Stencilling and Stencil Craft by Margaret Peot

I thought I'd take our moose from Monday and do a stencil project.

It also goes nicely with this week's giveaway.

This is Margaret Peot's new book, Stencil Craft.
For those of you new to stencilling it covers everything you need to know....

and for those of you who have been stencilling for awhile it has some new ideas.

I especially like this amalgam composition idea.  Using multiple stencils to build a scene.  I will be using this in future projects.

I also appreciated all the info for stencilling on fabric, something I would like to incorporate more in my textile projects.

If you want a chance at winning this crafty book you need to enter by one of the following:

- leave a comment on this post
- email me directly at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
- like or comment on this post on my Facebook page

I will make the draw on Sunday Aug 23rd/15.
Canadian or U.S. residents only please.



Back to our stencil project:

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- moose template
- cereal box weight cardboard
- wc paper or heavyweight paper for painting
- disk tempera
- black acrylic or liquid tempera
- round brush
- chalk pastels, oil pastels, or crayons

PROCEDURE:

First we have to create our stencil.  I use a very low tech method.  I take a piece of cereal box weight cardboard and draw or trace out my image.

Here I took my moose template, traced around it and altered some of the areas to make a nicer silhouette.

You want to have lots of room around your image, more on that later.

At school I spend a bit of time explaining that we want to keep the negative space, we don't care about the moose itself.

It's hard to make that shift when kids are used to just cutting out the image.  To help I get them to put X's on the area we don't want.

A stencil doesn't have to be pretty, it's just a tool so why not make it easy on yourself........cut the image in half.


Now you can cut it out

and just tape it back together.

Paint your background.  I'm using disk tempera on a 90 lb wc paper.

A nice sunset.

For stencilling I want a nice round brush and a thick paint. I prefer acrylic but you can also use liquid tempera.  Acrylic tends to be more opaque so you get a better result.

You need to hold the stencil firmly in place.  You don't want it to shift.  At school I get the kids to work in pairs.  One holds the stencil and one pounces on the paint.   You can see now that it helps to have extra space around the stencil.

When applying the paint you want to pounce the brush straight up and down. You don't want to stroke side to side as the paint will get under the stencil.

Lift the stencil off in one lift straight up.  I tell the kids to use both hands, lift up and then put it to the side.

If you are re-using the stencil again wipe away the excess paint.  You want the side touching the background to be dry so you don't accidentally transfer any paint.

When the paint has dried we want to add some extra touches to take it further.

You can use chalk pastel, oil pastel, or even crayons.

Add some grass.  The yellow is the reflected light.  I also added yellow to the tips of the antlers and the back of the moose, areas I think would be reflecting that brilliant sunset.

I want a few clouds in the sky so I smudge in some reddish brown.

I also smudged some dark distant trees into the landscape.

That's it.  Gotta love a stencil project.


Be sure to enter the draw and give a stencils a try.

You never know what magic may occur.


(Fairy stencil on top of mixed media background)

See you Sunday

Gail

Fairy Garden Book Giveaway

Wow, I blink and more than half the summer disappears.  What about all the work I was going to do.....well I guess that means it's been a good vacation.

I was asked by my friends at Skyhorse Publishing to review these books.  I love miniature gardens so  of course I said yes!

"Fairy Gardening: Creating Your Own Magical Miniature Garden" by Julie Bawden-Davis and Beverly Turner has lots of ideas for setting up little scenes.

I love this idea of changing them out for the seasons.  I am so doing a Halloween version this Fall. (why didn't I think of that, I can use my pumpkin idea)

The Christmas/winter garden idea they have will have to be an indoor one (gotta love Canadian winters).....it would be a great centrepiece for the Christmas table though.

There is also a section on the best mini plants to use. A great book to inspire you.

"Fairy Gardening 101" by Fiona McDonald has wonderful ideas for including the kiddos.




She also gives you the 'how to' on making your own furniture and accessories. A great resource.

