Santa's Sleigh

It's my last post of the year for Art Impressions!  We'll be back in early 2022, with plenty more Watercolour inspiration.  This is my project that will be on the Ai blog this Saturday for the Watercolour Weekend.  I created a small holiday scene today, using the sleigh from the recently released 5467 - Snowmen Set:

I coloured the sleigh in my Tombow Dual Brush markers #969/565, and stamped it onto my Bristol Smooth cardstock.  I did the same with my elf from 5125 - WC Elves Set, positioning him above the sleigh, and slightly forward - and then sketched in the toy bag and presents around him with a pencil.  I wanted the bag to be bulging over the sides, and also needed a bit of a shelf for him to perch on, so I kept that in mind when I drew the curves.  For the elf's skin tone, I painted in #850, and #947 for his hair, then for all the greens in my scene, I used #177, the reds are #847, and the yellows are #993 - adding several layers of each to achieve the darker shades.  For the toy sack, I mixed #249 and #565 on my palette to create the teal/blue shade, again adding layers to achieve the darker colours.  For the sleigh, I mainly pulled out the colour from the stamped lines, and added a few tones of #177 and #565 for contrast and shadows.  I lightly painted in a sky and snow shadows with #565.

Since they were drawn in pencil, the presents needed more definition, so I used my Navy Twintone Marker to trace the shape of each package, and redefined any other lines in my scene that needed it.  This is it for 2021 for me on the Art Impressions blog, so I wanted to thank all of you for viewing our projects, and leaving likes & comments on social media.  Happy Holidays, and we'll see you soon in 2022!

Quick & Easy

Our Watercolour Weekend theme on the Art Impressions blog this weekend is "Quick & Easy".  For me, that means a simple scene.  I often reach for more than a dozen stamps to put my scenes together, but this one took just 4:

I stamped the larger toadstool from the 5125 - WC Elves Set onto my Canson XL Watercolor Paper, colouring it first in my Tombow Dual Brush Marker #565 Deep Blue, and then #969 Chocolate.  Using my stamp positioner, I added the rounded door from 5056 - WC Fairy Doors Set in the same colours. With my damp #1 paintbrush, I pulled the colour out of the lines, in towards the middle of the image.  Using a pencil, I drew in the spots, then painted them with a mixture of #076 Green Ochre and a bit of #126 Light Olive on the lower edges.  I used #346 Sea Green, carefully painting the top of the toadstool, starting with a diluted wash, and layering colour several times to achieve the darker teal shades at the edges and bottom.  For the undersides and stem, I mixed varying shades of #565 & #969 together on my palette to add streaks of greys and browns, and darkening the lines of the image, painting in the door frame the darkest.  #026 Yellow Gold was painted on the door.  The door stamp only has 3 stones, so I painted in the suggestion of several more, having them trail away at the bottom of my scene, and added a bit of shading to each of them.  With the two tiny grasses from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4, I stamped them both several times on either side of the stem in #076, and painted in a bit of the same colour as a grassy base.  #493 Reflex Blue was painted in as the sky.

I used 5065 - Oval Double Stitched Dies to cut out my image, matted it with grey, and adhered it to my patterned base with 3D adhesive dots.

Watercolor Weekend - Elf Magic

The elves are running amok amidst the presents under the tree...  It's my latest offering for Art Impressions' Watercolor Weekend:

 There was a lot of pre-planning on scrap paper for this one!  I wanted to use all four elves from the 5125 - WC Elves Set, so I played around with positioning based on their poses and the angle of how their heads were tilted, until I got something that I could work with.  I also wanted them to be in and around the presents, so had to figure out the shape of the parcels, while still leaving room for the branch to hang down.  I positioned all four elves on the same block to ensure they were placed correctly, and coloured them first in Tombow #565 Deep Blue, and then #969 Chocolate - stamped them off on scrap paper and then onto my Ranger Watercolor Paper.  With a pencil and ruler, I drew in the presents, and lightly drew a line where I wanted the branch to be.

 The elves are painted with #837 Wine Red, #177 Dark Jade and #969 for their shoes.  A touch of #850 Flesh for their skin tone, and #026 Yellow Gold and #969 Chocolate for their hair.  The presents are painted with #026, #565, #969 and #N65 Cool Grey.  I layered the colour to get the darker shades on some sides of the boxes, and went in with the fine points of the markers to draw the crisp edges of the boxes in.  I dove into my Christmas wrap to dig out a bow, and loosely sketched it in on the large present, painting it in with #565 Deep Blue.  With the pine bough from 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 New, and my #249 Hunter Green marker, I repeatedly stamped it to create the tree branch.  After dabbing it lightly with my damp #1 paintbrush, I went back in with the fine point to draw in a few needles, and darken a few areas.  I picked up #565 from my palette, and painted a faint blue wash in the background, and also used it to add shadows in and around the elves & presents. Since this paper has a fair bit of texture, some of the definition of the elves had been lost in the stamping, so I used my TT41 - TwinTone Marker - 41 Chocolate to redraw the outline of the elves.

 The image is die cut with one of the 5063 - Rectangle A2 Double Stitched Dies.  I wanted a softer edge to my scene, so I used blending brushes with two shades of Distress Oxide Inks (Evergreen Bough & Blueprint Sketch) to shade the outside of my rectangle giving it a bit of a soft focused look.  I matted it with some dark blue cardstock and adhered it with pop dots onto my plaid card base, then wrapped it with an organdy bow.  A few sparkles liven it up a little!

The Elves Set isn't a Christmas stamp set, but they work perfectly when you colour them up right!  Dive into your supplies and see if you can use something non-Christmassy for a holiday card.  Be sure to check out the Art Impressions blog on Saturday to see what Dot & Tricia have to share.

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