Colouring on silk
Posted: July 19, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, Delightful | Tags: Brusho, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Fabrico markers 20 Comments
Recently I got together with some friends to do some artsy crafty playing. One of my friends inspired me to experiment rather than work on my ‘to do’ list as I usually do. We decided to stamp on a variety of fabrics with a variety of inks. This is one of my experiments using some silk left over from my bridesmaid’s blouses. I spritzed a piece of silk with water then sprinkled brusho over it. I kept spritzing and sprinkling the powder and watched the colours spread and blend. Once it dried it was paler as is often the case with watercolour and especially on fabric.
I stayed firmly within my comfort zone where colours were concerned and played with blues, purples and a touch of burgandy. I used the MISTI to stamp the ‘Delightful’ stamp in Encore silver ink as I didn’t know how many times I would need to stamp in order to get a good impression. Once the silver ink was dry I coloured the petals and leaves with fabrico markers from Tsukineko. The markers did a beautiful job both laying down colour and blending with each other. The colour did bleed outside the lines here and there; I will need to get used to how much ink and how close to the lines I need to colour.
I enjoyed trying a different colouring medium and substrate and of course, joining in with the Daily Marker 30 day colouring challenge!
Supplies:
Stamps: Delightful (PB)
Inks: Encore Silver (Tsukineko)
Brusho: Turquoise, Ost. Blue, Ultramarine (Colourcraft)
Markers: Fabrico skymist, ultramarine, burgandy (Tsukineko)
Also: white silk, blue cardstock, white textured cardstock
Pencil colouring
Posted: July 16, 2016 Filed under: Glee | Tags: Faber-Castell Polychromos Colour Pencil, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 7 Comments
I continue to grab opportunities to participate in the 30 day colouring challenge and have once again used the new “glee” stamp from Penny Black. I used a combination of brusho and liquid metals on my earlier card; for this one I pulled out my Faber-Castell polychromos set. I blended pencil with pencil rather than use a liquid blender or blending pencil. I chose two browns for the centre of the flowers, a yellow and two burgandies for the petals and two greens for the leaves. To blend pencil with pencil I generally colour with my lighter shade first then over the top with my darker shade and then blend again with the lighter shade. Once all my colouring was done I shaded lightly around all the images with a purple pencil. I chose purple because it is opposite yellow on the colour wheel; positioning contrasting colours next to each other helps to make them stand out more than they would otherwise. I stuck with the purple-gold combo when I added a mat and a sentiment,
Supplies
Stamps: Glee, Words of Kindness (PB)
Ink: Versamark ink, Versafine onyx black (Tsukineko)
Pencils: raw umber, burnt sienna, dark cadmium yellow, middle cadmium red, dark red, earth green yellowish, olive green yellowish, purple violet (Faber Castell)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, gold and purple cardstock
Also: gold embossing powder
Shimmery colouring
Posted: July 12, 2016 Filed under: Glee | Tags: Brusho, liquid metals, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day colouring challenge continues and, although I haven’t coloured everyday I am enjoying focusing on different colouring techniques. I used a mix of brusho and liquid metals for this card. The brusho colours are vibrant and the liquid metals sparkly so the combination is just like the shimmery butterflies I created for my journal page.
I started with an outline image embossed in gold then mixed a little turquoise brusho with platinum liquid metal to paint the petals. I also mixed cobalt blue with platinum and added touches of the darker blue to some of the petals. The flower centres were painted with a mix of liquid metal yellow gold and orange brusho and the leaves with a mix of yellow gold liquid metal and leaf green and cobalt blue brusho. I have coloured this stamp, ‘Glee’, using another technique which I will share later in the week once I have turned the panel into a card.
Supplies
Stamps: Glee, Happy Snippets (PB)
Ink: Versamark ink, (Tsukineko) salty ocean distress ink (Ranger)
Paints: Brusho turquoise, cobalt, yellow, orange, leaf green (Colourcraft) and liquid metal yellow gold, platinum (Ken Oliver)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, blue cardstock
Also: gold embossing powder, blue ribbon
More butterflies
Posted: July 9, 2016 Filed under: butterfly charmer, Watercolour | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 17 Comments
I didn’t intend for this week to be all about butterflies but that’s the way it turned out. To create this panel I coloured the little butterflies on the butterfly charmer stamp using what I am calling the colour drop method. I don’t think it is anything new but I needed a name for this little technique. I stamped the large stamp with wild honey distress ink then painted the butterflies with water one at a time. The water blended the wild honey ink to give each butterfly a warm yellow tone but it also gave me a pool to drop another colour into. I took colour from my water colour pencils and dropped it onto the wet wings and let it spread into the whole wet area. I moved from wing to wing so they could dry a little before adding a second colour to an adjacent area. I did video the process and have sped it up and posted it on my instagram
When the wings were all dry I drew over the butterfly bodies, legs and antennae with either a dark brown watercolour pencil or a distress marker then blended the brown with a very small paintbrush and a wee bit of water. The finished panels remind me of botanical books.
