Page 64 - The Decorative Painter Spring 2017

Position the stencil over the center area of the plaque and secure with tape. Using a 1⁄2" stencil brush load with Warm White, working paint into the bristles. Tap or swirl on a paper towel to remove excess paint so it doesn’t seep under the stencil. Gently swirl over the background area. Place a paisley portion of the sten- cil over each corner and stencil with Yellow Oxide.
Cut French Script tissue paper to fit the four side sections, creating a frame for the painting.
Working one section at a time, apply DecoArt Americana Decou-Page Satin to the surface and the back of the tissue paper. Position tissue paper to the surface, smoothing out any wrinkles with a brayer or your hand. Apply another coat of DecoArt Americana Decou-Page Satin to the top of the tissue. Allow to dry.
Trace the rooster and transfer the design to the surface with a small stylus using grey transfer paper and a very light touch.
Painting Tips
COMMA-STROKES: When painting strokes, load the round brush well by pulling through the paint several times, working the paint into your brush. Turn the brush over and load again working the paint into the bristles. This ensures you will have enough paint in the brush to pull the stroke. When painting a com- ma-stroke, take your time! Set the brush down at the proper angle for the stroke, wait a few seconds, giving the bristles time to spread out. This gives you a nice round head for your comma-stroke. Then start to pull the brush toward your hand while adding a little pressure as you pull the stroke. About halfway through the stroke, start lifting the brush slowly off the surface while continuing to pull in the direction of the stroke until you have a nice pointed tail. Lift off the sur- face. Strokes may be a little transparent and have some ridges and that’s okay. The ridges show that the strokes were pulled in one stroke and add to the character of folk art painting. Practice makes perfect...so be sure to practice these strokes before painting on your surface.
DRY BRUSHING/STENCILING: Use the appropriate size stencil brush with a very small amount of paint. Remove some of the excess paint by swirling the brush on a dry paper towel. Lightly brush the surface with the dry brush deposit- ing small amounts of paint.
62 The Decorative Painter
• SPRING 2017 DECORATIVEPAINTERS.ORG