Christmas Cars and Classic Truck Foundations

 I am up on the Art Impressions blog today for the Watercolour Weekend post.

I have one fall and one Christmas card to share with you today,  let's start with my favourite season:

This is the 6066 - Classic Truck Foundation set.  I went for the softer side of fall with this one.  I stamped my image with #N45 onto some Canson XL Watercolour paper, and pulled out the colour with a damp brush.  I used a wash of #177 with touches of #993 to paint in the hillsides, and shades of #992/969 for the dirt road, tree and fence.  The truck was painted with a mixture of #565/249 to create the washed out aqua shade, and all the trim was done in layers of #N45. The interior of the truck was painted with #565 to give a shadowed look.

I wanted a white barn, so only painted light shades of #N45 on the shadowy sides of the barn, and a darker layer of grey on the roof.  I used a pencil to add in the vertical barn boards.  The doors were painted in #837, and #565 was used to shade in the windows and under the eaves.  A wash of #493 was painted in the sky, leaving negative white space to suggest clouds, and I added in some areas of #N45 to add some shading to them.  I drew in the trees along the hillside directly with my #177 and 933 markers, and even though I used a tiny foliage stamp for the tree in the foreground, I wasn't happy with the look so used the markers directly on my paper to add in the leaves. 

The image was die cut with the stitched/rounded corner die from the 5809 - Decorative Journal Page 2 set which fits the Foundations perfectly!  I added a blue mat underneath it, and mounted it onto this pretty plaid from the 5832 Gnome Paper Pack.  I wanted to accent the barn door colour, so used the Fall word die from 5770 - Farm FB Fence Set, cut out three times from some warm pink cardstock, and layered on top of each other to create a nice thick word.  I offset my panel slightly to the right of my card.

My second card is the start of my painted holiday cards!  

I used the sweet little truck from 5823 - Christmas Cars set, and stamped it in #N45 onto some Canson XL Watercolour paper.  After pulling out the colour, I painted the truck with several layers of #837 to build up the darker areas, leaving the rounded parts of the truck much lighter.  I masked off the back of the truck, and used my stamp positioner to stamp the tree from 5826 - WC Large Tree Set 2 in #249.  After touching it with a damp brush, I stamped it a second time to add some of the detail back in.  I wanted a wreath on the front of the truck, and the little half wreath from 5830 - WC Mini Wreath Set worked perfectly!  I used #249 and my stamp positioner to get it in the right spot.

I used #565 to paint in a wintry sky wash, and also added the 'suggestion' of a person in the truck, and added a shadow under it.  I used white paint and a #1 brush to dab on some snow on my scene.  I used my red Twintone marker to draw a bow on the wreath.

My image is small!  So I made a busier background using the 5812 - Christmas S2 Paper Pack.  I used the 5724 - Nested Rectangle Dies to cut it out, and matted it with black cardstock.  I cut the 5132 - Tag Stitched Die from the woodgrain paper, and adhered it down to my background.  The sentiment is from 5566 - Christmas Sentiments Set stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink.

Christmas Cars

I have two cards to share today for the Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog.  I've been having a great time painting with many of the new Ai Christmas stamp sets.  I may have squealed when I first saw 5823 - Christmas Cars Set... it's possibly my favourite set ever created by Bonnie - so I couldn't wait to ink it up.

I'm using Bristol Smooth Cardstock today, as it is a lovely bright white colour, and it works well for snowy scenes.  I first cut out the decorative oval die shape, so I'd have my painting area defined for me.  I inked up first the car, then the presents using Tombows #969/565 - purposely stamping the presents just a little askew, as though they were precariously stacked on the roof, with the help of my stamp positioner.  I picked the larger wreath from 5830 - WC Mini Wreath Set, coloured it with #249, and stamped it on the front of the car.

I picked my colour palette according to my background paper, so started painting the car with #526, using a watered down layer on the hood of the car, which would be lighter, and a more saturated shade for the front and undersides of the vehicle.  #N45 was used to paint in the tires, and all the chrome bits around the headlights and grill.  I used #126/703/847/249 to paint in the presents, adding some diagonal stripes on some of the wrapping paper.  I painted in a wash of #565 as the sky, trying to indicate some snowbanks at the side of the road, and used it to shade under the tires, and on the windshield.  I lightly touched the wreath with a damp paintbrush, and added dots of #847 as berries.  To create my snow, I used Bleedproof White Paint to add snow on the parcels, car and wreath, along with a few snowflakes in the sky.  My oval die is from Pinkfresh Studio, and the Poinsettia/holly are Spellbinders.

This was fairly quick and easy to paint - so I plan to make a bunch more to send this season.  To assemble my card, I cut out a slightly larger oval in the same warm pink shade as my present, and mounted it behind my scene.  I adhered it to my striped paper from the 5853 - Christmas Magic Paperpack