Creating Some Self-Love For Valentines Day...

Hello Everyone and happy day before the day before Valentines Day!  For STAMPlorations' Stencil Sunday today I am sharing a canvas I created just for ME for Valentines day...

I know that for some of us Valentines Day (which seems to be aimed at happy couples) can be a difficult time; but years ago, when I was the lonely, struggling, single Mom I decided to make Valentines Day about loving myself! From then on every year I make something or do something special for myself to acknowledge how far I have come and how Loved I am by own self.

The entire time I was creating this canvas (using my Magenta Nuance pigment powders - all detailed below) I was thinking about how far I have come this year on my Art Journey and I have chosen 2017 as the year to start making my own art ...

And I filled the two hearts in the ARTplorations - Hidden Hearts stencil with some of my favorite Zentangle patterns - which I just realized is some of my own art.  So if Valentines Day is getting you down go make something to gift yourself!

Now for those of you that are interested here is a brief photo-tutorial to show you how I used pigment powders and a stencil to create my background:

sponge water through a stencil onto 140lbs watercolour paper.  Use a LOT of water. It is easier to see if the water is tinted, but not necessary...

Sprinkle pigment powder onto the wet stencil, you can help move the dye around using a sponge, but be gentle if you want your lines to show.  I have found if I want to keep my white lines crisp I need to blot up the excess pigment with a paper towel.

Once my background was dry I used a black sharpie marker to outline and doodle and added a butterfly and some glass beads for interest...

I mounted the entire piece onto an inexpensive 6"x8" board canvas and wrote in my own hand this wonderful statement that came into my life yesterday and inspired this entire project... "She Flew On Her Own Wings"... 

So don't forget to pop on over to the STAMPlorations blog to see what the rest of the design team created to inspire you this Sunday... 

And Happy Love Day, because Your Are Loved!

Lynne Mizera, Mixed Media Artist

for the STAMPlorations Mixed Media Design Team

Products Used on the Project:

ARTplorations - Hidden Hearts

140lbs Watercolour paper

Magenta Nuance Pigement Powders

Ranger Glossy Accents

Black Copic Marker

Black Sharpie Pen-fine point

Glass micro-beads

Heart Brads