Incorporating Stencils!

I was asked to be part of a blog hop featuring Jane Davenport's new stencils.  I excitedly agreed.  I started by using our copic airbrush system.  The eyes and the face stencils are by Jane.  The coral and the dots are other stencils from Artistcellar.  I don't consider myself to be much of a stenciler, (my husband Tracy does it WAY better than me) but with these it doesn't matter.  They are simply components you can use to create your own style.

 I added one more little stencil on the left side (dots on the nose), then started thinking about the direction it would go.  On the right side, I added some pieces of collage and started filling in the eyes with paint markers

Next I started playing around a little more.  I found the little mouth on the left while looking through my collage box, so erased my pencil mark.  I also started adding more color on the left with some pieces of leaf shaped collage.  On the right, I put dots on the scarf thing (with paint pens) to fill it in and added another "blump" to the hair with copic marker (this was something I wish I had not done but you always have to be brave and try stuff and then be ok with the results).  Because of the slickness of the background paint I found that my colored pencils would not work, so I used caran d'ache to color in the face so it wouldn't blend in with the background.  I also added more details to the eyes with paint markers.

I started adding a little color on the left side as well as adding some white crayon to the eyelids.  On the right side, I started drawing some paint pen lines over the collage and played around with more crayon colors to add shading to the face

I needed some contrast on the left side, so I cut a piece of paper to fit the chin and then filled in around the rest of it with paint pen.  BTW, I eyeballed the curvature of the chin but you could use a piece of tracing paper to make it exact.  I also added more details on the collaged leaves with paint pens and gel pens as well as adding a few more leaves to cover the piece of "fish collage".  On the right side, I started giving her a body with a piece of collage.

The top of the left side was bothering me, so I put more of the dark blue paint pen down and then added some dots with other paint pens.  I also outlined her cheeks with neon pink dots.

 The right side needed a border and since the whole image was so bold I just drew something in with a black copic and filled it in.   I also finished her body with a dark red copic marker.  Couldn't resist some swirlies on the left side (it was scary because there is always that thought..."what if I ruin it"...but you have to try).  and did you notice that I placed an eye from a magazine on the right side?  It looked fine before but I wanted it to look a little off...less refined.  and I just couldn't resist the beauty mark.

I extended the "fish" off the side on the left, put some pink and flourescent yellow at the top and added some dots around the leaves to add detail and color.  When I opened a quote book, this one jumped out at me and wasn't too long (didn't have too much space for anything longer).  After writing it, it seemed to fit both pages so well.

I really do love this stencil.  she looks like a superhero here.

After writing the quote, I had to put an open eye on the left side signifying our third eye and the fact that looking at the world through our third eye is always good too.  My pages always tell me things when I am done with them.  These were no exception.  I had so much fun with these stencils as my inspiration, I will definitely be using stencils alot more from now on.  Thank you Jane and artistcellar for some great supplies to mess around with.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my process.  Make sure to stop by the rest of these blogs to see how others are using the stencils!

btw, Artistcellar is giving away a free set of stencils to one of my readers.  I will devise a fair way to pick someone from the list of comments.  To be eligible, leave a comment by monday, 3/11 :)  Update: I JUST RANDOMLY scrolled down through the comments and picked a name with my eyes closed.  The winner is Roberta Warshaw (who I have emailed).  Thanks for all the lovely comments everyone left me!

Sunday 3/3 - Artistcellar  (www.artistcellar.com/wp)
Monday 3/4 - Teesha Moore  (www.teeshascircus.blogspot.com) 
Tuesday 3/5 - Jeanette House  (http://www.jeanettehouse.co.uk/blog/) 
Wednesday 3/6 - Dawn Sokol  (http://www.dblogala.com/)
Thursday 3/7 - Tamara Laporte (www.willowing.org/blog) 
Friday 3/8 - Effy Wild  (http://effywild.com)
Saturday 3/9 - Kass Hall (http://www.kasshall.com/)
Sunday 3/10 - Mindy Lacefield  (http://www.timssally.com/)
Monday 3/11 - Jane Davenport (http://www.janedavenport.com/)

As a little bonus, my husband, Tracy just created a journal page using Jane's stencil too.  He really knows how to use an airbrush!