Welcome to day 5 of Stencil Week celebrating my latest release at StencilGirl! Today might be the last day of Stencil Week but never fear….there will be more stencil and creative fun coming here on the blog and on YouTube! If you don’t want to miss any of the fun you can subscribe/follow all sorts of ways on the sidebar to the right.
Today’s play started with a little pen work while watching TV. I traced only parts of it. By tracing with a pen, a waterproof pen by the way, it opens up so many options for using only some lines and shapes in a stencil.
In the video, I show you how I colored these in and how I outsmarted the inner critic who tried to bully me into not creating.
Click here to watch Using Watercolors with a Stencil in an Art Journal on YouTube.
The giveaway is now closed.
Want to win the stencil I used in this project? I am giving away one of these stencils to a randomly selected winner! To be entered all you need to do is leave a comment telling me what is most likely to get in your way when you decide to make time to play.
Want another chance to win? Just share it (Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.) and come back and leave another comment telling me where you shared it!
Iāll be announcing all the randomly selected winners from Stencil Week next Friday, Jan. 31st. right here. Be sure to be entered before random.org picks the winners for your chance to win! And yes, international folks are eligible too!
Thank you again for begin a part of Stencil Week!
Supplies Used:
- Union Stencil
- Canson Mixed Media Journal
- Watercolors
- Micron Pen
I’m not sure what to call it but I psych myself out. As do so many, I have health issues which keep me away but even on days I am feeling well, I still struggle to just go do. I find it weird . It’s like I don’t have control but I do. Yep as the week goes on my issues get deeper and by tomorrow you’ll probably be ready to send a straight jacket express!
Guilt over taking time for myself. Too many years of having children in the house that needed my time. My kids have kids, so that has not been the case for many years, but the feelings still remain.
Just posted on Facebook.
What gets in my way when trying to create is that inner voice that tells me my work sucks and that I’m not an artist. Sometimes I believe the voice and sometimes I don’t. Thanks for your videos.
I usually have to clean up the mess that I made from the last thing that I worked on! Love the creative process lots, the straightening up not so much.
I am not a watercolor it’s either, and like you, I say, “so what.” I hadn’t thought of using watercolors with a stencil. If I am lucky, I will win one of yours, and the first thing I will do, if I am so lucky, I will use watercolors FIRST! Thanks for offering this contest to win a stencil. I love your work, for you always get me inspired, to just play and have fun. Thanks, Carolyn!
I have a very difficult time just “playing”. If I’m not making “art” I feel it’s a waste of supplies. I fight my inner critic very hard over this issue, but sad to say, she wins more often than not.
What’s likely to get in the way is my muse not getting the memo about it’s play day! I have to get over being inspired and just do something even if you just do a Gelli print or a background or gesso a page. That inner critic is deafening at times – glad you slammed the door on that noise!!! Really love the artsy look of watercolour outside the lines!. Thanks for the great stencil week:) Off to share!
I normally look over in youtube/pinterest for inspiration or an idea… and sometimes end up using all my play time on the computer… also I don’t have an office or an designated area just for me, my “corner” is the dining table so I have everything stored in a cupboard, and I have to put everything out and then back in place… not always but sometimes is too much hassle!
I shared your lovely page on my pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/pin/24910604163390660/)
Regards!
using watercolours have always daunted me too but i am inspired to buy some next time my budget allows. Lovely stencil.
Gill xx
i shared the video on Twitter and Google+
my playtime is cut short because of all those boring household chores that have to be done. I need a self cleaning house please.
Gill x
Sometimes I have so many ideas and there are so many supplies and techniques that I just get overwhelmed!!! Your use of supplies is inspiring and I am able to go play trying out your technique and magically I can keep playing. It does help to have a dedicated space now.
Wow Carolyn! Another amazing stencil. I have to admit I didn’t quite get it, straight away, but once I saw it in use, in your video, I knew I had to add it to my crafty stash.
Sooo glad you showed a close up … I love all the bleeding… That is what does it for me with watercolors, how they bleed on different papers. Great vid!!!
This will most likely not be the answer anyone expected. Believe it or not, it’s not my Inner Meanie, not lack of time, not feeling guilty for me time, it’s two cats!!! They seem to think I’m using “their” table even though it’s really MINE and in MY studio!! LOL! Wonderful use of a stencil, by the way. Thanks for the inspiration.
I think your inner critic knows my inner critic! My biggest stumbling block is thinking I have to making something that has a PURPOSE — somehow I need to believe that playing and experimenting are PURPOSES. I don’t have a problem with ‘mistakes’ — I freely accept that mistakes are ways to learn but it’s hard to just play.
