This was a nice surprise!

Woke up yesterday morning (11/29/15) to this write up and Video on my face book page!!

How surprised was I??!!! And what a wonderful tribute.

Thank YOU Rebecca McCormick

Rebecca is, first of all, a long time friend of mine, but she also is an International Luxury Travel Writer, Social Media Teacher and Consultant and Speaker and she is VERY good at it! 

I try very hard to not be envious of the awesome places she gets to travel to!! But what is wonderful is that she shares all of her travels with us!

Thanks Rebecca, for taking the time to do this little tribute.

Each year lately, as shadows lengthen and the land disrobes for winter, I wrap myself in layers of music and feast my eyes on art. Like that of Suzi Dickson Dennis, an incredibly talented friend whose mixed media collages have been a creative anchor in Hot Springs for decades.Suzi creates art the same way she lives life--by gathering scattered notions and random pieces to be assembled with mindful purpose and loving intention. Yet she readily admits the deeper meaning of her work arises only as creativity emerges. "I never begin with a title," she explains. "It just comes to me as I bring the project to life."One of Suzi's most recent collages, "Night Watches," is nurturing me through this winter. For her and for the faithful stewardship of her gift, I am especially grateful Thank you for sharing. For more information about Suzi's work, see www.Facebook.com/suzidennisart.

Each year lately, as shadows lengthen and the land disrobes for winter, I wrap myself in layers of music and feast my eyes on art. Like that of Suzi Dickson Dennis, an incredibly talented friend whose mixed media collages have been a creative anchor in Hot Springs for decades.Suzi creates art the same way she lives life--by gathering scattered notions and random pieces to be assembled with mindful purpose and loving intention. Yet she readily admits the deeper meaning of her work arises only as creativity emerges. "I never begin with a title," she explains. "It just comes to me as I bring the project to life."One of Suzi's most recent collages, "Night Watches," is nurturing me through this winter. For her and for the faithful stewardship of her gift, I am especially grateful Thank you for sharing. For more information about Suzi's work, see www.Facebook.com/suzidennisart.

And thanks for stopping by,

Suzi 

STENCILGIRL SALE!!!

Okay Guys! Here it is!! StencilGirl is having their Once a year BIG DISCOUNT stencil sale beginning at midnight November 30th! (CST)

Here is the deal AND the code you will need to take advantage of this

SO....get on over there on Monday November 30th and pick up some "Suzi Stencils" along with other wonderful stencils.

These guys are the best :)

Here's another look at what I have

        

        

 I have to tell you, I am finding, as I use these more and more, that there are a lot of wonderful little "areas" in each one that I am using to create all kinds of fun designs!!

I'll be sharing as time goes on!

SO....in the meantime.....

Have fun making all those decisions!

Thanks for stopping by

Suzi

From a Stamp to a Stencil

I have carved my own stamps for years. Just designs in my head I want to repeat.

But recently I have gotten into making stencils. I have created a line of stencils for Stencil Girl, but sometimes I just like to play with making some small ones for myself.

I came up with the idea (and this has probably been done by many for a long time) to make a stencil from my favorite stamps and then I thought, why not pass it along to you.

So here is the deal:

First, stamp the stamp you want to use onto some card stock

I use black stamp pad here, but whatever you want...just needs to be dark so you can see the shapes

To make the stencil be the opposite of the stamp we want to cut out the white area

so what we want to do is "bridge" areas that would "fall out" when you cut but you want to keep.

Also areas that would be too much space to cut out all at once.

Here you see the area in the lower right. If I was to cut out that white area around the dark, the dark area would fall out also, so I have to bridge it to the rest of the dark area. The black mark on the left is just because I wanted to make that two separate shapes and not all one.

Now it's time to get the exacto (sharp blade to save wear and tear on your hands!)

and start cutting out the while areas

And here we have our stencil...all cut out and ready to go.

On the left I stamped the stamp with black ink

In the Middle I used the stencil to make the new image

and on the right, I turned the stencil upside down with paint on it and printed.

