messing with the stenciling.....

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Remember this?





I thought of using pens, but ... decided to see what I could do in Elements.



It took me a Really Long Time to do this, but let's not talk about that, kthx. (Much of the time was floundering around trying to do things. I think.)


I took the image of the hand mask with the purple and orange starburst on it, and made it into an outline. I made a white hand outline, and added it to this original. Then I made a purple one, and added that, too.

Then I messed with stars a bit, here, and there, and eventually realized that I could copy a star-shaped piece from the left of the image, so I wouldn't get a flat orange star (which was one of the early attempts). I made a white outline of the star, and made a purple one, and there it is. Considerable blurring of all the added stuff, so it would fit better with the blurry outlines of the spraying.

I'm happy with this................

digital "stenciling" -- that's different

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Photo of actual paint, sprayed through an actual stencil, on actual paper (brown paint on brown paper).





Photo cropped, and reduced to black and white. (threshold filter)





Layer duplicated, copy rotated 180, inverted (black becomes white and white becomes black), made a bit smaller, and moved until I liked it.


Liking this ok, but it's too eclipsey for what I was thinking about.





Black on top layer selected, and then paint-bucketed hot pink.

Black on bottom layer elected, and paint-bucketed orange.

White on bottom layer selected, and paint-bucketed chartreuse.



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stenciling, July 16

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On the 16th, my buddy K came over, and we did some stenciling. Both of us felt like we were totally out of the groove. Blah, blah, blah. Nothing interesting, nothing exciting.





I am pretty sure the last time we did any stenciling was nearly a year ago.

We'd forgotten how the paint behaves. We'd forgotten what we liked and what we didn't, and how to get from "Not" to "Oh Yeah!"







We weren't applying things that we know from other work -- that you need contrast in value, in size-of-stencil, for example.

This was the first thing I managed that seemed at all interesting to me.





I decided it was high time to quit ... trying ... and start just plain experimenting.







Really liking the effect of printing with the side of the stencil/mask that got sprayed at least as well as the effect of doing the spraying in the first place......

Thinking I will trace the hand mask with white ink, higher on the page than the current pair of hands.........







Not sure how much I like the "cheap lace glove" look......... But I like the black edge on the right side of the hand, and I like the printing over it.....





This seriously needs something else............. I am thinking it's time to take pens to a number of these............





Both sides of the new stencil. Quite liking this first one............







The mask has a ways to go before I will be wanting to quit using it.







And -- the overspray on the paper covering the table is often the most interesting result of all.............





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July 16

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Getting ready to do some stenciling!

(cut with scissors as I don't know where my stinkin' exacto knife is......)

I was working on the other side of this legal-size manilla folder, and didn't even notice the excellent circle segment, etc, on this one until I turned it over to get a pic of the stencil/mask.





Stenciling came to an abrupt halt last year, when summer turned to late fall in an instant. (not going to be doing any spraying inside!)

This spring it was cool and rainy, and then hot, and then the spraying studio (aka "garage") was full of stuff.

Finally, the spraying studio was usable, it wasn't raining, and it wasn't unbearably hot, and we weren't going anywhere, and we didn't have company.....

One thing that happens with stencils and masks (the hand, above, is the mask -- you would lay it down on some part of your work you wanted to preserve, and spray over it, masking whatever you were preserving) is that they become interesting, in the process of being sprayed, and you think you would like to use them in a project rather than spray over them and lose whatever it is that pleases you about them.

I am fond of using my hand, and think it would be a good idea to cut many of these so I can use a different one any time I become attached to a stencil/mask and don't want it to get wrecked by more spray......

For example, here is my previous hand mask. I didn't want to spray over this, so I quit using it.





Note that it was cut from a regular-size manila folder, and I thought the arm should be longer, so I taped a piece of newspaper to it. Love the "LOOK"....





Another detail I really like about this -- love those orange dots.........






I should find (or replace) that exacto knife. Much easier to cut around small curves (like the ends of fingers) with the knife than with scissors.........

