THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE -with Shelby
“Enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.” - Kurt Vonnegut
A collection of miniatures in a variety of media will soon grace the walls of a local gallery. The trend of purchasing small works is gaining in popularity and can be found in both home and office settings. I find viewing miniatures a fantastic way to slow down and to make time to enjoy what surrounds me…to enjoy the little things in life.
“Excellent!” I thought when I heard about the exhibit. I instantly reached for my Artistcellar Pocket Stencils. I primed a 4” x 4” canvas panel with a mixture of gesso and Sunflower yellow acrylics and stenciled on metallic gold diamond shapes. I wanted a warm background on which to build the work.
Once dried, I added the word “CREATE” from the Creative Words Pocket Stencil Series. And what a wonderful word it is…bursting with the spirit of the exhibition. The rest of the design easily fell into place. The Dragonfly stencil from the Traditional Japanese Series is the perfect complement in essence and size. I masked out two of the insects and began stenciling in a variety of colours.
I immediately think of a piece of visual art when I hear the word Create. But as we all know, there is so much more to the meaning of this word. For the wordsmiths among us I rubber stamped text to a piece of tea stained tissue paper and attached it with matte medium. The transparent appearance was just what I was after. I finished this part of the collage with a gold foil border.
The wonderful advantage of creating with Artistcellar stencils is that it is easy to mask out just what you need. The stencil designs inspire you to make your work truly your own. This is one reason I love using the Infra stencil from the Quasicrystals Series. The random dots I chose finished the piece and added the perfect amount of extra colour.
Do you take the time to appreciate the small things in life? I hope my miniature encourages the observer to take the time to stop and enjoy the moment. Hopefully they will create and share, by image or word, the meaningful little things of their life.
MATERIALS USED:
- ARTISTCELLAR STENCILS: CREATIVE WORDS POCKET STENCILS (Create), QUASICRYSTALS SERIES STENCILS (Infra), TRADITIONAL JAPANESE SERIES (Dragonfly)
- HANDCUT DIAMOND STENCIL
- LIQUITEX MATTE MEDIUM
- LIQUITEX GESSO
- PLAID ACRYLICS: Sunflower, Inca Gold
- DECOART: Sunny Day, Blue Harbor, Sea Glass, Desert Turquoise
- DYLUSIONS PAINT: Vibrant Turquoise, Cut Grass, Fresh Lime, London Blue, Crushed Grape, Squeezed Orange, Bubblegum Pink, Postbox Red
- DYLUSIONS INK SPRAY: Bubblegum Pink
- DINA WAKLEY ACRYLICS: Blushing
- REEVES: Bronze, Gold
- VIVA INKA Gold
- MEMENTO INK DYE: Tuxedo Black
- RUBBER STAMPS
- NATURAL SPONGE
- PAINTER’S TAPE
- TISSUE PAPER
- GOLD FOIL
- CANVAS PANEL – 4” x 4”
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