Produced in Jacksonville, Florida  

Creation Date – January 2017

Artist – Johanna Lawson

Technique – Layered stenciling with ink and stamps with embossing powder

Inspiration – Street Art

My inspiration this month comes from street art. I am inspired because all throughout my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, street art is popping up in my neighborhood and downtown. It is invigorating and exciting to walk down the street, turn a corner, and come across a piece of street art. I feel such a connection to other artists in my own city. Not only does this art beautify my city, many times it makes a statement and provokes a reaction from the viewer.

Although I love finding public art in my own city, discovering street art while visiting a new city (or an old favorite) can be just as inspiring. This blog post prompted me to look back through my photos and find some of my favorite pieces. There were so many to choose from, I tried to narrow it down to my top three favorites pieces from my very favorite cities. Enjoy…

Let’s start with Jacksonville 🙂

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Wynwood, Miami, Florida

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Denver, Colorado

The Recreation

To recreate the look of street art for this batch, I felt I needed to start with a bare wall of my own. Using a stencil that looks similar to bricks and my Tim Holtz Distress Inks – “Vintage Photo” and “Aged Mahogany,” I attempted to create a wall from which to begin my layering, blending the inks using a make-up wedge for application.

Next, I chose a few more Distress Inks – “Shabby Shutters,” “Old Paper,” “Tattered Rose,” and “Wild Honey,” as well as a circular stencil to apply the second layer. This time, I only applied one color to each “brick wall.”

I then went back to realign the stencil and began to blend the first ink with a second color to create more depth in the image. This time I used Brilliance “Cosmic Copper” ink, Delicata “Golden Glitz,” and Distress Inks “Dusty Concord” and “Pine Needles” to add dimension.

Street art always seems to have some sort of text or writing. Whether it is part of the piece or has just been layered on top of – I believed that some sort of writing was necessary. I have some great stencils that lent themselves to just this sort of look. Using Distress Inks “Broken China” (one of my ALL TIME favorite colors) and “Chipped Sapphire,” I applied the text, again using a make-up wedge. This time I decided to split the batch in half – one half was layered with a cursive look. The other was layered with a more graphic text consisting of numbers and symbols.

Enter the stamps! For the last few layers, I decided to use some stamps. The first layer of stamping used was a circular, crosshatch stamp. Using Distress Inks “Chipped Sapphire” and “Broken China” again (this time on the opposite half of the batch as the ink used for the text). I stamped around the edges of the print and in the center of the circular stencil from the second layer. I also randomly stamped, using Delicata “Golden Glitz,” small squares along one side.

Because it turned out so beautiful, I wanted to share what I call the “remnant” or paper I used underneath when stenciling and stamping to protect the surface of the table I was working on. Isn’t a work of art on its own?!?!

Now the prints were beginning to look like the “wall” I was hoping for. For the last layer, I stamped with VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad and then used black embossing powder to really make the final image stand out. There are six images I chose for this batch – three women, two insects, and one frog. To see more about using embossing powder and creating an embossed image, please visit my last blog entry – Batch No. 3.

The result was a stunning, dimensional card with multiple layers that each add to the complexity of street art. Maybe, one day, my art will pop up on a wall here in Jacksonville or abroad.

These cards, as well as the other batches created by Small • Batch • Cards, will be on sale at the Riverside Arts Market in Jacksonville, Florida starting in June 2017.