I love to use found objects, stencils and masks (the inside pieces of a stencil) for creating monoprints. It always felt a bit uneasy to use stencils created by other artists, in my original art. I recently decided to start a new venture, and bought a Brother ScanNCut electronic cutting machine.I thought it would be great fun to explore creating my own stencils and masks. It’s been a real challenge learning the new software, as it appears to be more based on Illustrator concepts, rather than Photoshop, which I am more familiar with. In the throes of frustration and trying to be positive; my newest mantra is “It’s great for my brain to learn new concepts”… so it’s going very slowly, but I am making progress. It’s great to be able to draw images which can be cut and used in a variety of ways. There’s a lot of potential, since after using for printing purposes, the colorful, interesting paper pieces may be used for collage, as you can see in the photos. It’s really opened up working in a new way and I am loving it! I am creating work for two three-person Kansas City exhibits, one in September of 2022 and another in 2022.