StencilGirl October 2024 Project

Here is the link to the tutorial for this project that is inspired by the stencils I used, and specifically the StencilGirl Guts Birds Shapes:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2024/10/guest-designer-frieda-oxenham.html

 

StencilGirl September 2024 Project

 

Here is my September project inspired by summer. Our Scottish summer this year hasn’t been the best but there have still been days when it felt and looked tropical. I always try and hold on to that during the winter months to come.

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2024/09/guest-designer-frieda-oxenham.html

Stencilgirl July 2024 Project

 

The art of Frida Kahlo is always inspirational to me (and not just because of her name!), as are the images of the artist herself and I can’t resist regularly making Frida inspired art.

Here is the link to the tutorial:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2024/07/guest-designer-frieda-oxenham.html

StencilGirl June 2024 Project

A  big clear up is happening in my studio at the moment, and I’m discovering lots of things I had long forgotten. One of these were 5 left over 5 x 7” watercolor cards, cold pressed, by Strathmore and they seemed very suited to my June Project.

Here is the link to the tutorial: https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2024/06/guest-designer-frieda-oxenham.html

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Stencilgirl February 2024 Project

 

Sometimes all it takes to start a page in an art journal is a line read in a magazine. In this case the line “ahead of the curve” coincided with the arrival of the recent  Stencilgirl® Club stencils for November.

Here is the link to the tutorial

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2024/02/guest-designer-frieda-oxenham.html

StencilGirl January 2024 Project

 

First of all I want to thank Stencilgirl® Products for giving me the opportunity to share my work with you as monthly Guest Designer  another year. And I want to thank all of you for having a look and maybe be inspired by some of my projects to make your own or pick up on a new (to you) technique. I was inspired myself this month by some of my own photographs of skies. I post a daily picture of skies on my Instagram account (@friedaquilter) and have done so since the start of 2019, and I remain in awe of how the skies change not just every day but on a minute by minute basis.

Here is the link to the tutorial https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2024/01/guest-designer-frieda-oxenham.html

StencilGirl January 2021 Project

A New Year brings fresh hope and new beginnings in many ways, specially this year. Hopefully we will be able to look back and realize that life became more normal in 2021 after the disaster that was 2020. As always I am using Ben Okri’spoem as my guideline and once again it was just what I needed to hear: “ We are not much more than what we think, in our minds we swim or sink”. Let’s all try to Keep on Swimming!

You can find the full tutorial here:

https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2021/01/frieda-oxenham-poetry-with-stencilgirl.html

Stencilgirl(R) Colouring Book

Now is probably the time to start thinking about gifts for the festive season. And if you want to make some yourself it isgetting quite urgent to start. This year we are all in need of some quiet time to relax, and colouring books (for both adults and children) are a great idea. Very easy to make too. You may even like them so much that you want one for yours. You can discover how I made this one here: https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2020/11/stencilgirl-coloring-book.html

StencilGirl®️ October Project

 

 I’m returning to my illustration of Ben Okri’s poem and we have reached the hopeful words: “We can 

wake to the power of our voice, change the world with the power of our choice”. I am constantly 

amazed by just how appropriate the lines of this poem are to the situations we find ourselves in, 

particularly at the moment, but I suspect at any time. As always there is a full step by step tutorial available for this project on the StencilGirl ®️ talk website. You can find it here: https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2020/10/art-journaling-with-stencilgirl-stencils.html

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Playful Postcards

After the serious spread I made in August for  Stencilgirl®Products I felt the need for some frivolity. I grabbed some postcard blanks left over from previous projects and just played. These 6 cards are the result. You can find the full tutorial and a list of all the stencils I used during the making of them on the Stencilgirl® Talk website post today. https://www.stencilgirltalk.com/2020/09/playful-postcards-with-stencilgirl-stencils.html 

I love the imaginary beasties stencil and wish we could have some creatures like these in real life!

As is usual for me there is a lot of sparkle on these cards which the camera fails to capture but you can see a hint of it below.

Stencilgirl® August 2020 Project

Before I start to show you this project I just want to mention that I worked on this spread at the beginning of June. A time when in Scotland the lockdown was still almost completely intact. We were to stay at home, not go further than approx. 5 miles from home when exercising, not make unnecessary journeys and not visit other households indoors and stay 2 meters away from everyone not in our own household at all times. It was a bleak time already but became even darker with the tragic death and the resulting events surrounding George Floyds’ death.  

At first I wanted to abandon the spread which was made to illustrate the next lines in Ben Okri’s poem that read: “We can join that growing fight to stop our world being plunged into night”. But then I read and re-read them until I realized that in fact they contained a message of hope, of realizing that however dark times become there are things we can do in however small a way to make a difference. So I continued putting all the elements that were already made by this time, together. 

In the booklet I put words that give hope to me personally and I hope also to other people. 

It is also important that I mention here that Ben Okri himself is a Nigerian poet and novelist who is considered to be one of the foremost African authors. He has written both poetry and fiction and his work has received many rewards. I personally love his The Magic of the Lamp short story book, with beautifully written, thought provoking text and also stunning illustrations by Rosemary Clunie. 

 You can find a full step by step tutorial on how to make both the booklet and the spread on the Stencilgirl®Talk website today.

Stencilgirl® July 2020 Project

As I’m writing this post (back in mid May on completion of the pages) we are still in full lock down here in Scotland, cast adrift on stormy seas and driven by a ferocious wind with no land in sight just yet. As least that’s what it feels like at times. But at the same time I'm also enjoying all the beautiful signs of spring, the new lambs and calves in the field surrounding us and the flowers popping up all along our rural little country lane. Can you be sad and happy all at once? If so, that describes best how I feel from day to day.

In all this Ben Okri’s poem remains a solace to my soul and we have reached the lines: And as we travel on this life that is a sea, we can glimpse eternity”. It’s a bit unnerving to find his words so very appropriate for our times. But this too is hopeful!

As ever you can find a full tutorial for these pages (done in the large art journal by ArtbyMarlene) on the Stencilgirl®Talk website today.