Years ago, we had a 1/4 share in a house on Fire Island. The organizer of the share was a really interesting woman. Rita. We’ve long since lost touch, but I remember a few things about her very clearly. First, she was a cat rescuer. But while you might think (as we did) that a 1-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn with 24+ cats would stink to high heaven, hers was immaculate (smelling, at least). She would take in any cat – elderly, newborn, healthy, ill, feral, pregnant – and rehabilitate them. Rita had a similarly-minded friend who was a vet and treated the beasties, so all the graduates from Rita’s care started healthy and, believe it or not, happy. I still don’t know how she did it.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today. Rita, the Entirely Sane Cat Lady, was also a house painter, but not just any house painter. She painted effects, murals, and stencils. I could see how the first two would be a challenge and require great skill, but I was initially a bit dismissive of her stencil work. They’re stencils, right? Basically idiot proof. Then we started sleeping in the bedroom she’d painted, and by the end of the summer, I was obsessed with her stenciled wall. I came to understand just how much artistry goes into stencil work.

Here’s a few of the more inspiring examples I’ve seen with links to the items for sale where possible.

Chrysanthemum stencil by OMGStencil