StencilGirl and a New Mixed Media Canvas

I've been sitting on a little secret since the end of April... I was asked to join the creative team for StencilGirl Products and I couldn't be more excited! I had been slowly collecting their stencils and then I joined the monthly stencil club and really got hooked. So when Maria asked me if I was interested in joining the team, I was super psyched! I haven't said anything before now since we decided I would officially start today (June 1st) so that I'd have time to move and get settled in. And now that I'm settled, I'm can't wait to participate in all the fun! So make sure to watch here, on Facebook, and on the StencilGirl blog for future posts and projects :)

In the meantime, I do have a new project to share (which just happens to use some stencils!) I did this one over the last week - this is the final redo of the six 16x20 canvases that I had been redoing. (Well, unless I decide to re-redo one of them! Could happen. lol.) I'm calling this one Wanderlust because of the little phrases that worked their way into the piece. They all centered around that theme, and when it was done it felt like it fit.

I absolutely love this one, and although there's no tutorial, I did take photos of the different phases of the project.

First, I gesso'd the old canvas... you can still see texture from the previous design, but I like that so I didn't level it out. Then I drew on circles and added collage elements.

Then I painted in the background:

Next I used StencilGirl Stencils to add some visual interest to the circles before I put on the final color.

I used the Wheel in the Sky stencil (that you can see above) and also the Circle Play stencil. I hadn't planned that in advance... it was total serendipity that I had those two stencils and they were the right sizes for my circles - they were perfect for this!

Then I added paint to the circles... along with oil pastels and Inka Gold to get the look I wanted.

And then, as if that wasn't enough... I added some sparklies :)

And that's it! I let it dry and then put it back in its frame and hung it up. As I said, I really love this one... I'm so happy with how it turned out!
I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend... we've been enjoying beautiful weather here, and I had an awesome Saturday - I started a new series of classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I loved it. I can't wait to start sharing! Soon... we just started prep work and some lecturing yesterday, but hopefully good stuff coming next week.

Comments

[Maria McGuire]

WELCOME "officially" to the team Gwen!!! We are thrilled to have your talent at StencilGirl! The colors on this are amazing!!!!

[Jessica Sporn]

beautiful work! Congratulations and welcome to the SG team!

[jenn zicherman]

I was wondering if you remember what colors you used for the background; those colors are so darn vivid and gorgeous!

jenn.

[Gwen Lafleur]

Hi Jenn,
I don't remember the exact colors, but they were all Golden acrylics - fluid and heavy body. I think maybe Dioxazine purple, purple oxide... there was a a lighter heavy body too. The vivid colors just come from the quality of the paint - they have a high level of pigment which makes a huge difference. Hope that helps!

Gwen