Also @ Creativity Portal

President Obama's Committee For The Arts And Humanities Pushes For Arts And Creativity
He's promoting this philosophy: To remain competitive in the global economy, America needs to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this country great. To do so, we must nourish our children's creative skills. In addition to giving our children the science and math skills they need to compete in the new global context, we should also encourage the ability to think creatively that comes from a meaningful arts education. This objective of President Barack Obama is a positive move in the world of the arts and innovative thinking.

Are You Your Audience?
... I thought to myself (in run-on sentence form), "If I need to change the title and take the fun out of the writing, never mind publishing conventionally, I think I'll just publish the book myself because it is after all, a book on CREATIVITY so I'm thinking MAYBE it can be DIFFERENT." Two months later an agent grabbed the original version and within two weeks, five of the biggest publishing houses in New York were bidding for it. ...

... I had followed the advice of one of the Muses I wrote about—a Muse called Audacity.

DIY Collaged Journal Cover
A simple do-it-yourself tutorial you can use as a base for artfully decorating your own special journal or to gift away to a friend!

Metaphors Inspire Writing
In act III, scene II of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Mark Antony delivers his well-known and often-quoted eulogy in honor of the recently murdered Julius Caesar.

The Time Zone
Time is nowhere near fixed as is thought. In fact, the manner in which we think even affects the passage of time.

Stencil Ease Tutorials : Basic How-to Stencil Art Tutorial

Basic How-to Stencil Art Tutorial

By Stencil Ease

Important: 1) Surface to be stenciled should be clean and painted with a non-glossy paint. Prewash fabrics. (WARNING: Some colors may become deeper when ironed.) Different fabrics absorb paint differently. Practice on a separate piece of your fabric.

2) Practice stenciling on paper. These prints can then be taped in place to check design placement and color.

Supplies Needed:

Spill Proof® stencil paint or acrylic paint
Pencil
Paper towels
Practice paper
Drafting tape
Repositionable Spray Adhesive
Stencil brushes (we recommend our Double-ended stencil brush)

Project Instructions:

1) Lightly mark the area to be stenciled to coincide with guidelines (registration marks) on the stencil.

2) Blot off excess paint onto paper towel until brush is "dry" and seems almost out of paint. (See Photo)

3) Place overlay #1 of your stencil in correct position and adhere to surface using repositionable adhesive spray.

4) Hold brush as a pencil with bristles flat on surface and handle straight. (Notice bristles of a stencil brush are specially cut for this action.) Start at outside edges of cutouts and paint in a circular, clockwise motion toward the center. Hold your stencil with the other hand. Begin with a light touch. (See Photo)

5) Now reverse direction to a counter-clockwise motion, building up color. You control the color in 2 ways — amount of pressure applied on brush and number of times you go over an area of the design. Lift stencil corner and check color before removing stencil.

6) If it is a two overlay stencil, then align Print #2, using the register marks as guides for proper placement over previously stenciled area. Change to a clean brush when changing paint colors. When doing a wall border, remember to follow your "center line" guideline on stencil to keep your work level.

Clean Up: Clean stencil with paper towel which has been dampened with turpentine or mineral spirits if using oil-based paint or water for water-based paint.

Finishing: Follow curing and heat setting guidelines per paint manufacturers recommendations. •

Stencil Ease has been a manufacturer of stencils, paints, brushes, and accessories since 1980. More »

1/18/05