Thanks for a great week. I loved the simplicity of today’s page.
thank you so much for articulating what I’ve tried so often to impart to people asking me for help or advice or posting pieces of their own artwork and asking what it’s missing on sites that I frequent!!! you’re so excellent! I love this stencil of yours the best, just so that you know (I understand that random is random, and sometimes when you put it into the universe the universe answers with hilarity and occasionally with a direct giftā¦ I’m hoping for the gift!)
I have to admit that my greatest challenge to having straight “me” time in my studio is the fact that I am also the mom, the girlfriend, the daughter and the kitty mamaā¦ and so others find my separated time to be a challenge to be respectful of sometimes and I’m a pushover, I will break from what I’m doing to spend time with them and then find myself wishing I’d spent time working on my art or creating projects I’ve already set as goals and missed.
Since I don’t have a defined creative space available to me, knowing that I have to clean up the mess after my creative play time definitely gets in my way. I’m trying to work on this by making my supplies more easily portable but it’s a process! And then it seems like I spend more time organizing supplies than actually creating. So frustrating!
My biggest problem is focus. If I have deadlines or several projects going then I have trouble focusing on just one of them. I keep fretting over the over things I need to be doing. It makes it difficult to enjoy the moment even if I can make the time.
I added a link to this post in my blog’s daily link list: http://lifeimitatesdoodles.blogspot.com/2014/01/friday-links-to-tangles-tutorials-and_24.html
I shared: https://www.facebook.com/sandra.strait/posts/656312194415002?stream_ref=10
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/molossus1/status/426736893980864512
I never have enough time. I need to learn that a lot of little increments of time will add up to a whole page.
I shared it to Facebook!
I shared it to twitter!
Sometimes I stall out because my inner critic is telling me I’m not an artist…I might not get paid for making my art, but when I go back and look at things I have created I amaze myself š I think the important idea to me is that everything I have created has come from play…I sit in front of my stash and say “what am I going to play with today?” ~ there’s no pressure because I’m not an artist š
I shared on FB.
I love the colors in this page! there are so fantastic!
Setting aside the time to get out the paints and stencils and embellishments and then sitting down and working on a project. I have a Stampin’ Night at my house two nights a month so I’m looking for projects for those ladies, working on cards that I need to send for BD’s, etc, and then perusing the blogs for new ideas. Also have a dog who thinks that if I’m not paying attention to her my day is being wasted. I just need to set aside some “me” time and do it.
Too many projects happening at one time. Working on one thing, while another dries.
I pinned to my “non-carding making” board on Pinterest.
I posted your page on my FB acct. Thanks.
https://www.facebook.com/aColorfulJourney was pasted on my FB acct. https://www.facebook.com/mwmeara
https://www.facebook.com/aColorfulJourney was pasted on my FB acct
My FB groups I admin: . https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZenspirationInspirations/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ZentangleEnthusiasts/
https://www.facebook.com/mwmeara
BRAVO BRAVO.. standing an applauding. Fantastic week!!! Thanks, Carolyn.
Shared on FB. Work always spoils my play time…….
Love how you give that inner critic the boot!
Although I am organized in an abstract way, getting all the proper stuff together gets in my way.
Getting that inner demon from saying, “You don’t know how to do that!” BUT, I’m working on it. :7)
I keep telling myself I will “play” more when I retire in May. I am too busy working now. I feel the need to “play” now but can’t seem to get going.
You have an inner critic too?! I’m gonna give mine the cold shoulder just like you did to yours š LOVE this journal page, it reminds me of citrus fruit. Great stencil!
Shared on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jo.urbani
Shared on Twitter https://twitter.com/JoannaUrbani
Shared on Google+ https://plus.google.com/103428166429023143966/posts
Shared on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/pin/228276274836437976/
Lack of confidence!!
Simply getting started is the challenge but once I do, I love it!
Shared this on Pinterest. Great technique!
What gets in my way when I decide to create… two things really… trying to make up my mind what I want to work with (style and products) and the guilt of not getting something done… marked off of the to-do list! I have shared on Facebook… https://www.facebook.com/sara.ament1 , pinned on Pinterest… http://www.pinterest.com/eternalprincess/giveaways/ , and shared on Google+… https://plus.google.com/u/0/102789472928485959308/posts .