The impromptu Fairy gardens and the "in the wild" ones are especially nice. Great to make on an afternoon hike this summer.

Both books are a treat and up for a giveaway.
If you want a chance to win you need to do one of the following:





- leave a comment on this post
- send me a direct email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
- like or comment on this post on my Facebook page.


I'll make the draw Friday Aug 14th/15. Canadian and US residents only please.
Thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for sponsoring this post.

If you are looking for more fairy garden love check out this pinterest collection.

I'll be back next time with tips and  ideas on how I do mini gardens at school.



Catch you later.......

Gail

Book Giveaway and Student Work

The end of the school year is finally upon us.



I have been finishing my last residencies as well as an onslaught of Father's Day workshops.  Here is just a small sampling of some of the student work over the last few weeks.

Here are some DAD clay portraits that were done with Grade 3 and Kindergarten.

Calgary Towers done with Grade 2.

Toucans with Grade 5.

Mini gardens with Grade 4.

Air dry clay portraits with grade 7 & 8.

So as summer vacation approaches I am looking forward to having time to paint and try out some new projects.

Children's colouring books are not as popular as they were when I was a kid but adult colouring books are now top sellers.

There is something soothing about filling in all those empty spaces with colour and it can provide inspiration for new art projects.

Skyhorse Publishing has several of these books available.

I love all the patterns and immediately the wheels started turning about how I was going to attempt some of these patterns as a mono print or collagraph.

I also like that the pages are perforated so you can remove them easily and add them to your visual journal or put them on display.

Sample pages are provided at the front of the books to give you colour combo ideas.

The back of the book has colour bar space to try out these combinations before adding them to the designs.

Each book has 46 designs for you to colour.


I have 3 of these great books up for grabs.  If you are interested in winning one of these to enjoy over summer vacation please enter by one of the following ways:

- leave a comment on this blog post
- email me directly at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
- like or comment on this post on my Facebook page

I will make the draw on Friday June 19th/15.

Good luck everyone and thanks to Skyhorse Publishing for sponsoring this great giveaway.

Gail

Mixed Media Angel Block

The Christmas rush is coming…I've spent the last week doing all the clay projects, I have 2 more weeks of Christmas themed projects and then I'm prepping for Christmas craft day.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it :)

Here is a angel that Grade 6 will start tomorrow.

The substrate is wood. I had my carpenter 'father in law' cut hundreds of these for projects.  The planks are 1.5" thick and 7.5" wide. They come in 8 ft lengths and are cut square.


You could also use canvas, cardboard, or canvas board.

They are thick enough to sit on a mantle or shelf.



I'll give you the full "how to" in just a minute but first…

from Ulysses Press

…how about a giveaway!


Daily Zen Doodles is a new book by Meera Lee Patel. It's a little workbook filled with prompts for doodling and inspirational quotes to help you relax and focus during your busy year.

With the holiday season upon us we all need a little time to slow down and quiet our minds a bit.

I try to do some drawing everyday, whether it's faces, my corner of the staff room, or what I see outside my window. It calms me and helps me think so I can plan out those 24 different Christmas projects or whatever else is on agenda.

This book is a great way to get you started.

I'll put the give-away details at the end of this post.



Now back to the angels.











MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate, mine is wood and is 7.5" square
- acrylic paint in white, blue, and purple
- some everyday items for printmaking, pencils, lids, cups, etc.
- sandpaper, optional
- metallic acrylic paint in gold and silver
- Crayola Model Magic, you'll need a golf ball sized portion
- tacky glue
- iridescent glitter glue, I use an opal or clear type that works with your base colour
- wax paper
- scrap of kraft paper or a brown bag
- tan coloured card stock
- coloured pencils
- old book page
- some embellishments, I used a sequin star and some metallic foam (a placemat)
- mod podge for sealing
- printed text from the computer, "all is calm, all is bright"

PROCEDURE:

Take your wood, sand any rough sides if needed.

