Village Stroll

This lovely scenic stamp from Penny Black is called ‘stroll’ and it gives you a hint about why it has been so quiet on the blog lately. No I haven’t been in Europe strolling down pretty cobblestone streets but I have been on a break doing a little strolling with family while visiting several pretty places in Ontario and Quebec.

When I searched for a reference photo to guide my choice of colours my first search gave me a very similar English street, lovely but rather monochrome. I will try that approach next. Once I put Danish village street in the search I found something more colourful which ended up being the inspiration for this panel. As usual I worked on Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper.

My approach was to use a stamp positioner and stamp first the cobblestone path, the trees, the lamp-post and then each house, all in distress inks. I then used a paintbrush and water to blend the colour in each stamped area. When the blended ink dried I stamped over the road and path with archival and amalgam inks to provide outlines. I was aiming for a sketched look so I used a permanent black marker to add outlines to all the houses as well. I fiddled back and forth between blending more distress inks and adding more outlines until I was happy with the image. To add sky I blended whatever blue ink was already in my blending brush! (looks like it could have been faded jeans but who knows?)

My recent strolls took me through the very pretty town of Perth, Ontario as well as L’Anse St Jean, Tadoussac, Quebec City and Mont Tremblant in Quebec. Where have you been strolling lately?

The L’Anse St Jean marina at 8:30 in the morning just before we took a boat tour of the Saguenay Fjord.