Gnomes!

 I have a whimsical scene for this week's Watercolour Weekend post on the Art Impressions blog:

I stamped my sleeping gnome from 5785 Gnomes Set onto my Canson XL Watercolour Paper, masked him off, and stamped the stump from 4871 WC Rustic Container Set behind him.  I positioned the mushrooms from 5788 Whimsical Mushrooms on either side, and added the leaves from 5795 Berries in various spots.  Three different flowers from 5794 Whimsical Flowers were tucked in behind, and finally my little bee from 5561 - Birds and Bugs Set.  For all of my elements, I used Tombow Dual Brush Markers #969/565.

From my palette, I painted tones of brown (#947/969/899) onto the stump - the image shows you where the crevices are, so those areas are the darkest, while the more rounded areas catch more of the light, so they are the lightest.  For the toadstools and his hat, I started with #856, layering it to get darker tones, leaving the upper areas as the lightest shades.  The yellow toadstools and his shirt were painted with #991/993.  I wanted the leaves to be bright, so I started with #126, then mixed #249/493 to get a teal green shade for the darker areas.  #533/565 were painted on all the flowers - just as shadows on the white ones.  #526 was painted on his trousers, and #N55 on his shoes.  The bee was done with #N55/993 and a touch of blue on his wings.  The small grass from 4051 - Foliage Set 1 was stamped in #177, and painted out as a wash.  Finally a wash of #493 was painted in as the sky.  I added the sentiment from the Gnomes Set in Versafine Onyx Black ink, and added a few dots to my scene with my navy Twintone marker.  I cut out the scene with 5061 Square Double Stitched Dies, and mounted it onto my background paper.

Diane & Tricia will be sharing posts this week also.  Happy painting!

Peeking Animals

 Peeking Animals is one of the new Art Impressions Watercolor stamp sets that is being released today on the Ai blog.  I made a quick 4 1/2" square card using the bunny & squirrel along with the crate from the Rustic Containers set:

There was a little masking involved here!  I started by stamping the stone from the Southwest set, and did not colour the top edge so that I could place my squirrel there with some help from my Stamp Positioner.  I masked them both and placed the crate, again with my positioner, and finally stamped the bunny... with my positioner.  I used flowers from the Flower Set and Mini Flower Set, and greenery from Foliage Set 4

I went in with layers of colour again and again, building them up gradually, and am quite happy with my end result!  I paid a lot of attention to shadows on this one, keeping them subtle, but aiming for contrast between the images.  Check out the blog to see what Dot & Tricia are sharing today.

4th Mini Critter Watercolour

A horizontal card today using the sweet deer from the WC Mini Critter Set from Art Impressions:

 I put him in front of the stump from the WC Rustic Containers set.  I really love painting this stump!  You can really go to town adding shadows to the crevices, and pulling out different tones in the wood.

I die cut my image out with the Hexagon Double Stitched Dies, matting it with a larger shape cut out with the dies, and elevating it with pop dots.

Rustic Watercolour

 I'm combining old & new Ai watercolor sets today.  When I saw the cowboy boot in the WC Rustic Container Set (Sku #4871), I knew that I wanted to pair it with Southwest (Sku #4763).  I ended up just using the rocks from Southwest... but I'll be revisiting the boot with the cacti at a later date.  What I did add, was a sprinkling of wildflowers using WC Flower Set 2 (Sku #4868) the tiniest foliage from WC Foliage Set 2 New (Sku #4867), and the grass from Foliage Set (Sku #4051):

 I started by stamping the boot, masked it - then added the rocks and flowers.  I used my damp #6 Art Impressions paintbrush to soften the lines and pull out the colour.  I scribbled my markers onto my palette, and then picked up the colour with my paintbrush to add a little more depth to the boot and to colour in the sky.  I "almost" sketched in some mountains in the background... but chickened out!  Sometimes you just need to leave well enough alone :o)

Check out the range of watercolour sets available on the Art Impressions website here.  Happy Painting!

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Watercolour Bunnies

 The new 2017 WC Bunnies Set (Sku #4874) is such a great new addition to the Ai Watercolor collection!  I love being able to add a few animals in with the foliage:

 I stamped the stump from WC Rustic Container Set first, then masked it and stamped my bunnies and the foliage around it.  The flowers are from Wooden Chair Mini Set (Sku #4876); the small greenery is from WC Foliage Ste 2 New (Sku #4867) and the grass is from Foliage Set (Sku #4051).  I drew in the flower stems myself.  After stamping, I used my damp #6 Art Impressions paintbrush to soften the lines, and pull out the colour.  I painted in a soft sky, and then using the leftover paint on my palette - I spattered it lightly all over the image.

On the inside I stamped "Celebrate Spring" from the Celebrate Spring MTF set (Sku #4849).  This would also make a great Easter card. I used Marvy Markers on some smooth watercolour paper for my project.  Happy painting!

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