Particularly when the piece you are cutting out is as important as the piece you are cutting it out of..... You don't want to trash either so the other can be pristine.....


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mail art

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As you probably guessed, I mailed some printed-on-photographic-backgrounds letters this week.

They went out in envelopes I sprayed last summer when it was still warm enough to do such things.

I have fun with postage stamps -- the super heroes are from a few years ago, and the nice modern landscapes are from way back when first class postage was 5 cents.

The address labels were freebies from someone who wanted money, and the butterfly was cut from tape purchased at TapeSwell. It's the width of packing tape, but much thinner. I stuck the butterflies down on parchment paper, cut them out, and used them like stickers.





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digital stenciling -- transparency exercise

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One of the things I like about spray painting is the way you can see the layers through each other. With paint, a good deal of what you can see is about the physical texture of the paint. Can't do that with pixels.

This is an experiment in seeing what I can see, by messing with layer transparency....



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digital "stenciling" take 2

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I decided I wanted there to be some texture in the orange rays, and that their saturation should be a bit higher............





Ok. Just scratching the surface, but I think there's some scope...........

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digital "stenciling"

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I've been wanting to do some digital collage, and I would love to do digital stenciling.

Every color, no fumes.......................

Here's my first attempt.



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stenciling

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I gave this to my parents when I visited them last weekend.





One of the things I am really enjoying about the whole stenciling thing is the layers.

You can really see the different layers, even when your top layer is black........

I started this one indoors with some interior latex and a stenciling brush. I put on the fuchsia flowers at the bottom.

I had stenciled a yellow alphabet on another piece of paper, and I printed this piece with the still-painty stencil.

Then I sprayed the big circles with orange spray ink.

I sprayed the small white circles, and then went back over the big circles with just a touch more orange ink.

Then the black silhouette of Moi in my tasteful art fair hat.

You can see in this closeup that the layers can be seen right through the black.



Another thing that is interesting about this process is that the layers look different in different lights. As you walk by, it looks different from different angles.....

If you click to embiggen the first pic, you'll see that the flowers are visible right through my legs...........

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stenciling

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Stencil cutting necessities.





My buddy K is also taking the stenciling class. She came over today, and we sprayed.....

She brought new colors!

I'm liking looking through the transparent color to see layers and more layers....

I put more on this one after I took the pic........

The top layer you can see here is the dotted lines, sprayed through some shelf-liner stuff. (started with blue card stock)





I printed on this one with the same shelf-liner stuff I sprayed through for the prev, then sprayed more white through the big circles, then sprayed through a rectangle of what is probably plastic needlepoint canvas with orange ink. (started with yellow card stock)





Printed this one with the needlepoint canvas sprayed orange for the prev, then sprayed over the punched-out letters. (started with yellow card stock)





Sprayed through the shelf-liner stuff with white on white card stock, then sprayed with orange ink over the punched-out letters. I really like the texture of this one.





Started this one yesterday on blue cardstock; stenciled some flowers and sequin waste with latex interior paint and a stencil brush. Added many more layers today.....





Printed on orange card stock with orange ink on a big circular plastic needlepoint canvas. Printed with the white-sprayed shelf liner. Sprayed the white circles.





And now ... a lesson in why you really want to have multiple copies of your current favorite masks. I was loving this mask, but didn't want to quit spraying. I took this pic, and I really wish I still had this in this condition..............

Ah well, at least I've got the pic.

See the piece of masking tape on my wrist? I needed my arm to be longer, so I taped on a piece of newspaper and cut it to shape.

See how the newspaper says "Look!"? Like that. I like that a lot.





I put down kraft paper on the spraying surfaces, so the serendipitous spraying can be preserved. Isn't this nice? This is where K was working............



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stenciling

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Yesterday, for the first time, I sat inside the house and stenciled with interior latex housepaint and a stencil brush. (all began with colored cardstock)

I had several plastic stencils, and some sequin waste.

Today I went out to the garage and sprayed inks on over yesterday's latex paint (the big circles are ink; all the rest is from yesterday).

