Hiker Foundation and Water of Life

  

I am on the Art Impressions blog today for their Watercolour Weekend post!  My first card is using one of the newly released Scenic Foundation sets that have more of a masculine feel to them.  This is the 6068 - Hiker Foundation set.

Using my Misti, I stamped the image onto my Canson XL watercolour paper using Tombows #969/565.  *With a larger image like this, it helps to use a stamping platform, as you can reink and stamp it a second time if your first impression isn't perfect.  Before stamping the foliage, I painted light shades of #565 on the mountains, getting a little darker for the hills in the foreground.  I was aiming for some striking contrast, so used #346 to paint in the two closest bits of land.  I wanted a bit of a sunset sky, so I started by mixing #991 and #856 to give me tones of yellow and peach.  I echoed the same colours in the water, reflecting both the mountains and the sunset.  I added streaks of darker tones to the water to make it look like ripples on the lake.

The grass in the foreground was painted with a wash of #177, and layers of #992 were painted on the pathway.  The two main trees were painted with streaks of #992/969/947, as were the edges of the pathway under the grass overhang.  After pulling out the colour of the rocks with my damp brush, I added more shades of N52/565/992 to the stones, creating contrast between the rocks.  I used the foliage stamp from 5373 - WC LG Tree Set and #177/249 to stamp the foliage on each of the trees, turning the stamp so that it would appear irregular.  I touched the foliage with a damp brush to soften it, and added in a few darker tones for shadows.  I used the tiny sprig from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set and #177/ to add a few low shrubs in and around the trees and rocks, then added a few branches from 4964 - WC Branches Set in #969.  A little grass was added in #177 using the small grass from Foliage Set - 4051.

I painted the hiker in coordinating colours #565/992/177/969, other than his bright hat in #856.  I hadn't painted in the sun before I added the foliage (should have!), so I just dabbed some white at the edge of the mountain, and then painted some white streaks into the water to indicate the sun.  White paint was also used to add in some flowers on the shrubs.  As a final touch, I used my paint brush and #346 to add a line of pine trees to one of the hillsides.  The image was die cut with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, matted with a warm brown, and adhered to my base with 3D foam adhesive.

My second card is using two of the new sets from the Bible Journaling line.

I die cut my Canson XL watercolour paper with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, and stamped the sleeping lamb from 6025 - Fear Not Set using #969/565.  After masking him, the stone well from 6055 - Water of Life Set was stamped behind him.  I pulled out the colour from the lines on the well, concentrating the colour where shadows would be - then added more N52/565 to darken the stones.  On the lamb, I added #850 to his ears and nose, and painted it as a wash over his fleece, to add a little warmth.  N52/565 were used for shadows, and to add some dabbled texture to indicate the fleece.

#126 was painted as a wash for the grass, and #493 done as a wash in the sky.  The two long grass stamps from 6025 were stamped around the well in #177, and two of the floral images were stamped in #177/856, on either side.  The small grass from Foliage Set - 4051 added a little texture in #177 around the bottom.  I used a light version of #565 to paint the bird, and touch some pale orange to his beak.  I used my black Twintone marker to darken the eye of the bird, and those of the lamb.  My grey Twintone marker was really helpful in redefining the lines of the well that had blurred a bit after painting, and for darkening the bird's legs.  Since I don't have a lot of luck in spattering paint on my images, I used the grey Twintone to add little dots around my image to suggest a little texture in my painting.

The sentiment is from the retired Exclusive Daisy set from several years ago.  I added a grey mat to my painting, and adhered it with 3D foam adhesive to my base which is paper from the 6011 - Basic Teal PP.

Back to Basics

  I'm going back to basics this week with a classic container of flowers for Art Impressions Watercolour Weekend.  These are great cards to keep on hand - leave off the sentiment, and add it in when you need to send a thank you, birthday or thinking of you card:

I began by inking up the pitcher from 5123 - WC Decorative Jar Set in Tombow Dual Brush Marker #N45 Cool Grey 10, and pulled out the colour with my damp paintbrush, concentrating it on the undersides of the rounded image.  For my bouquet, I started with the greenery, using #158 Dark Olive and the two trailing foliage stamps in 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4.  My flowers are all from Flower Set - 4052, and I used the Daisy Bunch in #743 Hot Pink, the Salvia in #565 Deep Blue and the Mini Foxglove in #676 Royal Purple.  To fill in where there were holes or white areas, I used the tiny green from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set in #126 Light Olive, which added a little brightness.

