The Sweetest Sound
Posted: February 2, 2015 Filed under: The Sweetest Sound, Tutorial, Watercolour 13 Comments
Now that the new Penny Black release, Bring on the Happy, has been revealed, the design team is sharing projects and tutorials featuring all the wonderful new products. I am kicking things off with a photo tutorial using ‘the sweetest sound’ brushstroke stamp. Brushstroke stamps will be featured all this week on the PB blog.
To create the card above I started with a panel of my favourite watercolour paper from Fabriano. I splattered a fine mist of masking fluid over it and let that dry before taping it down on all sides. Next I painted water onto the right hand side of panel. I pressed Memento Nautical Blue and Cantaloupe inks onto an acrylic block as a palette then picked up some ink with a paintbrush and dropped it onto the wet paper. I kept adding ink with a large brush until I was happy with the background colour.
While the paper was still wet I inked only part of a branch on ‘the sweetest sound’ stamp with espresso truffle and olive grove memento markers. I stamped it in the top right and bottom right corners of panel and let the inks bleed into the wet background.
I spritzed the inked stamp with water then stamped onto the watercolour panel.
Using a water brush I blended the colour on the birds and added detail to the eyes with the espresso truffle marker. I then covered the birds with my hand and spritzed water over the branches to make the image bleed.
To finish I splattered olive grove and nautical blue ink around the panel. I added a little more definition to the branches with the fine tip of the memento markers. When the panel was dry I removed the masking tape and rubbed off the masking fluid before adding the sentiment from ‘snippets’ set.
I completed the card by matting the panel in a green then popping up the panel on a cold pressed (textured) watercolour paper card base.
Thanks for dropping by. I hope you are enjoying the new release; I will be sharing more projects with brushstroke stamps later this week.
The new One Layer Simplicity Challenge is up on the blog and is hosted by Susan this month. Pop over and check it out.
Supplies:
Stamps: the sweetest sound, snippets(PB)
Inks: Nautical Blue, Cantaloupe, Olive Grove, Espresso Truffle, Bamboo Leaves Memento ink (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper, Strathmore cold pressed watercolour paper, green cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
Heather Telford 
A beautiful card Heather and I love the way you use the inks and make gorgeous blends with tbe colours. The birds are definitely a must have as they are so cute and pretty. x
Wow, this is sooo soooo beautiful!!!! I’m thinking that the tiny dark blue flecks (mostly on the upper right hand side of the card) are the masking fluid results? How did you get them blue, as masking off the watercolor paper usually shows white when rubbed off? Thanks in advance, I would love to know how you achieved that!!!!!!
Hi Renee,
The dark blue flecks are splattered ink. When I had finished blending the stamped areas I flicked some nautical blue and olive grove ink over the panel. You are right the masking fluid shows white and you can see some tiny white spots on the panel too.
What a beautiful card! And your explanations of what you did are so very helpful especially for those of us who want to try things out artfully. Thank you so much for your very informative posts and gorgeous cards.
Love this art work. Thank you for sharing your talent with us
This is lovely and a great explanation . Thank you
Gorgeous bluebirds…and thanks for the tutorial. So very helpful to see what results with each step that you took. Finally got some of the Fabriano w/c paper, but not had a chance to try it yet. TFS the beautiful card and the instructions on this fantastic new PB stamp. Hugs
The bird stamp is gorgeous with this watercolour look. I also like that you left the border around the panel with its little colour “leaks”, that just adds to the overall watercolour look.
Heather, I don’t think I’ve told you lately that I love you!! Hugs, Darnell
Gorgeous as always. love your work.
Gorgeous, Heather! Thanks for telling us how you did it.
Love your card made using “The Sweetest Sound” stamp. I just bought it, but haven’t used it yet. I’m wondering why the bird on the right has extra feather hanging down. It looks kinda funny, don’t ya think? Joy
I have just discovered your blog and just absolutely love your watercoloring technique! I am brand new to watercoloring so I am studying your images constantly. The non exacting technique is so unlike my past style of “coloring in the lines” so this will be a challenge that I am looking forward to. From what I am seeing is that not only Momento Inks work but Distress Inks, Acrylic Ink and bonafide watercolors work well with being diluted with water with this technique, correct? Well, I am enjoying every entry on your blog and thanks so much for sharing your creativity.