A night of woodland beauty
Posted: August 29, 2016 Filed under: Prancers, Stamped Landscapes, Tutorial, Watercolour, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks, Tutorial, video 18 Comments
This week I am sharing my top three tree stamps from Penny Black’s new ‘Magic of the Season’ release. You know I love tree stamps so you wont be surprised that they were the first image I looked for when the new release arrived. The pretty spruce silhouette stamp immediately caught my eye and I knew it would be in my top three tree stamps. I have four stamped landscape cards to share this week and this little tree stamp features twice, today in a night time snowscape and tomorrow in a day time scene.
You will probably recognise another favourite tree stamp of mine in the background of this scene, it’s the little tree from the ‘Prancers’ set. I created a video to show you how I made this scene which features some watercolour effects along side some pigment ink stamping. I chose to pair pigment inks, which are waterproof, with watercolour painting so I could have pretty blends in the sky and snow but sharp tree images in the foreground and background.
Supplies
https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?1552642647875
More Glimpses
Posted: August 18, 2016 Filed under: CAS, Nature's Silhouettes, Stamped Landscapes, Woodland Beauty | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 13 Comments
I have two more cards made from my experiments with new stamps on watercolour strips. Both today’s strips and yesterday’s were splattered with masking fluid before I started. For the deer card I also added a circle of masking tape before painting the sky in blue, purple, pink and yellow watercolour paint. I painted the horizon edge in blue and tilted the strip up so the paint flowed toward the moon, one colour blending into another
Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and tape then stamped the branches from ‘woodland beauty’ and the deer from ‘ nature’s silhouettes’ in black before painting some shadows in front of the deer’s legs.
I used a similar process for the single tree scene, painting the sky first while leaving some unpainted paper at the bottom to be the snowbanks. Once the sky dried I removed the masking fluid and positioned a post-it mask below the horizon and stamped the single tree from the ‘woodland beauty’ set over the mask. Once I removed the mask I painted shadows on the snow in the foreground and behind the tree.
The four little panels in today’s and yesterday’s posts are a taste of the new stamps and the types of scenes I expect to be creating over the next few months. I really enjoyed working small; have you tried it?
Supplies:
Stamps: Nature’s Silhouettes, Woodland Beauty, Joy Filled (PB)
Paints: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolour paints
Inks: Versafine Onyx black ink (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah epic black cardstock
Also: masking fluid, masking tape
Our graduate
Posted: June 27, 2016 Filed under: Pastoral, Spread Cheer, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps 14 Comments
A week ago we had the privilege of watching our older daughter graduate from university. She has worked very hard, achieved excellent results and is off to undertake a Master’s in September. I chose her card from a selection I made last year; it could be a sunset or sunrise and the bird is flying off into it. My first chick is leaving the nest! As you can imagine I am very proud of her but not looking forward to her being miles away. It will be a great excuse to travel and see her though.
The background sunrise was painted wet into wet so I could blend the pink and yellow. I lifted out some yellow in the centre to make it brighter to look like the sun. As you lift the colour out it is important to rinse your brush and remove some of the water; you don’t want to return colour to your panel or create a watermark by dropping in extra water. I waited for the background to dry before stamping grey and black foliage in the foreground and a bird in the sky.
Supplies:
Stamps: Pastoral, Spread cheer (PB)
Inks: Hydrus Watercolour (Dr Ph Martin) I can’t remember which grey and black inks I used?!?
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, grey cardstock, Neenah solar white cardstock
Autumn Mist
Posted: June 2, 2016 Filed under: Shade Canopy, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Tombow dual brush pens, Tsukineko Memento inks 8 Comments
Don’t worry I am not switching over to fall cards. I just happen to have made a card in autumn colours with a misty look about it so the line from Puff the Magic Dragon sprang to mind. I created both of today’s cards with the ‘shade canopy’ stamp from Penny Black. The little scenes are framed with the white edge made when I tape the watercolour paper down with painter’s tape.
I used markers to ink the stamp and for the backgrounds on both cards. The autumn card is coloured with memento markers and the summer one with tombow dual brush pens.
It is possible to get quite a lot of definition in the foliage by inking the stamp and adding little or no water or, as I did, use more water on the stamp and achieve a looser more impressionistic look. On the summer card I coloured the sky and hill first then added the tree over the top. For the fall card I painted the sky last, adding it around the foliage.