The first one I did using this method is below. I added colour to the little butterflies also and filled in the background.
I used Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils over rusty hinge distress ink for this one
You can see on the close up that you don’t lose all the definition of the stamped image when you paint over it; there are faint outlines of pattern underneath.
Thanks for dropping in; have a great weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly charmer, Happy Snippets (PB)
Dies: Wishes
Inks: wild honey distress ink, rusty hinge distress ink (Ranger) Versafine vintage sepia (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, brown cardstock, green cardstock
Also: Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils (Faber-Castell)
Limberlost card
Posted: July 8, 2016 Filed under: Butterfly trio, Color Burst, Time, Wondrous | Tags: color burst, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress stains 28 Comments
Earlier in the week I posted my art journal page inspired by ‘A Girl of the Limberlost‘. After completing the page I wanted to create a card with a similar feel. When I created my first book inspired journal page (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) I created the card first then expanded the scene into a double page. This time I am working the other way round.
I created the butterflies the same way as shown on the video but directly on the watercolour panel. I used gold embossing powder and changed the colour palette for the wings. I stamped the butterflies again on label paper and cut them out to make masks to protect the painted butterflies while I stamped and coloured the background foliage. This panel was my colouring for day#3 of Kathy Racoosin’s 30 day colouring challenge.
I used the large leafy outline stamp, Wondrous, inked with forest moss distress stain to fill the background with leaves then painted forest moss stain in and around the leaves. I painted extra layers around the edges of the butterflies to lift them a little. When that all dried I stamped on of the new ‘time’ stamps and spritzed it so it would bleed into the background. To finish the background I splattered some dark brown stain and some water.
The panel was already quite large so I decided not to mat it in a co-ordinating colour. Instead I chose to string some beads on a gold thread and attach that down the side of the card. Thank you for all your generous comments this week. I am thrilled you enjoy what I share here and always love to hear from you. I was very interested to read that several of you enjoyed ‘A Girl of the Limberlost” as much as I did.
Supplies
Stamps: Butterfly trio, Time, Wondrous (PB)
Ink: Versamark ink, (Tsukineko) vintage photo, forest moss distress ink and stain
Paints: Colorburst alizarin crimson, merlot, tangerine, phthalo green and liquid metal yellow gold, iron oxide (Ken Oliver)
Paper: hot pressed Fabriano watercolour paper, Neenah Epic black cardstock, vellum
Also: gold embossing powder, gold thread, seed beads
Limberlost Journal page & video
Posted: July 6, 2016 Filed under: Art Journal, Butterfly trio, Muse, Script, Tutorial, Verdure | Tags: Art Journal, color burst, Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks, Tutorial, video 21 Comments
It is over a year ago since I completed a page in my art journal so it was a good thing when I was asked to create an art journal video for the Penny Black blog. The latest release from PB, Artistic Endeavors includes some beautiful stamps designed with journaling in mind. The page I created last year was a Narnia page so I decided to stick with the literary theme and make another book inspired page. My inspiration this time is ‘A Girl of the Limberlost’ by Gene Stratton-Porter. I read the book quite a few years ago but really enjoyed it and could see the butterfly and figure stamp working well on such a page.
The main character, Elnora, catches moths to sell to collectors in order to support herself through high school. She lives on the edge of the Limberlost, a forested and swampy region where she finds the moths she later sells. I know these stamps depict butterflies but I chose to exercise some artistic license.
Because I wanted to watercolour both the butterflies and the girl I stamped them on watercolour paper, painted them, then cut them out so I could attach them to the page.
To add texture to the background I glued torn strips of tissue paper all over it then did partial stamping with a script stamp and a leafy stamp.
Journal pages take me a long time so despite the fact that I sped up just about all the footage, it is still on the lengthy side. I hope you enjoy it and, maybe like me, get inspired to pull out a neglected art journal. Or perhaps you’ll go and check the book out of the library…
Edited to add: In the video I mentioned learning a lot from Vicky Papaioannou; her videos are here:https://www.youtube.com/user/vickypgr
Supplies:
Stamps: Muse, Script, Verdure, Butterfly trio (PB)
Art Journal: Fabriano 24cm x 15.5cm
Art supplies: Faber-Castell gel medium , Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black ink , clear embossing powder, Ken Oliver Colorburst powders (merlot, violet, ultramarine blue), Ken Oliver liquid metals (platinum, verdi gris, ultramarine blue), Faber-Castell Stampers big brush pen, lead pencil, Pigma 0.3 micron pen, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils (medium flesh, brown ochre, juniper green, ochre, burnt ochre, venetian red, delft blue, warm grey 3), tissue paper, Dr Ph Martin Hydrus liquid watercolours (Hansa yellow light, phthalo blue, phthalo green, carbon black) Art glitter designer dries clear adhesive, Ranger distress micro glaze.
