February Watercolour Weekend

 Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

My first card today is intended to be for any occasion, but would work perfectly as a Valentine if you wanted it to!

I stamped the largest bike from the 5124 - WC Bicycle Set onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper using #N55, then added the heart balloon from 5722 - Birthday Journal Set above it.  I mixed together #565/249 to make an aqua shade that was painted onto the bike, and shades of N55 & black were painted onto the tires and handlebar.  A wash of #126/177 was added in to create the grassy ground, and using the bullet tip of #177, I hand drew in some longer blades of grass around the tires.  I picked up #443 from my palette, and added it as a wash to the sky.  The large floral from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 was stamped with #565 to fill in the square basket, then softened with a damp brush to pull out the colour.  For the front basket, I used the heart circles from 4868, in #743 and the Daisy Bunch from Flower Set - 4052 in #676 to create the floral clusters, then filled around them with the tiny sprig from 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 in #126 and #177.  My favourite stamp - the Mini Foxglove from 4052 - was stamped repeatedly in #565 to create the two taller flower stalks.  After softening everything with a damp brush, the small twig from 4964 - WC Branches Set was added several times with #969.  I painted shades of #743/676 onto the balloon, being careful to keep some areas lighter to suggest a rounded shape.  I used a grey Twintone marker to draw in the string of the balloon.  Layers of #992/969 were added to the baskets for a natural look.  I used the single stem from 4868 in #743/177 to place some flowers around the tires, and used the markers directly on the paper to suggest some tiny flowers.

My scene was die cut using the 5062 - Rounded Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies, and the sentiment from 5734 - Friend Sentiments Set was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  I added a 1/16" dark grey mat, and adhered everything on an angle with 3D foam tape, to the background paper from 5955 - Encouragement PP.

I have been wanting to create a window card for a while, so my second card is a scene that I painted onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, starting with the 5577 - Stone Bridge Simple Scene In #N55, then added 3 of the 5789 - Hot Air Balloon Set images in various sizes so they would look like they were floating away into the distance.

Since I knew I'd be using a window, I kept my scene tall and narrow, and used the window die as a guide.  I painted in #443 as the sky, being sure to leave some fluffy white spaces above the hills as a bank of clouds, and then also painted the blue into the stream, keeping the center of it lighter.  The clouds had streaks of grey added to them to create some texture, and the stream had #565 added to the edges to darken it even further.  #177 was washed in on all the hillsides, getting a little stronger in tone in the foreground, with some #126 added in.  The pathway and banks of the stream were painted with #992/947, and tones of N55/565 were painted around the bridge and rocks along the stream.  I stamped the tree & foliage from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage using #969/177/126, and added the clump of shrubs along one of the hills using #177.  The balloons were painted with #565/533/743/993/991/126/443 with 992 on the baskets.  I added darker shades of each colour where the lines of each balloon were, to indicate the shape of each one.

This is what my painting looked like before it went behind the window.

There is definitely a bit of planning involved in a window card!  I cut three layers of the window from 5543 - Journal Template Die Set, and glued them together, as I wanted the frame to be sturdy, and stand out from the wall.  I cut a piece of gingham paper from 5955 - Encouragement PP to 4" x 5 1/4", then cut a rectangle with just enough overlap to be able to glue the 1/8" wide window onto it.  To create my embellishments, I cut out the three flowers from 5588 - Journal Oval Frames from watercolour paper, along with the leafy sprig from 5591 - Journal Rectangle Frames, then painted all of my pieces using the same Tombow colours as my painting.  I used tweezers and some liquid glue to attach everything to the background.

The painting was adhered to a piece of tan cardstock, by holding it behind the window to ensure it was placed correctly.  I added 3D foam adhesive to the back of my window panel, as I wanted the dimension it would give to have my scene appear far away.  As I said - lots of planning!  But I think the end result was worth it.  There is room on the lower right panel for a sentiment - I almost stamped one, but thought I would jinx my finished piece... but a word or phrase could be easily added.  My sentiment will go on the inside.  See you next month!

Watercolor Weekend: Green

I will be on the Art Impressions blog on Saturday for their Watercolour Weekend post, and we've started to have themes.  I went CAS for my 'green' card this week! 

I began by taping a piece of Ranger Watercolor paper onto a board, and after masking off the top 2/3, I ink blended some Crushed Olive and Mowed Lawn Distress inks for my grass.  I switched the mask to the bottom 1/3, and blended Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean, keeping a white area just off-center. (This paper is a bright white, and kept my ink colours bright and clear!)

                           

I used the smaller bicycle from 5124 - WC Bicycle Set, coloured it with my #N45 Cool Grey 10 Tombow marker and used my Stamp Positioner to place it where the white 'halo' area was, making sure that it sat just above the grass line.  I used my damp brush to pull out the colour in all the metal bars, then picked up #N25 Lamp Black and painted in the wheels and seat.  I added #856 Chinese Red to the handlebars and fenders.  With the small leafy green from 5074 - Bible Flower Set, I masked off the basket, then stamped it repeatedly in #177 Dark Jade.  I used the same #177 and the grass from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage Set to stamp grass around the tires.  A touch of #565 Deep Blue added shadows to the white basket, and on the bike.

