June Watercolour Weekend for Art Impressions

I am posting on the Art Impressions blog today for the Watercolour Weekend post!

Every once in a while I love to just create a lighthouse card!  So I pulled out the 5466 - WC Lighthouse Set, and created a bit of a 'rainbow' lighthouse.

I stamped my lighthouse and one of the shorelines from the 5523 - WC Bait Shop set in the new Shadow Grey Archival ink from Ranger, since I knew I was going with 'pretty' colours, and didn't want any muddy outlines.  I stamped the two trees from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage in #969 on either side of the lighthouse, and using the foliage stamp from the set, I stamped in #177/126 to create the leaves.  To create my rainbow lighthouse, I started by painting the roof in #847, then used #685 on the railing, and as a wash on the main structure.  I moved into #606 and finally #407.  Into the stones at the base, I painted touches of #407 and then #126 near the bottom - so the colours fade from top to bottom in rainbow order.  A wash of #126 was added to the grass, and darkened in the crevices with #177.  I used the shrubbery row from the 5372 set to add bushes to either side of the lighthouse, then painted out those and the trees with a damp brush.  The roof of the small building was done with #847, and the base of it in #555.  Layers of #992/947 were painted on the edge of the bank, concentrating the colour in the crevices, and tones of #N55 were used on the rocks.

I loaded up my brush with #407 and painted a line to indicate the horizon, then washed out the colour in a streaky fashion along the shoreline.  I darkened the water nearer to the shore, using #555.  I wanted to create a bit of a fantasy sky, so painted some #407 in a way that suggested clouds (the white space left below), then added #991 to the sky, and a very pale version of #685.  Both of these colours were painted as reflections in the water as well.  I like to add some darker areas to clouds for just a touch of drama, so used a wash of #606 just above the horizon.  I used my grey Twintone marker to add in any details that were painted out, or simply areas that needed emphasis.  

My scene was cut out with the 5061 Square Double Stitched Dies, matted it on a pinkish/red square of cardstock, and attached a little off-center onto my patterned paper.  The finished card is 5 1/2" square.

Card #2 is featuring the 5748 - SF Cottage Creek Scenic Foundation from Summer 2023.  I had stamped this ages ago, and finally got it painted and made into a card.

I wanted to stick mainly with primary colours, so painted the house in #991, with the door and chimney in #847, and the roof in shades of #969 warmed with a touch of #947.  The same browns were used on the tree, and the stump from 5413 - WC Weathered Stumps that I added to the foreground using my stamp positioner.  #177/126 were painted as a wash on all the hillsides and grass, as well as with the foliage stamp from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage for the leaves, and the tiny grass stamp. The two pine trees from the set were used for the treeline in the background and the shrubs on either side of the door - in #177.  Using the gray Twintone marker, I drew in the stones on the walkway, and painted around them with #991.  The stones and rocks in the water were painted with touches of N55, 565 and 991.

Painting my way forward, I added #526 as the lighter blue in the water, keeping my strokes horizontal, and then I darkened the edges with #565.  565 and 847 were used to paint the birds, and N55 added some colour and shadows to the birdbath.  Masking the stump, I added the stem from 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set in 177/565 and the sprig from 5828 - WC Poinsettia Set in #407.  With the tiny sprig from 5009 set, I added green foliage to the base of the flowers, and around the house - and topped them with tiny white flowers painted with the Bleed Proof White paint.

Cape Cod Scene

 Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I've combined a couple of the newly released sets in my slimline project today.  I began by stamping one of the 5524 - WC Cape Cod Houses to the right of my scene using Tombow #565/969 onto some Canson XL Watercolour paper.  I used a pencil to sketch out where my horizon would be, and then placed the two shoreline stamps from 5523 - WC Bait Shop on either side, using the same markers.

