Using Stencils

Victoria Larsen creates beautiful stencils. I was blessed to have won one, an Aspen tree stencil, in an art contest in December.  Working with dimensionality in a stencil is somewhat of a learning curve but adapted to it and used it as a springboard for creating my own tree. The stencil comes with about 4 or five different leaf motifs, one motif of thin branches, as well as two trunks, one thin and one thick. All this fitting into 2 16x20 stencils. So, with the choices inherent in it, you can create any size tree you want, by twisting the designs this way and that. By skipping here and there and coming back to the places where you missed, after the initial branches and leaves dry.  



I really wanted to do an 8'x5' image of a forest of Aspen Trees and prepared triptic canvasses for this. This idea was put aside as, in emotional and spiritual terms, I kept thinking/seeing in my mind's eye, a plant firmly rooted and ready to grow, rain and sun coming down, speaking of life and propelling me forward. The aspen tree stencil thus was adapted to configure my plant. 


I love these stencils because you are still in control of creating whatever you want out of it. And while it is drying you can flatten it out, make it bigger, smaller, nudge it to where you want, delete sections, paint it, add more texture, carve it, etc. It is another tool in your arsenal to create.


This painting is heavily textured throughout, the background built up with layers of epoxy, marble dust, acrylic, mica flakes, silver and irridescent paint on canvas. The branches, roots and leaves were created with Durabond 90 with a pinch of marble dust and a half cup of some epoxy dust thrown in. (I had saved the dust from when I've sanded down epoxy in a prior image). Yeah, I figured it would create a new polymer blend.  A pinch of this, a pinch of that is fun ... :) 

This image shown is before the final glaze of epoxy because I wanted to show you the texture without the shiny glare. The final flood of epoxy will smooth everything out and the colors will pop.


www.victorialarsen.com