Making a Stencil

This time lapse video shows the process of a stencil being made. First I drew the image on Bristol Board, referring to an image I had sketched in my sketch book. After I was happy with the shape I began cutting out the image with an Exacto Knife. Presto.

A Little Bit of Red

I was just about to mail this painting off, along with a few others, to Monsoon Gallery in Pennsylvania when the gallery director contacted me to let me know that they'd like to feature them in a floral show in May and June. I think the show might get some more red pieces to go along with this one.

It's not all fun and paint

I'm getting a group of paintings ready to mail off to Art Resources Gallery in Minnesota and have reached the stage in the painting process that I dread each and every time, framing and wiring. I have to admit that my husband actually cradles each of my paintings, but it's up to me to paint and varnish the edges, a task I would love to pawn off to one of my apprentices if only I had any.

Finished

I ended up really liking this painting. Every once in a while I'll have a painting come together very naturally and this was definitely one of those paintings. As I've said, I don't have a very big studio, and often during the middle of working on a painting I'll bring it into my family room where I have a little more room to step back and really get a feel for a piece. Another benefit to bringing a painting into the family room is the great input that I get from my family. They helped with the decision of adding the final layering of brown stencils which really made the painting feel complete.

In Progress

Here's a painting that I'm in the middle of working on. I've added the first couple of layers of stencil as well as the silhouette of yarrow in dark green.

Stencils

I've got over thirty stencils, but I definitely have my favorites. And you can distinguish the favorites by the layers of paint which sometimes get so thick that I actually have to stop using a stencil because the built up paint has distorted the image. I usually don't just make one stencil at a time, although occasionally I'll feel that I just don't have the right one for a painting that I'm working on and then I'll make one with a specific painting in mind. Most of the time I'll make a few stencils at once. It's a very different process from painting and sometimes it's just the change of pace that I need. I make my stencils out of Bristol Board, which is thick enough to stand up to the paint, but thin enough that I won't lose all feeling in my fingers when I use my Exacto knife to cut out the design.

Welcome to the studio

Come on in. . .
Of course I dream of the day when my studio will have all natural light with big, beautiful, north facing windows, but for now I make do with this.

To Begin With

Anyone who knows me, and has come to spend time with me as I paint, knows that my studio is a cramped space, overflowing with used canvases and panels, tubes full of posters and containers of gesso and matte medium, not an ideal space to sit down to have a conversation, or to stay much longer than a few minutes to watch me finish a layer of stenciling. So I thought it might be fun to take my studio to the web, a place where my friends could sit down for a while and watch as some of my paintings emerge, without feeling snubbed by the fact that I can't offer a chair for them to sit on (the one in my studio being covered by gardening books and fabric catalogs).