Every artist goes through stages when they don’t like what they are creating. Their creative muse seems to leave them. When my muse disappears I usually pick up a canvas I don’t like and paint over it.

For this canvas I added two stencils, TCW781 Scrollwork and a couple of leaves from TCW865 Asian Floral to the background with TCW9005 Modeling Paste.

It was painted white, black & white, purple and silver, and finally blue and green. I still don’t like it but the best part was finding my muse in small piece of sandpaper.

Here is the before picture.

It was missing something and I was frustrated until I saw the sandpaper. I picked it up thinking I was going to sand down the design and start again but once I started sanding I started really seeing all the texture in the piece.

It started looking like worn tile scratch up over time. I then realized my muse was back. All I needed was the sandpaper and my gut saying to go for it. I even added more of the design to the sides of the canvas.

Although I don’t think my muse ever really leaves me, I think with distractions outside of the art room called life it slows it down. It reminds me to take care of me and it always seems to come back. Looking at that piece of sandpaper and going with my gut I found a fun way to get my creativity back. I also bought more sandpaper!

I haven’t decided if it’s finished, but I wanted to show you that sometimes going with your gut and just going for it brings out amazing results. Hey, remember if you don’t like it you can always paint over it again.

How many times have you felt like your muse has disappeared? Remember it’s still there sometimes it need coaxing.

We would love to see what you create with The Crafters Workshop Stencils and Mediums. You can share it with us on our Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest using hashtag #tcwstencillove.

Thank you so much for stopping by!
Karenliz Henderson
The Crafters Workshop Design Team