Paint the 4 sides and the front with white acrylic paint.


Set aside to dry.

Take your scrap of kraft paper and paint it white.


Set aside to dry.

Take a piece of wax paper, 6" or so wide, and crumple into a ball.

Flatten out the wax paper.  Using the leftover white paint print some shapes onto it with some everyday tools.

I using circle shapes.  I like to use ends of pencils and dowels, little shooter cups I get from the dollar store and corks.

While our painting is drying we will make the body of our angel.

Give each student a golf ball sized portion of model magic.  I like using model magic in my mixed media projects.  It's expensive so we only use it for one part and I tend to use my 40% off coupons at Michael's to buy it.

Have the kids flatten out the model magic. Our backgrounds are 7.5" square so we don't want our body too big. Around 9cm or 3.5" max. I pre cut some strips of paper to use as a guide and you could also get the kids to measure with their rulers.

Model magic is easy to cut. We just use a plastic knife.

Cut a nice triangle shaped body.

Now we want to texturize our model magic.  I'm using a bottle lid and a glue lid.  I'm also using my new favourite clay tools. These are cupcake decorating tools that I found at the Dollar store. I get 8 tools each with 2 ends for $1.

I bought 12 sets!



Leave your model magic to dry overnight on a paper towel.

When the wood slab dries we want to add our background colour.  We are going for a distressed look, we want to see some white poking thru.

Using a dry brush and being careful to only use little amounts of paint at a time brush on the background colour.

Let dry.

When it's dry you can distress it further by sanding some of the paint off.

Your kraft paper should be dry by now.  Using the inside of my masking tape roll as a template I traced out a circle for my halo.

I want a rich detailed design for my halo.

Squeeze out a little gold and silver paint. To make my design I use cut pieces of cardboard, dipping the ends into the paint and making lines.  Corrugated cardboard gives you a nice ripple. I'm also using my glue lid again, end of a pencil, and the end of a paint brush or wooden skewer.

Let dry.

I use up my leftover metallic paint by painting my old book page.  Metallics tend to be translucent but you can add a bit of water so it's more of a wash.  You want to still see the text.


This will be used for the arms so each student only needs a quarter of the page.

When your model magic is dry paint with acrylic paint.  I used purple.

Squeeze out a little glitter glue onto your wax paper and then using your finger smear it on top of the paint.

While my body and halo are drying I work on the face.

I have a range of flesh toned card stock for the kids to choose from.  They only need a little square.  Using a plastic shooter cup (yes it's those same ones from the Dollar store) trace out a circle.

Using coloured pencils I add the hair and rosy cheeks.  With a sharpie I add eyelids and a smile.

Your angel could have open eyes if you prefer.

Cut out the halo and glue near the top of the background.

Glue the face into the middle of the halo.

To make the wings fold the printed wax paper in half.

Cut a leaf shape on the fold so you have 2 wings.

To attach to the background I use mod podge.  I use the mod podge instead of glue because I want it to dry clear.  Glue can sometimes dry cloudy and you would see it thru the wings as they are a bit translucent.

Glue on the body of the angel.  I just use tacky glue.

For the feet I cut 2 circles from a gold placemat. (Dollar store again)

Cut the book page into strips for the arms.  I added a sequin star.

I printed out the text "all is calm, all is bright".

I added some colour with some disk tempera.

Glue onto the background.

Finally you can add a coat of Mod podge to add a nice shiny finish and help keep everything in place.




That's it.

If you are interested in winning your own copy of "Daily Zen Doodles" by Meera Lee Patel you can enter by doing one of the following:

- leave a comment on this post
- like or comment on this post on my Facebook page
- or send me an email at
thatartistwoman@shaw.ca


I'll make the draw on Friday Nov 28th/14.


Good luck everyone.

A big thank-you to Ulysses Press for sponsoring this giveaway!






Gail