Lemurian Garden Stencil Debut!

One of my lifelong dreams has been seeing my own designs used in fabrics, wallpaper, clothing, packaging, paper goods, sheets other useful products. After finishing college with a degree that didn't really suit me, I went back to school and studied Textile and Surface Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. For about 10 years, I worked in the fashion industry as a print stylist, selecting designs, patterns and colors for a textile converter, and going to the mills to oversee the production quality. The company's look was different than my personal style, so I rarely produced my own designs. After my daughter was born, I shifted into layout design for magazines and newspapers. Still, in the back of my mind a little voice kept asking: "What about YOUR designs?" I often sketched ideas and doodled and imagined what my own designs would be.

Finally I had the opportunity to produce stencils for StencilGirl. Out of the hundreds of designs I had scribbled on sticky notes and doodled on the edges of notepads over the years, I selected five. They are all designs I doodle, sketch and draw over and over--shapes that have showed up in my paintings and drawings for many years. Realizing that they were all designs based in nature, I named the group Lemurian Garden, after a magical place that some believe was the Garden of Eden, located in the area where the Hawaiian Islands are now.

The five designs in the group are the Spiral, Leaf, Pansy, Tulip and Lily, and they work beautifully together, but also stand on their own individually.

Here's some samples of how the stencils look with various methods and colors. The earrings and necklace were stenciled onto shrinkydink film, then baked in the oven. Some are Intention Cards, some are journal pages. There's also a greeting card and handmade envelope as well as a little gift box.

LEAF

TULIP

SPIRAL

For the birthday card and envelope, I started with a piece of deli paper that had blobs of paint on it. My silicone mat had been covered with paint, and it looked really pretty, so I covered the mat with thin matte medium, placed deli paper over it, pressed out the excess with a credit card, and let it dry. I carefully peeled away the paper from the mat and was left with some pink., orange and green splotches. Next, I used black archival ink through the spiral stencil in a random, allover pattern until the paper was covered. Using an opened, flattened envelope as a template, I cut the envelope shape, folded it, and glued the sides. With the leftover bits, I used a folded 8" x 5" white index card to make the birthday card. I stamped "happy birthday" onto deli paper, then glued it in place with matte medium. 

Click HERE to see a short video on the making of the card and envelope.

PANSY

LILY

 And here's a few things I made using ALL the stencils together. I liked the pastel (on the left) so much that I scanned it and printed out paper from my inkjet printer, which I used for the limbs of the paper doll.

I'm so excited about the stencils, and can't stop using them. They are full of energy and life. I hope you enjoy using them as much as I do!

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