Masculine Art Impressions Card

 I've put together a masculine card for this weekend's Watercolor Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog:

I cut my decorative oval die out of Canson XL Watercolor Paper, and stamped the dock from 5057 - WC Boat Set in Tombow #565/969, and with a pencil, sketched in where my shoreline would be.  Using my stamp positioner, I placed the rocks from 5415 - WC Rocks Set colored in #N45, and the ducks from 5424 - WC Pond Set in #565/969 which set up my scene.  Before stamping anything else, I painted my lake in a wash of #555, and painted the sky with #565.  I painted #990 along the shoreline and a wash of #177 to be the grassy bank.  Using my positioner, I placed the lily pads, both rushes and greenery stamps from the Pond Set onto my scene.  Using #969/992 and 977, I painted in the boards of the dock, keeping them streaky and darker in the crevices to look like old wood.  I Googled "Mallard Ducks" to make sure I painted the ducks accurately, and then used #565 to add shadows around them, under the dock and down the edges of the shore to look like water ripples. I used a damp paintbrush on the lily pads and greenery, as well as the rocks, to pull out the color.  

So many great uses for these sets for masculine cards!  Be sure to check out the blog on Saturday to see what Dot & Tricia have to share.

The first August Watercolor Weekend

I've made a scene that is close to home for me this week!  Summer time for me, growing up, was at our cabin on Kootenay Lake.  Kind of a rough & tumble type of building, lazy days on the beach, swimming in the warm water, paddling around in a rowboat, and staring at the gorgeous mountains.  Here's what I've created for the upcoming Watercolor Weekend on the Art Impressions blog:

Using a larger block, I positioned both my cabin from 4962 -WC Rustic Cabins Set and the rowboat from 5057 - WC Boat Set, as this allows me to determine the right placement.  I coloured them with my #969 Chocolate Tombow marker, then pulled out the colour with my damp #1 brush (this smaller paintbrush is amazing for scenes like this that are on a smaller scale!).  Using a post-it note, I masked the cabin and coloured up both trees from the 5010 - WC Tree Set 1 with #249 Hunter Green.  I did some second generation stamping behind the cabin to suggest some trees in the background.  Now I took my pencil and sketched in the hills, shoreline, mountains and lake.

With #992 Sand, I painted in the pathway and sandy shore, and used it to paint the boards and roof of the cabin.  With the tiny greenery in 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set and my #158 Dark Olive marker, I added some bushes around the cabin, and tufts of grass with the small grass from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1.  With a wash of #158, I painted in the grassy foreground.  I used the tiny cluster of rocks from the 5128 - As The Deer Set from the Bible Journaling collection, and my #N57 Warm Grey to stamp different clusters of rocks along the shore.  I scribbled #565 Deep Blue onto my Palette, and picked it up with my #4 paintbrush, painting in the mountains and water.  I went in with a second darker layer of the 565 to add shadows around the rocks, boat, cabin and trees to give a little depth to my scene.

Finally, I mixed the #249(green) and #565(blue) to create the shade used to paint the far away line of trees.  I used #837 Wine Red to add colour to the boat & chimney, with a touch of #991 Light Ochre on the oars.  With a wash of #451 Sky Blue I painted in the sky. To finish, I used my sewing machine to run a line of stitching around the scene, matted it on grey, and adhered it to my base with pop dots.