Supplies:
Stamps: Shade Canopy, Words of Kindess(PB)
Inks: Tangelo, Potter’s Clay, Espresso Truffle, Northern Pine Memento markers Versafine Onyx black (Tsukineko), 173, 452, 126, 228 dual brush pens (Tombow)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Spring in the city
Posted: May 29, 2016 Filed under: Prancers, Skyline, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Memento inks 9 Comments
I created this card way back in the dead of winter when I was using the ‘soft whisper’ tree stamp to create snowy scenes. I set it aside and it got buried under other projects. I need to post it now as Ottawa seems to have had its 15 minutes of spring and marched straight in to summer.
There is a lot going on in the scene so I had to think through my order of operations. I used the MISTI to stamp the tree several times adding black, grey and pink ink separately. When the tree was finished I stamped again with versamark then embossed in clear so I could easily paint a wash over the tree. I kept the variegated wash in the top half of the panel merging from blue to pink to apricot then stamped a skyline of grey buildings below it. I filled in the space around the buildings with pale grey ink then added black trees in the foreground.
I hope you are enjoying some pretty scenery where you are.
Stamps: Soft Whisper, Skyline, Prancers (PB)
Inks: Memento Angel pink, London fog, Tuxedo black, Versamark (Tsukineko)
Paint: Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolours
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, black cardstock
Also: clear embossing powder
Shaded Canopy
Posted: May 2, 2016 Filed under: Shade Canopy, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 3 Comments
‘Shaded Canopy’ is another lovely (and versatile) stamp from the new ‘A Little Bit of Sunshine’ release. My scene today could be spring or summer depending on where you live. When I first moved to Canada I could not believe how bright green the summers were. Where I lived in Australia I was used to pale muted colours in summer because everything became very dry.
I used distress stains and inks for stamping and for painting the background leaving a space around the scene to frame it then popping up the panel on the same colour card base.
I am teaching a class this month in Ottawa where we will use this stamp to create four cards, one for each season.
Supplies:
Stamps: Shade Canopy, Words of Kindess(PB)
Inks: Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn, Vintage Photo distress stains (Ranger)Versafine Onyx black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Terraced Lane
Posted: April 28, 2016 Filed under: Stamped Landscapes, Terraced Lane, Watercolour | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains, Speedball elegant writer, Tombow dual brush pens 13 Comments
If you enjoy scenery stamps like I do there are a couple of beautiful designs in the new ‘A Little Bit of Sunshine’ release. This one, ‘Terraced Lane’ is a detailed stamp depicting both trees and steps. I will be trying this one in a range of colour schemes.
These two cards display two ways to approach such a detailed stamp. On the panel above I stamped first in vintage photo distress ink then added colour with a mowed lawn distress marker, the black elegant writer pen and a tiny bit of blue marker in the sky. I blended the green and black with water and a paintbrush to fill the scene with some colour then framed the top left corner free hand with vintage photo ink and some diluted black ink.
To create this sunset version I worked in the opposite order creating the background sunset with tombow dual brush pens first then once it was totally dry, I stamped the image in brown over the top. I finished the scene off by blending a few areas around the steps but left most of the stamping sharp.
Supplies:
Stamps: Terraced Lane (PB)
Inks: Mowed Lawn, Vintage Photo distress stains (Ranger) Elegant writer pen (Speedball) dark plum 679, rhodamine red 725, pink rose 703, light ochre 991 dual brush pens(Tombow)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, brown cardstock, Neenah natural white cardstock
Moonlit snowscape
Posted: January 20, 2016 Filed under: Soft Whisper, Spread Cheer, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Penny Black stamps 24 Comments
I have more winter scenery for you today because, let’s face it, a snowy landscape can be so very pretty. On the snow scapes I posted last week I let the sky and trees blend a little; today’s technique is a little different. To create this one I masked the moon with frisket film and splattered masking fluid first then painted the sky with Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolours. One thing I am enjoying about these liquid watercolours is they are colourfast once dry. I painted the sky first, removed the moon mask, added the background trees to the wet sky but waited until everything dried before adding the foreground tree. That way I was able to add the foreground tree then blend colour and add water to the trunk without having it bleed into the sky. The whole tree stamp contains more twigs and some blossom; I just inked what I wanted with markers for the initial impression then switched to paint and a paintbrush to finish. Once the whole panel was dry I removed the masking fluid and added some more white snow with a white wink of stella pen.
