Olive's Lotus Flower Stencil on a Wood Panel - Tutorial (by Stephanie)

Supplies Needed:
- Painter's Tape
- Foam Roller
- Stencil Brushes 1/2"
- Palette
- Paint (Crimson Red and Martha Stewart's Antiqued Gold)
- Dabbing Sponge
- Wood Panel
- Wood Primer
- Sand Paper

After stenciling Olive's Lotus Flower on one of my walls, I had some ideas about doing one on a wood panel and trying to give my blank, cream colored bathroom a pop of oriental influence to liven up my time spent in the powder room.

I got the wood panel at Home Depot.  I went with a square shape - a little larger than my lotus stencil, which is 21 inches across, so that the whole design would fit on the panel.  Before painting my wood, I primed it with wood primer, let it dry, and sanded it down to make sure it was nice and smooth and flat.

Then I put two coats of my crimson paint on top of the primer.  I used a foam roller to do this, which worked great.  But a nice large interior paint brush would work as well.

Getting the right placement

Stenciling Supplies

I let the paint dry for a day and then, using my dabbing sponge, I dabbed on Martha Stewart's Antiqued Gold all over my wooden canvas.  I wanted and antique-ish oriental look, so I used more here and less there all over to get an uneven finish, while at the same time keeping the
coverage fairly uniform overall.  After the gold paint dried, I sanded the whole panel again to give it a weathered look.

Then, placing my stencil where I wanted it on the panel, I used painter's tape to hold the stencil in place.  Using my 1/2-inch stencil brush, I dabbed on more of the Antiqued Gold to fill the design.  I made sure to pat excess paint onto folded paper towels in between applications.  Less is more in the scenario and I didn't have any bleeding (paint leaking under the stencil) when I used this "dry brush" method.  Then I used the crimson paint to do the center of the flower.

Make sure to dab excess paint off your brush

Getting the crimson brush ready
for painting the center

Painter's Tape holds the stencil in place without
striping paint from the background

I used the crimson for the center of the flower

I took my stencil off when I completed the design and washed all my tools.  The next day, I sanded the whole piece a light sanding to make sure the lotus design looked weathered like the background.

After a light sanding

Voila!  A gorgeous piece of artwork - made by me!

This was a fun little project that I worked on at a leisurely pace for about four days.  I was a different experience than stenciling on a wall, but just as fun!  Now my bathroom has a beautiful piece of artwork in it that I created!  Not to mention, it's affordable and totally unique.  Stenciling on a wood panel or canvas is a great way to experiment with painting techniques and colors.  There are really endless possibilities for this lotus flower!