I picked one of the medium sized images in the 5466 - WC Lighthouse Set and placed it on the shoreline behind the house, and added 5415 - WC Rocks Set to the foreground.  With my scene set, I started to add colour, picking it up off my palette.  A wash of #158 was added to all the grassy slopes, and shades of #992/969/N57/565 coloured in the shoreline and rocks, with deeper tones in all the crevices and shadowed areas.  I used #569 for the house, keeping the left side brighter, and the right more shadowed, and added #N57 to the roofs.  I created a weathered red shade by mixing #856/969 and added the red touches to the lighthouse, chimneys, door and boat.  I used a Navy Twintone marker to draw in the window panes and darken the lighthouse windows.  #593 was painted in the sky, leaving some white to suggest clouds, and it was painted in as the water as well.  I used the trees, grass and foliage from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage to add a few shrubs and trees.  

I always finish up by adding more shadows to the buildings, rocks and lighthouse, as well as some darker shades to the clouds.  A last minute addition (after the card was assembled!) was to add the 5473 - WC Seagull Set image in #N57.  I cut out the image with the 5463 Slimline Dies, and used the two largest dies to cut a thin grey frame to adhere on top.  I glued it all down to a red card base.  Be sure to check out the Art Impressions blog this Saturday to see what Dot & Tricia have to share.

WTF? (Who's Turning Fifty?)

 My lovely friend Sheri, decided to throw herself a month-long 50th birthday party!  Why not?  And her husband's big birthday follows shortly thereafter, so I made up a couple of square birthday cards featuring some of their favourite things.  Both are featuring Art Impressions stamps... I think she might recognize who they're from before she opens them up.

Sheri has a bit of a thing for lighthouses, so I pulled out some of the new Ai Watercolour stamps, this is the Lighthouse Set and Cliff Set, both coloured and painted with Tombow Dual Brush Markers.

And Matt is a bit of a golfer, so I had plenty of Ai golf images to choose from, and coloured this one up with Copic markers. 

Happy Birthday, Ballantynes!

Ai Lighthouse

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I've once again enjoyed painting with the 5466 - Lighthouse Set:

I chose one of the larger images in this set, and paired it with a large cliff from 5465 - Cliffs Set.  I began by colouring the cliff in #565/#969 and stamping it on my Canson XL Watercolor Paper.  I used my stamp positioner to place the lighthouse where I wanted it, using the same colours.  Because the cliff was not quite large enough for how I wanted my scene to look, I used one of the rock images from 5415 - WC Large Rocks set, colouring half of it, and stamping it in the lower right corner - it perfectly extended my cliff, and I drew in the top edge with a pencil.  I pulled out all of the colour from the stamped lines with a damp brush, then layered in shades of #N55/#969/#565 to create the browns, greys and shadows of the cliff.  I painted shades of #526 mixed with #565 to create the water and sky, adding a few grey cloudy areas.  #569 was painted in stripes on the lighthouse, and #837 added in the bright red roofs and accents.  I painted #N55 to the lower edges of the stones around the base of the lighthouse, keeping the tops white to suggest the round shape of the stones.  #177 was dabbed on to create a treed backdrop, and as a wash for the grass.  The seagulls from 5473 - Seagull Set were stamped in #N55.  I die cut my scene using the 5063 - A2 Double Stitched Rectangle Dies.

Be sure to check out the Art Impressions blog on Saturday to see what Dot & Tricia have created.  Happy painting!

New Nautical Art Impressions

 It's our last week of new releases of Art Impressions Watercolour stamps.  I have three of the new sets incorporated into my project today.

I stamped the largest image from 5465 - WC Cliffs Set on my Canson XL Watercolor Paper using #969/565 Tombow Dual Brush Markers, then did the same with my image from 5466 - WC Lighthouse Set.  Using the leaves from 5372 - WC Mini Foliage, I added some trees in #177/249, and added a wash of green to the grass area.  With #493, I painted in the line of the water, and a wash of it beside the cliffs, and then dabbed some onto the sky to define where my clouds would be.  I used #N55 and #565 to create my stormy sky, and also painted them into the crevices of the cliff.  To warm up the cliffs and rocks, I added #992 and #969.  I used the grey and blue to paint in shadows on the lighthouse and cottage, and to darken the windows, and then painted in #856 mixed with a little #969 to make a duller red for the roofs and chimneys.

I added #528 and #565 to the water to give it some deeper tones, and then with my #N55, I added the seagulls from 5473 - WC Seagull Set to the sky.  This makes a great masculine card!