Grateful for Circles, Circles, and Broken Circles!

Greetings, and thanks for stopping by!  You may not know this about me but I am obsessed with circles.  I love to stare at anything that is circular, completely round or asymmetrical.  I love the symbology of any type or shape of circle.  So Terri Stegmiller's Broken Circles stencil really speaks to me, and I am grateful for the opportunity to play with it!  And, speaking of grateful:  I am grateful for every single moment of every day.  To be able to create art and pursue what I love in my studio, with my family& friends, my garden, kitchen….I'm very fortunate and I don't take any of it for granted.  

Broken Circles Stencil

For this project I brought out a piece of 300 lb cold press watercolor paper that had been previously painted.  The small circles are that tiny bubble wrap, and the asymmetrical shapes are a piece of bath mat.  I did a heavily tinted acrylic wash, stuck those things on the paper and let the paper dry with them in place.  The surface tension of the plastic objects "attracts" the moisture to it and therefore leaves a heavier tint where the paper contacted the plastic.  Cool, huh?

So, this is my staring point.

In addition, I used the head shape from the Face Map stencil.

Face Map stencil, by Pam Carriker

I used the cut-out from Face Map as a resist.

Placing the Broken Circles stencil onto the paper (and over the resist) I pounced transparent white

acrylic paint over the surface.

I moved the stencil to the left portion to cover the surface with marks.

As you can see, the shape of the face is not at all clear yet

Next, I used a darker shade of aqua acrylic paint

for the second layer of marks.

I slightly off-set the stencil from the white layer.

I like how the plastic face looks!

I position the face stencil over the opening where the plastic resist was.

Using an opaque white, I fill the opening in the stencil.

Using a permanent marker, I write a memory (I'll explain below) in the face shape.

Finally, I use the same dark aqua acrylic to enhance the outline of the face with this "contour" 

portion of the stencil.

Here is the finished page.

Both of these stencils were very important to this specific memory.

Now, I have to share with you what I was thinking about when I was creating this page that is to be glued into my sketchbook.  I was thinking about the symbology of circles.  How we revisit memories in a circular fashion throughout our lives.  I looked at the stencil and thought about the symbology of the broken circle, and how this day, the 22nd of November, is the 50th anniversary of the day President Kennedy was assassinated.  Because I think journals are memory-keepers for both the good and the sad things we experience, I am creating this page to recall my experience of that day.  The writing inside the face is my memory of being a nine year-old fourth grader at Crestview Elementary school in Topeka, Kansas.  Our principal came into our classroom and told us what had happened.  My most vivid memory is that about half my classmates began to cheer.  It is so burned into my memory.

Up until then I really couldn't comprehend things like evil and violence.  It changed that day.  It is also the first time I saw a national "event" captured completely on television.  

I'm sorry that is grim and sad, but I created something that is very specific to this day for me.  These two stencils helped me articulate a memory that I hadn't thought about in a very long time.  It isn't important to me that anyone else is able to read my written account.  It is only important to me that I know what it says.  

I'm so glad you stopped by, and I hope you will stay long enough to leave a comment.  Remember:  leaving a comment makes you eligible for the drawing! 

Blog Hop Order

StencilGirl Talk

Terri Stegmiller

Linda Kittmer

Kirsten Reed

Marjie Kemper

Janet Joehlin

Judy Shea

Linda Cain

Corrine Gilman

You are Here!

Mary C. Nasser