After lightly touching my stamped images with a damp brush, I picked up a few of the colours to add shading to the pitcher - mainly #565 for shadows, and a touch of #676 for a bit of a pink reflection.  I die cut the image and layered it over an ink blended panel of the same tones.  The sentiment is from the Hydrangea Exclusive set available from Scrapbook.com.  Lastly, I picked up some black ink from my palette, and lightly spattered it across my card.

Birdcage for Watercolour Weekend

 I was so happy to finally pull out the new 5367 - WC Birdcage Set to create a card to kick off the Art Impressions Watercolor Weekends for 2021!

This set consists of dies only - no stamps, so I began by die cutting one of the birdcages in Masking Paper, peeled off the backing, and adhered it to my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  Then I selected my colour palette of Tombow Dual Brush Markers, and pulled out several sets for flowers & foliage.  Using the tiny circle of v-shaped blossoms from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2, I coloured it up in #856 Chinese Red, #933 Orange and #993 Chrome Orange - stamping several times to create clusters of colourful blooms.  To add foliage, I chose the two trailing ivys in 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New, and stamped them in #249 Hunter Green several times, to have ivy trailing out of the birdcage in both directions.  There were still some white areas in the middle of my cage, and I wanted some darker flowers, so I used the tiny dotted flower image from 5074 - Bible Flower Set coloured in #565 Deep Blue in two spots, and then took the small green from the same set and stamped it in the brighter #126 Light Olive - which added some contrasting foliage.

I touched all the stamped images with my damp paintbrush, then picked up #533 Peacock Blue from my palette, and carefully painted the background sky in around all of the birdcage edges (*this is important! If you don't paint right up to the edges of the mask, the 'negative' image of the birdcage will not remain when you remove the mask).  With my painting done, I removed the mask, and using my thin #1 paintbrush, I picked up #565 from my palette, and painted a fine line along the edges of the cage to indicate a shadow.  It also cleans up any ragged edges that remain from your painting.  I decided that a couple of birds would finish things off nicely, so I stamped two of them from 4872 - WC Birds Set in #N55 Cool Grey 7, and used N55, 565 and 533 to add colour.  I went in with my Twintone  42 Navy fine point marker to darken the eyes, beak and legs.

I cut the image out with the 5063 - A2 Rectangle Double Stitched Dies, leaving enough space below to add the sentiment from the Hydrangea Exclusive set available through Scrapbook.com.  After matting it with red, I adhered it to my patterned base using 3D Foam Adhesive.

Hearth & Home

 Happy Holidays, Ai fans!

One of my favourite things to do with my Art Impressions Watercolor stamps, is to use them differently then how they were intended.  I wanted to do a fireplace scene, and stumbled upon 5127 - Build My Life Set, and knew it would be perfect:  

                        

I used 6 different stamp sets to create my scene today!  I started with 5269 - Wood Frames Set, colouring just a portion of one side with my Tombow #969 Chocolate to create the wooden mantle.  I had to build my scene from front to back, so I used my stamp positioner to stamp the kitten from 5016 - WC Mini Critter Set in #947 Burnt Sienna, and covered him with a mask.  Next came the small window, which was coloured with #N45 Cool Grey 10, stamped in the center of my panel, and then covered with a mask.  I masked off the sides of my scene with purple tape, since the brick image is quite a bit larger - coloured the bricks in #N55 Cool Grey 7, and stamped it just below the mantle.  When I removed the purple tape and masks, I used my N55 marker directly on the paper to draw in the edges of the bricks that were cut off by the tape.  I used a damp brush to soften all the lines of my painting, and to pull out the colours.  

One of the small pots from 4869 - WC Small Container Set was coloured in N55, and stamped to appear just in front of the fireplace, then the rose trio from 5258 - WC Flower Set 4 was coloured in #856 Chinese Red and stamped above it.  I used four of the branch images from 4960 - WC Fir Trees Set, colouring just a portion of each in #249 Hunter Green to add greenery to the pot, and across the mantle.  I used a pencil to sketch in the logs and candles, then went over them with my 969/N55 markers.  The flames are a combination of #991 Light Ochre/993 Chrome Orange.  With my #992 Sand marker, I sketched in the wooden floors and painted in some streaks to suggest wood grain.  I picked up the colours of my scene from my palette, darkening the kitten, and adding shadows to the pot and bricks, as well as a darker shadow for the interior of the fireplace.  I used #569 Jet Blue to paint the walls, and create a contrast with the lighter bricks.  

Thank you to everyone who views our creations, and leaves such lovely comments.  Wishing you a happy, healthy holiday - we'll see you in 2021!