Valentine Mailbox

For the next Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog, I'm doing a simple scene to show you how to make a Valentine by using the stamps you have.

I stamped the mailbox image from 5575 - Mailbox Birdhouse Set in Tombow #969/565 onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper.  And used the same markers to add the bird from 5561 - Birds and Bugs Set.  I wanted to create a bunch of hearts spilling out of the mailbox, so with a pencil, I sketched the hearts, making them smaller as the floated away.  I also drew one tilted sideways in the bird's beak.  I used three of the blooms in 5008 - WC Flower set 3 coloured in #856/177 and stamped my flowers around the base of the wood stand.

After pulling out all of the colour with a damp brush, I used #761/856 to paint the hearts, keeping a lighter highlite area.  #993 was added to the flag, and shades of #969 were painted in streaks to suggest woodgrain on the base of the mailbox.  The sweet bird was painted with shades of #528, with a little #565 on the wing tips and as shadows.  With the two grasses in 5476 - WC Foliage Set 5, I added them under the flowers in #177/126, and blended them with my damp paintbrush.  I just lightly touched each bloom with my paintbrush to enliven the colour a little, but not enough to lose the definition of the petals.  A wash of #565 was added to the sky.  I hope you'll pull out some of your regular stamp sets and make them into something sweet for Valentine's Day!

Be sure to check out the Ai blog this Saturday, to see what Tricia & Diane have to share.