So get out there and see what you can come up with!!

AND REMEMBER - to qualify for future give a ways and specials I will have on this blog you need to sign up at the top of the page by clicking on "Join this Site"

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzi

My Stencils are OUT!!

I can not tell you how excited I am to share this blog announcing that 6 of my stencil designs have been released today by Stencil Girl!!

So celebrate with me and see what I have plus a blog showing one way to put 3 of them together to create an image.

So let's go!!!

*******

First of all, HERE THEY ARE with links to Stencil Girl to see some things I did with them and how to order. 

CIRCLE WEB

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-circle-web-suzi-dennis-p/l404.htm

FLOWER POT

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-flower-pot-suzi-dennis-p/l398.htm

FUN HOUSE CHECKS

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-fun-house-checks-suzi-dennis-p/l399.htm

LETTER MANIA

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-letter-mania-suzi-dennis-p/l400.htm

SCRAPPY CAT

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-scrappy-cat-suzi-dennis-p/l405.htm

SPRING FLOWER VASE

http://www.stencilgirlproducts.com/stencil-spring-flower-vase-suzi-dennis-p/l406.htm

*******

I have to admit, stenciling is fairly new to me but since discovering what I can do with stencils, I have been going wide open! I am so happy to now have my own designs being promoted by Stencil Girl! This little tutorial shows how I combined 3 of my stencils to create a fun piece of art. I am using “Circle Web”, “Scrappy Cat” and “Fun House Checks” for this piece. So follow along and then put your "create" hat on and see what you can do!

*******

For this piece I am working on an 11”x14” piece of mat board.  I first  drew in a line that would designate a table area and then stenciled parts of  the “Circle Web” stencils on the background. I love using this stencil to put odds and ends of design in selected places.

-------

I then take the stencil with paint still on it, wet a cotton ball, and wipe the paint off of the stencil and onto the background. This does 2 things: gives you a lighter shade of color and cleans your stencil!

-------

Here you can see how it looks all put together

-------

Next I lay down my “Scrappy Cat” Stencil and start putting in color with a make- up sponge, one of my favorite stenciling tools. I do a lot of cat art so Scrappy Cat just came natural. I think he/she is a cutie.

-------

The ears are kind of detailed so I just take my pitt pen and color in those small areas

------

Now I am putting in pattern for the table "Scrappy" is sitting on using my “Fun House checks” stencil. I have a “thing” about checks and the more uneven the better! I just lay my stencil down here and use this little stubby brush to put in color, then…….

-------

Back to using the dampened cotton ball to blend the paint on down into the rest of the checks.

-------

Next I use some white gesso to tone down the background a little

-------

Here is an overview of all the stencils in place like I want them

-------

Now for the finishing touches. I lay down paint in areas I want

-------

And being a collage artist, I start to add collage papers where I feel the need.

-------

And this is the final piece put together with stencils, paint, collage papers and pitt pens.

And of course the title is “Scrappy Cat”. What else?

Hope you enjoyed this and realllllyyyyyy hope you will check out what is over at Stencil Girl!!

Thanks for your support!!

Suzi

A change in my art

About a month ago I "felt" a change coming on regarding my art. I really had no idea what that meant but it was a definite feeling I had. That is when I decided to start my new facebook page Suzi Dennis Art. That's how strong I felt about it. I could tell that my new direction (whatever it was) was going to need to be separate from my regular Suzi Dennis - Painted Papers Studio page.

So, I created it and about a week later my husband called me to look outside at a really different and mysterious sunset and the rest is history.

These are 3 paintings I have completed so far as a result of that one moment and I hope to do more.

First painting was

"In the cool of the day"

CLICK HERE to read the blog on this one

Next "Behold He comes" flowed out like water.

It has been amazing to me how easily these have come.

And today I completed "Flight of Angels"

CLICK HERE for a little blog about this one.

A new one is in progress as we speak. 

I don't know how long this will last or even where it will lead but I will enjoy the process and hope you will too, while it lasts...until God leads me elsewhere.

