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We ladies, in our heart of hearts, tend to think that
men just don't see with the same "eye" toward beauty as we do. But guess
what ladies, we have been wrong since the beginning of time!
Mark proves this
point as he shows us the elegant addition of our
"Heritage
Rose Center" stencil roses to his beautiful kitchen walls and skylight.
Inside the cove of the skylight, he completely surrounded
the edges with a border of pastel pink roses, giving the area a garden feel
and softening the hard lines of the room.
But what I want you to pay the most attention to is
Mark's understanding of shading and highlighting.
Though this information is right in the stenciling
instructions we provide with each stencil, sometimes people don't read that
section therefore, not learning the most important thing about making your
stenciling look positively "hand painted".
Click on the lower picture to enlarge it and then take a
look at the lights and darks of the roses... see how he's shaded each petal
toward the center of the rose? This makes each petal seem to stand out from
the others, giving the rose a 3-D appearance and as though it was painted by
hand rather than stenciled.
Another artist's tip is shown in the leaves in the photo.
Take just a hint of the flower color and add it to some of the leaves. The
vine and leaves now take on a whole new look rather than being stenciled
just one color. Again, lights and darks make a big difference in the over
all outcome of the design.
Designer's tip: When
stenciling, be sure to wipe ALL excess paint out of the brush. If you are
still seeing paint come off the outside edge of your brush you have too much
paint. You see, it's the amount of paint on the "inside" of those bristles
that is the perfect amount.
Swirl your brush rather
than pounce. This gives you that soft airbrushed look of hand painting. For
natural highlighting, as you swirl, leave the center with no paint. For
natural shading, simply swirl longer and with a hint more pressure to create
darker areas.
Typically, the best places
on the stencil to shade are areas that "touch" another element. For
instance, where the vine "touches" the petals, where the leaves "touch" the
flower and so on.
When you first get your
stencil, practice it once on a piece of newspaper to get the feel of the
design and to decide if there is anything you wish to change. This is also a
great way to try out the technique of shading and highlighting. It's so easy
and you will pick it up in no time.
Click here
to purchase our Heritage Rose Center Stencil

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