Fun With Self-Portrait Stencil

I finally tried a cool idea I got from the book True Vision: Authentic Art Journaling by L.K. Ludwig. I thought it would be too hard, but I just decided to do it tonight. I made a self-portrait stencil. I used a photo booth pic from my Mac webcam. I used a free online site to turn the photo into a cartoon and I printed it in high contrast black and white. The site I used waswww.befunky.com. Then, I put a clear plastic sheet over the photo and traced all the black areas with a sharpie. I found an X-acto knife pen and cut out ALL the black areas. I experimented with my stencil using spray inks from Ranger and Tattered Angels. I sponged pigment ink over the stencil for the purple one. I thought I'd share my results here and then work these into some journal pages. I think you should try one- I am NOT an expert with the X-acto knife. When the little pieces didn't come out easily I used tiny scissors to finish cutting and lifting the pieces out.

So, my friends, the moral is... If I can do this, YOU can certainly do it, too!

This is the cartoon photo I started with.

The purple one was made from pigment ink sponged over the stencil. This made the cleanest lines.
This one was sprayed with Ranger ink, the purple was left on the stencil and it rubbed off on this one.

This one did not make a clean print because too much spray got underneath the stencil. I let it dry and then resprayed with a darker ink.
This one was a negative print first. I soaked up all the ink on top of the stencil with a new sheet of paper. Then I used the stencil to ink the positive lines into the white spaces.

Inspired by Wonderland!

I saw the movie Alice In Wonderland Sunday afternoon and I LOVED it! I thought it was visually rich and interesting. The characters were quirky, but not disturbingly so. I created a spread in my journal to illustrate a quote that is highlighted in the movie. Of course, in my journal these pages are side by side and you can read the entire quote. I have a few other art projects that I should have been finishing up, but this one demanded to be first!

Catching up on my Art Journal pages

Here are some of my art journal pages from the journal I started in January. I have been working on drawing faces after taking several classes from Suzi Blu. I have taken some of the faces from my sketchbook and incorporated them into my journal pages. I am trying to add more writing to my pages, so I may add words to some of them later. I really like the idea of painting many pages ahead of time and adding a few collage elements. This gives me a choice of backgrounds when I want to start journaling on a page.

The word that got cut off by my scanner is GRATITUDE!

Gigi and Poppy and a little sweetness

One of my dearest friends daughter had her first baby this week. As her parents rushed to leave work and meet her at the hospital this little man was in no mood to wait around. After a mere 3 hours little Nigel Gregory was born and the new grandparents missed his arrival!
But one look at this little face made it all worthwhile. So, congratulations to mommy and daddy and to Gigi and Poppy!
Instead of a card, I made this paper mache house collage as a welcome home gift. Lucky for me I have a few weeks off and I can come visit soon. I can't wait to meet your beautiful boy!

Cherry Pie Stamps Rock!

I got one of my One World One Heart prizes today. Marina in Florida is an amazing artist who owns Cherry Pie Stamps. She sent me a beautiful piece of original art, one of her art post cards,

AND I got to choose one of her awesome stamps! I picked a close up of Klimt's The Kiss. Go check out her website! She has so many cool images from Klimt, Dali, nudes, collage elements,

you'll love it, I promise! Thanks Marina! I sent off my prizes to my winners on Saturday and I can't wait to hear what they think of them when they arrive.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

The winners have been selected for my OWOH giveaway! I want to thank each person who

made such heartfelt, encouraging comments to my son, Jamison. I appreciate the warm, supportive sentiments about my art,too. I hope some of you will come and visit me often!

So, without further ado...
1. Box of goodies from Paula's Kit Club: Angie H. from Texas
2. True Passion painted collage: Tanya909 from Florida
3. Butterfly painted collage: Memories for life scrapbooks in Iowa

4. Under The Sea painted collage: Tinker from California

Bal Masque at The Artful Paper Doll

Presenting my creation for the Bal Masque at The Artful Paper Doll blog party! I did get it done today and I am posting on the 13th California time! Whew! I call this my Dreaming of Art masque.