To keep up -  "Like" my new facebook page

You never know when it will change :)

Suzi Dennis Art.

Thanks for stopping by

Suzi

All those little pieces of paper

Remember all those papers and tapes I told you I was busy making in the Studio the other day??

Well......I'm putting them to use in a new piece of art.

Now, for those of you who want to lay down a little paint and a few pieces of collage papers and have a finished piece....this is not the technique for you.

You have to not mind hours of cutting out little pieces of paper and tape and strategically placing them in just the right place...

BUT, that is exactly what is going on here.

However, I do enjoy doing it...obviously... and I think it is mainly because I love the results of all that tedious work.

This one is in progress.....I'll let you know :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Suzi

Catching up in the Studio

I have ambitiously been dwindling down my stash of 

papers and tapes.

First of all I offered a lot for sale and secondly, I have a stack for give a way this month in my Newsletter but thirdly, I created these two pieces!

And BELIEVE me, those took a LOT of my papers and tapes!

I have another piece I want to start, but when I went to the paper drawer, it was frowning

SO....decided today was the day to play!

Out came the stencils and stamps and paints and the fun began.

Then stages of drying....paint a base, let it dry, stencil, dry, stamp, dry, etc etc.....

I love seeing what happens after layers and layers of wonderful designs and colors!!

And it is worth it....A new stack of papers and tapes!

Ready to start a new piece of art.

Oh, and by the way, I hope you don't throw away all those little brushes that come with your make up because you have one brush you love and these are just "there".

I love to use them with dry brushing to feather out or smooth edges with.

*******

So that was my day of play and it is always a fun day when I get to play in the paint!

If you guys want to see my new art as it comes out, I have a new facebook page just for my art. CLICK HERE and check it out and hope you will "like"

Thanks for stopping by

Suzi

I am SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!

For about 6 months now I have been working with Stencil Girl to design and produce 6 stencils and on NOVEMBER 19TH they will be revealed for everyone to see!!!

I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU TO SEE THEM!!!

I will have a post here on my blog about it on the 19th and Stencil Girl will be showing the stencils and examples of how to use them that I did for you.

Can't reveal them now but am going to give you a little sneak peak of a corner of one of the samples.

STAY TUNED!! More will be "Revealed"

Thanks for stopping by

Hope you will sign up to receive my blog in your email. 

This is now my main place to share my art world!

Suzi

In the cool of the day

A couple of days ago, late afternoon, my husband called out and said "You have to come here and look at this". I looked out the window and this is what I saw only MORE so. The sun was in the western sky and shining through a mysterious haze over the lake and through the trees.

 It was breathtaking! 

I quickly grabbed the camera and got this shot and shared it on facebook for all to see.

Well....of course....the challenge began when I said something to the effect of "wouldn't this make a beautiful painting but above my pay grade". My friends would not let me own that!!

But I got to thinking about how much I loved the light and especially that red tree in the haze.

So, I narrowed it down decided to give it a try..WITH THE UNDERSTANDING....that what I did would NOT look like this, but my hope was to capture the essence of this moment.

So....off I went to the Studio.

This was NOT an easy piece to do but I was determined to do the best I could and decided to capture the steps to share here.

**********************************

First I prepared my board (mat board) with Gesso and let it dry then lightly sketched in the "idea". I don't work much from a drawing. I like to just get the idea down and then work it all in together.

I laid down some initial colors and picked out my papers and tapes I wanted to use and off I go.

More and more leaves (Oy Vey!!) and starting to find the tree trunks. Working with the flow of the branches and leaves was a challenge and keeping the colors peaceful but not ho hum was my goal.

Once I got the leaves "pretty much" how I wanted them I started on the detail work. Using some stencils and doing some free hand, I began working on getting that feeling of light and airiness. This is actually my favorite part. It's the work that ties it all together.

And here is the finished piece!

I'm very happy with it. It was certainly a challenge but I do like a challenge!

Thanks for stopping by

Suzi