I used the green and black ink on my palette to spatter some ink on my scene, then stamped the sentiment from the Exclusive Daisies Set and die cut it with a decorative rectangle die.  The scene is adhered to my white card base with 3D foam adhesive.

Watercolour Weekend Scene

I loved putting this mix of stamp sets together - I was really happy to see that the smallest bicycle in the 5124 - WC Bicycle Set was the perfect scale to work with the 5013 - WC Door Set, allowing me to create a little scene today!

 I coloured the door with my N65 Cool Grey 5 Tombow marker, and stamped it slightly to the left of center.  Still using N65, I stamped the bicycle and the bricks from 5018 Cobblestone Set, using my stamp positioner to get everything just so.  I used 2 pots from the retired 3498 Series 6 Set 2, but the ones in the 4869 WC Small Container Set would work here.  With my dampened #4 paintbrush, I softened the lines on all the images, and pulled out the colour to create a few shadows.  From the 5009 WC Mini Flower Set, I used the tiny greenery stamp with 158 Dark Olive and the dotted floral stamp with 565 Deep Blue and  991 Light Ochre to add the flowers and foliage to the pots, bike basket and over the door.  I dabbed all of these lightly with my brush, as I didn't want to lose the definition of the images.

 Using my N95 Cool Grey 1 marker and a stamp from the 5019 - WC Wall Texture Set, I added the pale grey stones on either side of the door.  To keep them from looking repetitious, I flipped the stamp upside down for the second side, and didn't colour all of the stones.  I picked up 515 Light Blue from my palette with a fair bit of water to give an aqua-coloured wash to the stone wall.  After scribbling 856 Chinese Red and 969 Chocolate onto my palette, I coloured the door and bicycle in red and used the brown to create a wooden doorframe and pots.  I wanted everything to look well worn, so kept my brush strokes fairly streaky.  I used 565 to add shadows in and around all of the images. With the small grass from the WC Foliage Set 1 and the 158, I added grass in around the bike & bricks, and with the excess colour after painting them with my brush, I added a pale green wash to the ground.

 To finish, I used the 5062 Rounded Rectangle Double Stitched Die to cut out the image and used the smallest one in the set to cut out my sentiment (Hello! is from 5136 - WC Sentiment Set 2).  Both were matted with some brown cardstock and the sentiment was attached with 3D pop dots.  Be sure to visit the Ai blog on Saturday to see what Dot & Tricia have to show you this week.

Watercolour Bicycle 2.0

I have another Art Impressions Watercolour bike to share today!  When I am painting images for my Watercolour Weekend posts, I often do more than one, switching up the colours a little, maybe positioning the images a little differently, or changing the flowers.  Here's my second card using WC Bicycle Set and WC Cats Set:

 I used pinks and a warmer blue shade in this one, and more of a warm brown kitty.

Bicycle Watercolour

I have my first June Watercolour Weekend post to share today - (it'll be on the Ai blog on June 1st).  It's my first time painting the new-for-2019 #5124 WC Bicycle Set and I've paired it with the #4873 WC Cats Set:

I began by colouring the bicycle with my #N65 Cool Grey Tombow Marker, and stamping it onto my watercolour paper.  I pulled out the colour with a damp #4 brush, leaving more colour where the shadows fall.  I was careful not to colour a portion of the rear tire, leaving a space to stamp my cat with the help of my stamp positioner (also in #N65.) Using the trailing vines from the #5126 WC Foliage Set 4 and my #158 Dark Olive marker, I stamped them several times in the bike's basket without reinking.  With the floral cluster from the #4052 Flower Set, I stamped multiples with #565 Deep Blue in the basket and around the wheels.  From the #5009 WC Mini Flower Set, I used the cluster of tiny flowers, and stamped them into the 2nd basket, using #158 & #565.  Also from the Mini Flower Set, I used the dot cluster in #991 Light Ochre, filling in the basket and around the tires.  I used the tiny foliage stamp with #158 to fill in some greenery, and then used #856 Chinese Red/#158 to add the tall flowers to the basket.  With a damp brush, I dabbed the flowers & greenery, not wanting to lose the definition of the images.

Using the two longer grasses from Foliage Set 4, and the small grass from the #4051 Foliage Set, I added grasses around the tires & cat, and then pulled out the colour with my paintbrush to add a green wash on the ground.  Taking #565 from my palette, I painted in the sky and added shadows to the bike, ground and cat.  I wanted just a touch of colour on the bicycle, so I picked up #515 Light Blue off of my palette and added it to the metal parts.  I used #850 Flesh to add colour directly to the cat's ears.

I die cut my image with a Wonky stitched square die, matted it with dark blue cardstock and adhered it to my base with pop dots.  The final card is 5 3/4" square.