I am in the process of planning yet another (my fourth!) Moroccan painting adventure to Peacock Pavilions in late October, 2011, so thought to revisit the results of our last trip where we focused on a VERY fun fabric stenciling project: turning an ordinary canvas tent into a special space for dining, dreaming, and entertaining.

The inspiration for the series of Moroccan stencils based on class Fez-style embroidery that I developed for this project came from this lovely book. The graphic patterns seemed to just beg to be translated into stencils! So, I created a whole series of designs that could be mixed and matched and layers in different ways, depending on the needs of the project. We didn’t get a chance to see the tent “all dressed up” while we were there, but could imagine all the possibilities that can arise from a basic black and white color color palette. You can see how Maryam has been able to style and decorate the tent in multiple, beautiful ways and various color schemes.

Such as the beautiful Moroccan blue colors this post….

…my favorite pink accent color in this post…

 …and your basic, elegant black in this post . So chis! Note the stenciled paper placemats! What a fun idea!!

All stencils are from our Moroccan stencil collection at Royal Design Studio.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I will show you this same series of stencil patterns used to create an amazing backdrop for a most deliciously colorful product display….

 We’ve been getting lots of  lovely links and mentions. It’s just SO cool and SO appreciated! I am a little late in getting this posted, as usual, but what the hey!!

Two weeks ago Regina at Fauxology ran a wonderful weeklong series on Groin Ceiling Decoration. She was so sweet to devote one whole day to how Modello Designs decorative masking stencils have been used in amazing groin projects, and I was happy to share the talents of our customers!

Emily at Good with Style did a post on Moroccan stencils and organic poofs and created this lovely montage of the stencil project that we did for a dining tent in Marrakech last May.

Savvy Housekeeping shared how inexpensive it can be to get the look of Moroccan tile in a bathroom with stencils from our Moroccan Collection.

Soul Pretty has Morocco on her mind as well, and just purchased one of our stencils to decorate the wall behind her bed. Looking forward to seeing that! Meanwhile, she has a delightful Etsy shop as well!

Danielle at Style Files is “loving” the idea of stenciling stair risers with Moroccan patterns, as we did on another Marrakech painting adventure to Peacock Pavilions. Lots of people seem to be loving this lately. I think we started something!!

Darling Kelly at Back to Domestics mused that stencils are SO more creative and economical than wallpaper. I couldn’t agree more!

And, it’s a Fauxology bookend! One of our very bestest customer couples at Modello Designs, Anna and Scott Sadler, were featured last week on Fauxology along with some great shots of amazing interior projects that they had done with……you guessed it! Modello patterns! Thanks to all for the mentions AND the backlinks!!

When someone shines a nice, bright light on your business in a blog post, such as Petra Voegtle did for me here, it is good form to return the favor. Now, this is neither a chore or a difficult obligation considering the scope and artistic skills represented in her beautiful work.

Petra began her artistic journey with wood carving, which led to explorations in painting and art photography. Her current medium of focus in painting on fabric, mostly silk, and going back to her “roots” her recent work features highly textural treatments with the fabric which she calls “silk carving”.

She is particularly inspired by the overwhelming ornament found in temples and other places of workshiop in Southeast Asia.

You can find the portal to Petra’s work through here main art website, Vyala Arts.

I especially love this portion of her artist’s statement.

Our whole life is surrounded by magic and this is what I want to make the viewer see. Ancient cultures inherit magic. Sometimes we fail to interpret ancient pictograms and images but we feel a certain affinity and similarity in modern symbols. This is pure emotion that speaks to our secret wishes and hopes. There is magic in all living creatures but seldom enough we care to see it. And there is magic in each and every landscape on this planet – sometimes quite obvious and sometimes only after a second look.

The two paintings above feature imagery created with stencils and wood block printing. Besides her art website, Petra has multiple blogs including Art and Interior and a fabulous photography and color blog,  but I think that the best way to view her original and beautiful artworks (the silk painting are to die for!) is on her Etsy site.