I am pleased to have ways to do this without propellants!

I usually work in a very minimal way, so getting layers on layers is a new way of doing things.......

stenciling, in the wild

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Spotted on the sidewalks of Ann Arbor, July 14 and 15, 2009.




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Art Fair

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On central campus. One of the enormous planters between the League and the Bell Tower. This used to be a street, but this block of what used to be Ingalls Street has been pedestrianized. No more cars.









Want to see some Art Fair? I thought you did.

Stenciling!

Mark Traughber.





Some of these are multi-layer stencils. See how the women in the corners have a medium value as well as the black? But the 60s high school boy doesn't.





These are small pieces of plywood. Small. Like 4"x5" or something in that range. They have a groove cut out of their backs, which fits over the metal rods to hang them.





Are you curious? Here's the answer.



I wondered if he'd have more complex stencils inside the booth (this was the outside wall), but no. Paintings inside. I didn't see any stencils inside. Ah well.



I was a student at the Potters' Guild for several years in the late 70s, and still have a very soft spot in my heart for ceramics.

Love that chubby turquoise teapot!

Delores Fortuna.





Almost all of the fiber seemed to be garmentage. Lots of discharge....

Betsy Giberson.





There are actually four separate fairs, though everyone tends to simplify and just call it "Art Fair."

The original fair used to be on South University. After some years of contention with the South U. merchants over who owed whom what for the privilege of associating with each other, the original fair moved to campus, and now is directly north of the diag, immediately south of Rackham, between the League and the bell tower.

A seriously censored view of the bell tower.





Here's what you get if you just swing the camera up and snap off an image..... Art Fair tents, and a crane which is working on the fancy new dorm thing where the Frieze Building used to be.






Ok. More art.

I have loved Susan Hill's work for a long time. The color, of course. Also the shapes, composition, texture............ Very nice.





Here is someone else whose work I have admired for a long time. Marcia Derse.

We looked at this last year. I want the lot of them. Wouldn't it be fun to arrange and rearrange these? They are all individually hung...........





Most of this artist's work was much larger. Actual garments affixed to canvas, and painted, etc.

I liked this small piece, with the stitching and buttons.....

Kathrine Allen-Coleman.





I don't know if there *is* more work that is available as multiple components, or if I'm just seeing it.

I don't know that all these wordy cubes were available individually or not. I'm not sure I like this cubical multi-form as much as flatter components which allow their neighbors to be more easily seen...........

I didn't notice if this booth is shared by a couple. It happens, and often results in a juxtaposition of fairly disparate work. The black and white cubes, with the curves of colorful glass lead me to wonder.......





Want to make a guess as to medium? I was puzzled by the matte finish. I wondered if it might be polymer clay, but some of these pieces are quite large......





Did you guess blown glass? The sizes and shapes of the pieces make perfect sense as blown glass, but I've never seen it in a matte finish before (and am not sure I've seen color used in quite this way, either).

Frederick Warren.



Here falleth apart my documentation of who made what.....

More garmentage. In addition to lots of discharged dye, there was lots and lots of felt.

I've seen criss-crossed fiber, felted, as scarves, but these were little jackety wraps.





More felt. This was felted on a light-weight woven fabric (silk organza is one fabric that can be used for this technique). The woven fabric gives a lot of strength to the felt, allowing for a much lighter-weight, drapier fabric than could be achieved if made of felt alone.

I like the curveldy doodads on the lapel of this vest.





Still more felt. Here you can readily see that the felt was made on another fabric.





Yet more felt. Sort of the polar opposite of the light-weight and drapey shawl -- I wonder if this is actually 4+" of solid felt? I am positive the balls are felt, and the black part surely looks like felt.........

These individuals did not give me a clear view of this piece (so rude, what about MY needs???)..........





One sees a wide array of garments in Ann Arbor on a plain old ordinary day. During Art Fair, even more so.

Why not let the things you can't wear to your job at the bank come out and get some air, at Art Fair time.



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