š I can’t believe that stencil week is over it went by so fast for me. Looking forward to the next one <3 ~KM
As I am a collector I love playing around with my “found” objects to create all kinds of textures for backgrounds and while I am busy with applying different layers, comes usually the final idea… and of course I shared you on all my social medias, Carolyn, just because I love your “playing around”.
Sometimes it’s just the getting started… finding time, the resources and my mojo all together in one place at the same!
Thanks for the inspiration this week.
Super stencil & video Carol. I purchased some watercolors a few years ago & listened to my Inner Critic, so have never used them. You have inspired me to get them out of the cupboard & just have fun. Thanks x
Thanks for another fun video and your page is wonderful!! Glad you over-ruled that inner critic! š Things that get in my way… oh lots! yep, my inner critic too, but mainly I get distracted by my laptop!
yes, most definitely my inner critic, she is ruthless….’you take too long, you’re using the wrong colors, no one is going to like this, why can’t you get better sooner, oh, and you’ve got to make your hubby happy with a good dinner”!!! Shut up!!
I’m retired and don’t want to listen to anyone, anymore, especially my inner critic….but she talks louder than I do!! Give me some stencils to cover her up.
I get quite frustrated by the amount of time it takes for things to dry here in Scotland!
I love all the new stencils. I just love to play and just usually to for it.
So far I love all your stencils!
Shared on Facebook.
That looks so effective, I really like the stencils you’ve shown us this week. I’m another with a very vocal inner critic & the fear of not having any ideas, not being good enough, not having any artistic talent, etc., is rather huge.
Splendid finale, Ms. D. So screams lemon-lime summertime to me. Yum! Congrats again on the new stencils. They’re all fantastic! š
Pinned it
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/145593000427959677/
I LOVE how different this looks from the page you did yesterday! I need to learn to squash my inner critic. Too often I think it gets the upper hand! So I am not an artist, So I am not trained in how to do any of this. I still enjoy playing and that is why I should focus on! Once again, you have made me smile and given me hope with my work:)
Carolyn, thank you so much for this week of fun stencil videos.
Annie
Shared on FB too!
What gets in the way? Everything! Household chores, phone calls, the blog….you name it. BUT….I’ve learned to ignore most and schedule time for ME. Love the subtlety of the way you’ve used this stencil.
Another great teaching video this week, Carolyn! Love your color palette here! Definitely added your video to “your” board on my Pinterest! š
It’s that blank canvas that is the big wall for me…but thanks to you…that’s not the issue anymore!
I usually can play pretty easily. The times I have difficulty is when I move away from play and have something invested in how it should turn out. I do the same as you though. I often tell my critic so what I’ll do it anyways.
This was a great series I enjoyed all the videos.
My fear of getting started!
Shared!
I NEED ALL OF THESE STENCILS!!! I love the look of the watercolors!
neat video and great use of the cool stencil. “I am not good enough” “no one will like this” those are things that get in my way. I love it that you just played. And you came out with a page you loved.
Another fun but so un-Carolyn…LOL! I love how this page turned out…so simple but so pretty! Thanks for a fun week of inspiration!!
What gets in my way…the total mess that I left from the last time I created…LOL!!!
My lack of energy gets in the way.
It has been so much fun this week watching you create with your new stencils. I love each and every one and hope maybe that my number may be chosen. thanks for the opportunity. I shared on FB.
What is most likey to cut me short is either realizing that I really should get to bed(oh, it’s one in the morning already??) or the stupid(and wrong) little voice in my head telling me that there is something un-fun that I really need to be doing(such lies!).
First I have to tell you this is my favorite video and the one I would sit down and experiment with first. What gets in the way of play? TIME. Must make time daily to be creative
My biggest obstacle is simply not feeling strong enough to make it up to my studio. I’ve worked around that by keeping some art supplies in my living room. Things I can just reach out for, that I can easily work with from my comfy chair. In fact, I have some sort of art supplies in almost every room in my house! That way I’m always within arms reach of something to play with.
What gets in my way to taking time to createā¦ letting work stress take the time, not finished organizing my creative space (though progress has been made)ā¦ I’m actually getting better at doing something creative every 2-3 days but the creative task varies— paper arts, writing song lyrics, or dance. It try to get something in every day across the arts that I love.
I posted on Pinterest and Facebook too
Paid employment i.e. work has a powerful way of getting in the way of play!
I’ve been neglecting to say how wonderful your stencils are!!!! They are wonderful!!! Time set aside to play and what might get in my way…. getting caught up in things on the computer.
So cool to have such a totally different look with the watercolors! Love it!
