Friday, April 26, 2019

Cosmic Penguin does the Spectacular StencilGirl® Squared Off Swap Hop


Hello and welcome! You have arrived at the StencilGirl® Creative Team’s Spectacular Squared-Off Swap Hop.

"Don't wait for the stars to align.
 Reach up and rearrange them the way you want"
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The most terrifying part of this was once I began cutting there was no turning back. I knew I wouldn't have any extra pieces to fall back on if something should go horribly wrong. I must have looked at the pieces of paper for several days, letting them "speak to me" before proceeding.

Then I began cutting...
telling myself to breathe....have faith...
The stenciled squares that were given to me came from 

And lo and behold the Cosmic Penguin was born. Once he appeared I had one of my moments where I knew the universe was leading me somewhere and I know that you must sit back and just enjoy the ride. Now, you may ask: why did I think something was going on? It's because I don't normally draw penguins, as cute as they are they are not one of my spirit animals that I am drawn to
...but the riddle will soon be solved.


Here's where I thought I was in BIG trouble.
This part happened so fast that no pictures were taken but I can try and walk you through my mental state of being. Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. This could get bumpy.

The conundrance began when it came to the background. I was drawn to the stark whiteness of it, it made the whole piece feel very modern and very pop art to me but I was too worried it would be considered plain and unfinished ( seriously worried about this for several days! 😕 ) then, I thought maybe a textured white background would make it work.That will solve everything!!  I grabbed modeling paste, glitter paint and gesso and went to town, it was a frenzy of texturizing going on, splattering and mixing my art ingredients somewhat like a mad scientist in a 50's movie!! Now I decided that the all white textured background was the worst possible thing I could have done so now what? Oh did I mention I've already glued ALL MY FREAKING PIECES down? 
I calmly and carefully painted black around the penguin and the planets.
"sigh"
And now I hated it. It sat on my art desk...staring at me...

Now, I'm all about the universe talking to me all the time and if I would just sometimes get out of my own way and just listen then solutions usually present themselves so I turned off the studio spare bedroom light and walked away went to bed...but that's usually where my best thinking happens. For some people it's the shower, for me it's that moment right before I fall asleep that the problem resolves itself and out of the bed I pop...this time grabbing my Spirit Animal guide book from my night stand and I looked up penguins which I thought was ludicrous, a penguin as a spirit guide? 
(I'm such a spirit guide snob, lol ) 
But whatever universe, I'm listening...and....reading.

" You have everything you need inside you and in front of you to have a good life, so always keep that in mind."

Now if you do any kind of interpretive work you know you that you aren't suppose to translate anything in a literal sense but have an ebb and flow for what's written according to what's going on in real life. So this one sentence really stuck out, I mean I wasn't looking to find anything earth shattering revelation but it seemed to fit. So I went back to my canvas and took another look at my bumpy black background and decided, if everything is here then don't add to it, but take away from it so that's what I did. 


With a small piece of sandpaper I began sanding around each planet and the results just don't show up here but the glitter that had been mixed in with the gesso just pops and gives a stellar background!
( pun intended )

and now I love it!


The more blogs you comment on the more chances you have a chance to win one of four $25 gift certificates for stencils from StencilGirl® Products. Comment by May 3, 2019. Winner notified by email May 6th.
Sandee Setliff  👈 You are here!



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