Let the colouring begin
Posted: July 5, 2016 Filed under: Brusho, Sweet Perfume | Tags: Brusho, Canson Moulin du Roy watercolour paper, Penny Black stamps 32 Comments
Today is day 1 of Kathy Racoosin’s latest ‘30 Day Coloring Challenge‘. If you haven’t heard about it click on the link and read the details. It is a no pressure, loads of inspiration, tutorials and prizes type of challenge. Kathy is a colouring wizard and she shares her tips and tricks on her blog and in her very friendly conversational videos.
I had fun colouring this large scale floral design with brushos. I embossed the image on watercolour paper with silver pearl powder. I limited myself to four colours from the brusho range and I created different shades and values by mixing and diluting. The pink flowers are a mix of crimson and cobalt blue; some have little or no blue mixed in. The central flower is a mix of yellow and crimson. To make sure my greens blended in with the colours of the flowers I mixed some crimson with leaf green and created muted green-browns. In order not to loose too much of the panel behind a sentiment strip I embossed on vellum and added a half pearl over the adhesive. I didn’t have any black half pearls but a sharpie did the trick.
I have something quite new to share tomorrow. See you then.
Supplies
Stamps: Sweet Perfume, Special Thoughts (PB)
Paints: leaf green, cobalt blue, crimson, yellow brusho
Ink: Versamark ink
Paper: hot pressed Canson Moulin du Roy watercolour paper, Neenah Epic black cardstock, vellum
Also: black & silver pearl embossing powders, half pearl
OLS29 Christmas in July
Posted: July 1, 2016 Filed under: CAS, One-Layer Simplicity challenge, Spread Cheer | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Penny Black stamps, Speedball elegant writer, Tsukineko Memento inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 18 Comments
I am hosting the One Layer Simplicity Challenge this month and the theme is ‘Christmas in July’. I know some of you make Christmas cards all year but I usually start around now and keep going until December! If you haven’t even thought about Christmas cards then perhaps this challenge will be a motivator. Perhaps you want to enjoy the summer sun and not think about December at all – that is totally fine too!
To make this one layer card I tore a piece of painter’s tape lengthwise into two strips and positioned them on my watercolour paper card base. I painted some blue along the torn tape edge and faded it to white. Keeping the tape in place I stamped a few trees in Memento Northern Pine ink and added a few dabs of black elegant writer pen. After stamping I painted over the tree to blend the ink. Northern Pine separates into brown and green when diluted which gives the foliage some variety in colour.
I’ve been reading a book called ‘The Non-Designer’s Design Book’ which has made me think about layout in terms of alignment, repetition, contrast and proximity. The book is concerned mainly with text documents like business cards, menus, ads, etc but the principles are relevant to art layout too. I found myself trying to apply what I’ve learnt when working out where my sentiment would go.
Supplies:
Stamps: Spread Cheer(PB)
Inks: Northern Pine Memento ink, Versafine Olympia green (Imagine Craft/Tsukineko)
Pencils & Pens: blue watercolour pencil (Faber Castell), elegant writer pen (Speedball)
Cardstock: Canson Moulin du Roy 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
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
Pastel Poppy Gems
Posted: June 16, 2016 Filed under: Poppy Gems | Tags: Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps 10 Comments
This week my colouring has grown softer each day. I changed mediums for this card and pulled out my tried and true watercolour pencils. I have added to my set lately but the originals are still the set I bought in university for my art subjects. I remember my parents thinking they were quite an expensive purchase then but I would say we got our money’s worth!
I embossed the poppy gems stamp in clear powder then painted each petal one at a time. I applied two pinks from the pencils and blended from dark to light, keeping some watermarks and blending others out. On yesterday’s card I kept the blending very smooth but sometimes I like to have a few watermarks here and there.
Colouring three times in a row is great practice for Kathy Racoosin’s upcoming 30 day colouring challenge. The next one starts on July 5th and lasts until August 3. I will share more details closer to the time but it is a great challenge, no pressure to colour every single day, plenty of wonderful inspiration from Kathy and some prizes along the way.
Supplies:
Stamps: Poppy gems(PB)
Inks: Versamark (Tsukineko)
Pencils: Pine green 267, Chromium green opaque 174, Dark red 225, Madder 142, True blue 148 (Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper
Heather Telford 