Totally Teal {with JOFY Stencil & Paints & Ellen Vargo stamps by Jo Firth-Young}

Hi everyone, Jo here.  I'm showing you two projects in this blog post because a week or so ago I sat down at my studio desk just to have a bit of 'play time' and half way through thought 'this would make a nice blog project' but (yet again) I had been so busy creating I'd forgotten to take photograph - but that's OK because I now have two projects - happy accidents etc etc etc  The two projects are created with the same process and simple techniques - simple but effective and versatile.

The first project I created was a painted stenciled wood frame (from a well known Swedish home store)

and the second was a wood block I decorated to show how I created the first project:

I wanted to use a limited colour palette for a simple/tone-on-tone effect, so the projects use only Dusty Teal and Chalk from the JOFY Limited Edition paints. I mixed the two together to create a pale teal to use on the base coat - this would allow the 'out-of-the-bottle' Dusty Teal colour to be used as shadowing and flowers later on...

The project uses JOFY stencil PS009 - four bold flowers, different versions of the same flower so they can all be overlayed and used in different combinations.

I've cut my stencil so the flowers are separate - I find them easier to use this way.  In the photo below you'll notice that all the stencils have a blue star sticker - they are stuck in the same place on each flower - this helps me identify which way up the stencil is and how/where to overlay them so that they match up.  The purple flower in the photo (middle left) is a mask of the flower design.  The stamp is Ellen Vargo EEV02

The first layer is a single base flower stenciled with Chalk. When creating a stenciled image the best & cleanest results are created with several light layers of paint rather than one heavy layer.

I masked off the first flower (purple flower below) and stenciled a second flower, again with chalk, overlapping the designs slightly.

Below are the two flowers - the first base flower remains complete (having been masked off) and so the second flowers appears to be underneath it.

At the top of the panel I stenciled flower design three - I've used this 'in progress' photo to show the size of the piece of foam I use for stenciling - approximately 1x1cm.  I like using foam pieces of this size as it means I have more control and I keep within the perimeters of the design.

The photo below shows that the completed flower number 3 has been masked off and a full base flower stenciled in Dusty Teal.

Flower stencil 4 was laid over the base Dusty Teal image and and flower 3 is still masked off (the purple flower, top right):

In this photo the middle flower is shown with its two layers - laying image 4 over the top of the other stencils creates coloured tips:

All the stenciling is done (normally I would create an odd number of images but on this panel I wanted to just show each of the stencils so it had to be four) I moved onto a bit of stamping - using the circle from the Ellen Vargo EEV02 stamp set (great for backgrounds!) stamped in Chalk paint.

EEV02

I added detail - shadow to accentuate the flowers and layering and to make the flowers 'pop' using shades of Dusty Teal.... colouring gently around the flowers, darkening between the petals and where the flowers overlap...

... and more depth was added by using a black watercolour pencil - I use these pencils as I find them softer than normal colour pencils.

I finished the edges of the panel by dragging with Dusty Teal, drawing with White Pen and black pencil.

Here is the finished panel again:

This is probably the prettiest 'reference sheet' I've made - it shows each of the flowers from stencil PS009, and a couple of simple techniques.. pretty and functional!

There will be more techniques using this stencil coming up on my blog over the next few weeks.

I hope this has inspired you...

Jo

A huge thanks to Jo from all at PaperArtsy. A truly fabulous reference sheet, deep undercover and masquerading as a gorgeous piece of art. 

If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE you will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by 17:00 (London time) Sunday 1st june 2014