Jane Green. Jane, for the Jane Davenport stencil that I used as a guideline for the face, and Green because I got all sloppy and messy and the skintone accidentally turned greenish. 

Jane Green finished looks completely different than the unfinished, fairly neat drawing below, done the day before. 

I lightly sketched, with a pencil, the facial features, then hand-drew the lines for the hair, neck, swirls and checkerboard. The drawing was started one evening as I sat beside my husband and quietly drew while he was watching a TV show. I felt pretty calm and just wanted to relax with some art supplies and see what emerged.

Jane Green unfinished

The next day, I let loose with the wet paints and the design turned into something unexpected. I ended up painting over areas I didn't like with gesso, and smearing some of the colors together and getting muddy.

There is a big Jane Davenport fan base on Instagram and Facebook. I am a big fan too. But where I go with her products is pretty unlike what most fans do. I seldom have an adorable mermaid or a doe-eyed child. Mostly I end up with crazy looking females. Hmmm...what would Freud say?

Below is another journal page, using a different Jane Davenport stencil. Lots of scribbling, painting over, mixing of medias. I glued a strip of scrapbook paper over the forehead to break up the design, but wasn't sure if I liked it. It was sort of '80s Flashdance meets '60s hippie. I stepped back and decided it was too busy, and went to bed.

Jane Black, unfinished

The next day, I looked at the page and thought, "What was I thinking? This is busy, what a mess!" So, I grabbed black gesso and knocked back the purple in the background. I had to stop myself from painting over the whole page and covering the face. It's still kind of a mess, but it is done--at least for now. I named her Jane Black: Jane for the Jane Davenport stencil, and Black for the background gesso.

Jane Black, finished

When it comes to drawing, I can be pretty neat. Aided by a computer, I can be rather precise. Never reaching the perfection that my Virgo brain seeks, but lines are reasonably straight and if I am trying to do a repeating design, I can figure out the math and make it work.

Sometimes my brain needs to work on something orderly and neat to calm it down. But sometimes a design that starts out neatly drawn ends up a hot mess. And sometimes that hot mess is gorgeous. Mostly I end up gessoing over hot messes or cutting them up into ATCs.

Muse-Scribe-Angel Painting Tutorial

The idea of painting some kind of angelic being that hints at a past life has been in my mind for a while. For years I have thought that if we have lived past lives, I would have been one of the monks in a Medieval castle or monastery who drew the big letters and decorative items in the pages of illuminated manuscripts. I always pictured myself the artist, but lately I think I was also a scribe. Not the writer of the manuscript...that would have been some kind of monk or holy leader, but I may have been the one who took down the words. Why? It's what I do. In my heart, I am an artist. I love paint, and color and design. But on a daily basis, at work, I am appreciate for my gift of language, for writing, editing, and proofreading, along with the design work. So, on my art staycation, I decided to paint. Of course, the picture in my head looks nothing like what came out. No one can see that image except me.

step 1, sketching the face

step 2, adding a little color and blocking out white spaces for the wings and body

step 3, more color and shading

step 4, more face details

I started with printouts of my Jane Davenport DVD on painting whimsical faces and did the face step by step. It looks a lot like the faces I have done in the past using her method. Here is the first Davenport-esque face.  Here is my yellow Davenport-inspired face.  But then I added wings, and a body and some background.

step 5, face is almost finished and wash of antique linen Tim Holtz distress stain in background

I thought about stopping at step 5 or 6. But, I wanted to add text to express my feelings about a past life.

step 6, a wash of pink acrylic was added to give femininity

I thought since the mood was about illuminated manuscripts, some gold was needed. I put it mostly on the top to hint at a halo effect.

step 7

step 8

I put some deli paper over the painting, deciding on the shape and placement of the words. Next, I used some old fashioned carbon paper in between the deli paper and the watercolor paper and transferred the words onto the painting. Finally, I used a calligraphy tipped indelible marker and wrote them on the design. 

step 9

The words seemed too bold so I added washes of color to tone them down and try to visually separate the wings from the body. It still seemed stark, so I decided to add my favorite stencils. Using a foam roller, I applied thick white acrylic to two of my favorite commercial stamps that had a bit of a Medieval feel to them. I also added some distress inks in golden brown, dark brown and sepia shades.

step 10

With brown distress ink, I added a hand-carved heart in the throat space, where there might be a dip in the neckline or a hint of cleavage. I also added the heart in the top left corner and in the middle of the right edge. A little indigo color was added at the bottom left and some brown tones to the space between the head and right wing. I thought I was done at this point, but hung it on the wall (with tape) temporarily to live with it and see if it felt finished.

step 11-final

After a while, it seemed that the words were too bold still. I wanted to be able to read then, but then I thought, "What the heck, who cares if someone else can't read them? This is for me, and I know what it says." So, I used thick white acrylic paint and a flat thick brush and pulled long strokes down the front of the dress under the heart, and also here and there on the sleeves and wings, intentionally achieving a dry-brush effect so that some of the words would still be visible. The question with art, for me, is often: "Am I done? Is it finished?" If I can't think of anything else it needs, and I like it, it is done. It was starting to get a little "muddy" so rather than risk unintended muddy sections, I called her finished.