My biggest obstacle is my inner critic that thinks, and then insists, that doing laundry, washing dishes, answering the phone, cooking meals, etc. are far more important than “playing” with my art materials. Yet, the playing feeds my soul, and that is certainly equally important. Thank you for being my role model for the importance of play.
This week has interested me in playing with stencils in a new way. THANK YOU!
What gets in my way – thinking that I don’t have enough time to “get into” playing with my materials. In reality, if I just sit down for “10 minutes” I will sit for longer and enjoy myself. Or, I will actually sit for 10 minutes but still get something done which will draw me into continuing later. So I guess I get in my own way.
I’ve posted this on my Facebook page.
I’ve pinned this to my “Art – Stencils” board on Pinterest and mentioned that you, too, have your own Pinterest board. I hope you get lots of response.
Thanks for another good video Carolyn – you make it look so easy! I find I’m really good at watching videos and buying supplies but kind if freeze when I’m faced with my journal! I’m trying to overcome that though by starting out with a simple idea and if like you say I’m happy and done after just a couple of layers well so be it!
I just adore this stencil, a must-have!
Pinterest.. I love it.. but I forget myself and realise I have been browsing for hours HA! But I always come back with inspiration for the next day of play, so I never resent it š
I love this stencil š
Speaking of Pinterest, I pinned your video as always š Thank you for sharing yourself with us š
love love love the way you are using watercolors… and I don’t know what I’m doing (officially) with watercolors either, even tho I took a whole summer of ‘formal training’… I really enjoyed your conversation with your inner critic! I tell my inner critic that I don’t have to make anything during my ‘play time’… cause that would make it too much like work!
So fin and SO subtle…xox
I keep watching and purchasing products but when I go to my desk…I’m not sure how to set up…I don’t know enough yet…I don’t know what I’m doing…I don’t have the right colors. It just goes on and on. But ever time I get the courage to try, it makes me happy…so I’m not going to give up!! Thank you Carolyn for your playful and kind ways! It gives me hope!
I love how you used watercolor with your new stencil!
Love your water-colored page!!! What gets in my way of playtime? I like so many other women who wear so many hats, is the daily chore list. I know that I need to set just 10-15 minutes aside everyday for myself. I’m working on that. I’m sure I would be a much happier person but I do try to get one or two evenings a week in the studio or a Saturday afternoon. Without my playtime, I’d be useless. Art time is therapy for the soul. Life is good.
Just starting gets in my way.
I think I will try this technique often to get the ball rolling.
Another great stencil and video… great week. I don’t use any products ‘properly’. Just tell them “I’m an artist darhlink”
I have a whole room dedicated to art and art supplies. Right now there are way more supplies than art . I just need to sit down in my room and start. I loved the way you used this stencil so simply, but still playing artistically.
Multi-tasking! trying to do too many things at once, something I think many can relate to:)
Once I’ve made the time to play I’m pretty focused and persistent…it’s actually making the time that I struggle with!
Love this idea though, means can journal alongside family without tonnes of supplies
Another piece of inspiration from Carolyn Dube! I love the final results with this very unique stencil. Let’s see what stops me! I guess it would be procrastination. I work so slowly that I am afraid after I get all the stuff out, that I won’t have time to do all the experimenting that I would like to do before I have to stop. The thing I need to do is not “think”, but “do” instead. I have so much fun when I use my stencils; I really should plan ahead to work with then on certain days of the week. I really should as I have no excuse as I am retired but let the time skip by. My new resolution….3 times a week from now on. then maybe 4????.
I like how you put your inner critic in its place. Thanks for the encouragement to “just have fun” and not make creating art so fraught with “rules” that really don’t exist. I’ve enjoyed stencil week. Thanks for the inspiration!
It’s as if I suffer from a creative polar vortex. Everything freezes solid when I look at a blank sheet. I’m trying to fix that by taking one corner of the paper and starting small with something I can cut off or paint over or otherwise obliterate if I don’t like it.
So cool! I really like this stencil. My wish list is growing. Guess I will have to buy myself a Valentine present… a stash from Stencil Girl.
Great advice to stop when you want to stop, and Amen on shushing that inner critic.
Right now it’s the fact that my studio tables are covered with stuff so there’s no room to play LOL! Once that’s decluttered, though, the inner critic starts nitpicking … but that’s what colorful duct tape is for!
Tweet! https://twitter.com/jneuman88/status/428898611078762496
Hello, what stops me is not having a proper workspace and having to dig out supplies from all over the place just to make something. Also… getting sidetracked watching other people create on youtube lol