I have quite the lovely array of floral stamps at my finger tips now because the new Penny Black release is imminent but the scenery outside my window is still calling to be stamped and painted. Once the new release is available from PB you will definitely see some flowery goodness here to make you dream of spring.
Stamps: Soft Whisper, Spread Cheer (PB)
Inks: Memento Paris dusk, Expresso truffle, Tuxedo black (Tsukineko)
Paint: Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolours
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, black cardstock
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid, Grafix frisket film, White wink of stella
Winter Weather
Posted: January 16, 2016 Filed under: Nature's Friend, Soft Whisper, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Ranger Distress stains 11 Comments
Remember back in December when I kept mentioning the lack of snow around here? There wasn’t just a lack of snow there was really no winter weather at all. Well, that is over; we have snow, ice and it’s cold outside! The winter weather has inspired me to create some snowy scenes.
I stamped and painted these two winter scenes beginning both times with a splatter of masking fluid to create the look of falling snow. Once the masking fluid was dry I stamped the large tree trunk stamp, ‘Soft Whisper’ in brown and then added some more masking fluid on the top of the branches (on the snowier card) and added extra definition to the branches and trunk with light brown, dark brown and black paint.
On one card I stamped the trees in green distress stain on the other I painted trees in brown brusho. It was interesting to limit my colour palette to brown and blue for one card and the additional green on the other card. I added the sky and snow banks after the branches so there is some bleeding of brown into blue here and there.
I was interested to read the comments on my recent gelli plate post; I will be trying the different techniques described when I get a chance. I am also hoping to share more art journal pages this year including the one I started yesterday.
Stamps: Soft Whisper, Nature’s friend (PB)
Inks: Black Soot, Gathered Twigs, Forest Moss, Broken China distress inks and stains (Ranger)
Paint: Colourcraft Brusho
Cardstock: Canson 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Also: Winsor & Newton masking fluid
My Favourites from 2015
Posted: December 30, 2015 Filed under: Bister, Brusho, Hand drawn, Hand lettered, Penny Black, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Penny Black creative dies, Penny Black stamps 17 CommentsThank you for your response to the viewer’s top ten from 2015 and thank you for the encouragement to keep sharing here. I love reading your comments and visiting your blogs and I am hoping to respond to your comments more in the coming year because I enjoy the conversations that develop from time to time. Sometimes they are about techniques and products but often they are about memories, traditions and experiences. It is great getting to know you better.
I whittled my favourites down to 10 but there were a few more I wanted to include. The pink one I shared yesterday was a favourite but it already made one list! The cards included below are in the order I originally posted them and a click on the photo will take you to the original post.
This one is a favourite for what is happening in the background as well as the foreground.
I used a die cut mask for this one and managed to make the leaves look like eucalyptus which of course reminded me of Australia.
I worked on this one in portrait orientation then once I was finished realised it looked better landscape.
I love Queen Anne’s Lace so it is not surprising to find some in my top 10.
This is just one of those watercolours that worked above and beyond my hopes and I will never manage to do the same again! My mother has grown roses this colour so that made it extra special.
A simple design and some bister made me happy. (and of course you can never have too many tree stamps!)
After I had created quite a few bister cards I borrowed some brusho and the love affair with watercolour powders continued. “Finding” a garden in a random pattern of brusho was so very satisfying.
One of my goals this year was to paint more from scratch. I felt like I had not done much but when I looked through this year’s posts I saw some that were entirely my own design, like the one above, as well as some where I combined some stamping with some hand painting as in the one below.
My recent series ‘Stamping the stories’ struck a chord with many of you and I enjoyed the conversations it generated about favourite stories.
I only just posted this one but it is definitely a favourite. I will be doing more with this vintage colour scheme and hand lettering in 2016 so stay tuned.
Thanks for indulging me as I shared some of my favourites. They certainly represent some of the techniques and products I have enjoyed this year as well as some of the subjects I love to include in my projects.
Heather Telford 