Hi everyone! It’s Diana here today. Green is Pantone’s 2017 color of the year and it comes in a dizzying array of iterations: lime, golden, fern, evergreen, olive, sage, turquoise. Oh my! I’m using some classical oil painting techniques in this painting so have a look at the video for more information.

I pulled out a couple of Joggles/ Margaret Applin Designs Flora & Fronds stencils and a few green, yellow, blue, pink, and black (just a smidge) paints for my village in the woods painting.

I love these stencils! They include the masks along with the stencils which gives you tons of options. I used an X-acto blade (or small scissors) to clip the bridges that hold the mask in place. I store the masks and stencil in the original packaging.

Be sure to scroll past the supply list as there are step out photos along with an explanation of what I was doing.

Supplies:

Joggles/ Margaret Applin Designs 6 x 9 inch stencil/mask combo: Flora & Fronds #8; Flora & Fronds #9; Flora & Fronds #14;

Dina Wakley Media Paints: Cheddar; Turquoise; Magenta; Elephant (I used a different brand Gray); Black;

Dylusions Paint by Dyan Reaveley: Fresh Lime; Lemon Zest; 

Golden Fluid Acrylic Paints: Nickel Azo Yellow (this resembles the DW Cheddar); Green Gold; Cobalt Green;

Dina Wakley Media Glazing Medium

Fredrix Canvas Panel – 8 x 10 inch 

Ranger Texture Paste

Tim Holtz Distress Ink Reinkers: Shabby Shutters; Mustard Seed;

Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue

Ranger Inkssentials Mini Ink Blending Tool

Ink Sprays such as Lindy’s Stamp Gang Two Toned Starburst Sprays

Dina Wakley Media Gel Medium

Other: rag or baby wipe; paint brushes; glitter;

The paint/ink list are just suggestions. Use whatever greens you have, 2 or 3 is plenty. The brand doesn’t matter.

Here is my process:

Begin by toning your canvas with a glaze of color. Mix a small amount (a dime size) of any of the green paint and about a quarter-sized dollop of the glazing medium. Mix it together and brush it lightly over your canvas. Use a rag or a baby wipe to move it lightly around. It’s best to let layers of paint dry when you are working this way.

The glazing medium turns your opaque paints into transparent layers and gives you more open time to blend colours.

Once you have the background finished, it’s time for the middle ground. I rummaged around in my jars of collected bits and pieces  and collaged a village (for chipmunks). Before adhering the pieces, I used some ink sprays to color some of the die cuts.

Next I used the masks to preserve the original canvas color and add other greens around the frond shapes. I repeated this all around the canvas creating a pattern. Repetition is a strong tool to hold a picture together. That’s why I mostly used the fern stencil and mask in this piece.

Now it’s time for the foreground. I wanted the viewer to feel like she is peeking through the flowers at the village. I added some flowers using more Flora & Frond stencils and the Magenta and yellow paints.

Bright warm colors will pop in the foreground and they should overlap the village or animals or whatever you have chosen to spy on through the foliage ;).

I decided to use a little Texture Paste mixed with Distress Ink reinkers (just a drop!) and some glitter (why not).

Since I had the glitter out, I decided to create a glitter frame around the painting. Run a bead of glue around the outer edge of the painting and brush it in. Dip in glitter! Voila!

And here is the finished piece with some added doodles. Enjoy the video and let me know if you have any questions!