Fields of Gold
Posted: September 4, 2020 Filed under: Darkroom Door, majestic mountains, Nature Walk, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Ranger Distress inks 8 Comments
This card was inspired by @jenny_illustrations a watercolour artist I follow on instagram. She painted her scene but I used a selection of Darkroom Door stamps and some wet into wet techniques.
I worked on a panel of hot pressed watercolour paper splattered with liquid frisket. I wasn’t necessarily wanting the look of snow, more the interest or vintage look of little dots over the panel. It could be snow, an early snow or a first snow but that is not something I am thinking about right now. Not for a minute am I wishing summer away, I would never do that. Summer is definitely my favourite season and it is still officially summer for another 18 days!
But back to the card. I taped it down to my glass mat which I also used as a palette where I squished my distress inks to provide me with ink to paint with. I spritzed the whole panel with water then painted weathered wood and faded jeans distress ink in the sky then tea dye and gathered twigs distress ink in the foreground. It was not meant to be gathered twigs; the lid said ‘fossilized amber’! The lid was wrong but the colour, surprisingly worked maybe even better than amber would have giving me a gradation from light to dark brown.
While the whole panel was wet I stamped the large mountain stamp from DD ‘majestic mountains’ in faded jeans ink then, after a pause, the small trees from the same set in ‘hickory smoke’ then. after a longer pause, in ‘black soot’ ink. I used a small floral stamp from DD ‘wildflowers vol 1’ to stamp and restamp flowers in the foreground, first in ‘tea dye’ then in ‘gathered twigs’. I dried the panel rather than wait and finished it off with tea dye and gathered twigs splatter.
I was pleased to see my taping sealed the edges well resulting in no leaks. I am trying a different painter’s tape so it scored points on this project. I’m not sure why but this panel needed to be a side fold card. It has a little sentiment from DD ‘nature walk’ that says ‘ walk through the wildflowers’; you might not be able to read it but the recipient will.
I’ve done very few scenic cards lately so I enjoyed the process and result. I am pondering my next online class… scenic cards or Christmas cards? Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts.
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Magnolia Blossoms
Posted: August 26, 2020 Filed under: magnolia blossoms, My Favorite Things | Tags: Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolor paints, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, My Favorite Things, Tsukineko Versafine inks 6 Comments
I have teamed up with the Foiled Fox again to bring you these pretty purple blooms made with My Favorite Things, ‘magnolia blossoms’ stamp set. The set contains two stamps; I have used one, stamped three times. To hide one bloom behind another I stamped a mask first on masking paper. I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper, stamped in versafine clair nocturne and embossed in clear powder.
I painted both the sky and the flowers with Dr Ph Martin’s Hydrus watercolour paints. They are highly pigmented so I added a droplet of each colour to a palette then added water. I describe the whole process on the Foiled Fox blog today so pop over there to learn more and take a look around.
The sentiment is also from a MFT set, ‘brushstroke expressions’ stamped in nocturne and embossed in clear for a little shine. See that little pop of yellow in the centre of the blooms, it’s what I call a booster in my new ‘Colour Clues’ class. If you want to know more, click here.
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Nature’s glory background
Posted: August 3, 2020 Filed under: nature's glory, Papertrey Inks, Penny Black, Triple Banner | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Papertrey ink, Penny Black stamps 3 Comments
The nature’s glory stamp from Penny Black is a current fave of mine so I decided to try it with a different colour scheme. (previous cards here and here)
I worked on hot pressed watercolour paper with papertrey ink cubes then distress markers for some smaller details. The spray of flowers has a curve to it so I was able to move it around and stamp it four times in order to fill the 4¼” x 6″ panel.
I used a Papertrey ink royal velvet ink cube to ink the flowers and wiped any stray purple ink off the stamp before inking the leaves with green parakeet and the berries with bright buttercup. I spritzed the stamp before stamping so the inks would move a little. Before stamping again I added spiced marmalade distress ink to the berries and pine needles distress ink to the leaves with markers, gave the stamp another light spritz and stamped again.
I switched to a paintbrush to blend some of the leaves, berries and petals. When the ink dried I used the spiced marmalade marker again to add orange centres to the purple flowers.
I stamped a sentiment from PB ‘happy snippets’ on a banner die cut and popped it up over the panel. Oh and I splattered too…you probably noticed that.
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Painting atmosphere
Posted: July 29, 2020 Filed under: Brusho, Coliro paints, Darkroom Door, Finetec paints, Hand painted, Leaves, tall flowers, Wings | Tags: Brusho, Darkroom Door stamps, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolour pencils, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand painted 27 Comments
I’ve done some more playing with watercolours and clingwrap. Quite a lot of playing actually; it’s addictive. I don’t even remember if the panel above was painted initially with brusho powders or pan watercolours or both. I do know I started with a large piece of cold pressed watercolour paper taped to a glass mat. I wet the panel then added the paint and let it move around and blend a little before I placed the cling wrap on top. I did remember to take a photo of the panel after it had dried and I’d removed the cling wrap. The card above which looks a bit like some hydrangea flowers was painted on the bottom right corner below.
The butterfly card below was made from the top left corner of the large panel and the flower card was made from the top right corner. I did work on the bottom left corner but didn’t end up liking what I’d made.
For the butterfly card I used a stamp from Darkroom Door ‘wings’ set and stamped it on the panel in blueprint sketch distress ink. After stamping I blended the ink plus some pearlescent paint from a finetec palette to fill the butterfly’s wings. It’s not obvious in the photo but the wings shimmer.
Once the butterfly was dry I did some water stamping using a fern stamp from the DD ‘leaves ‘ set.
The flowers are from the DD ‘tall flowers’ set and were stamped in festive berries, mowed lawn and wild honey distress inks. I also added gold paint to the flower centre. You can see some more water stamped ferns and some second generation stamping with the flowers also. The little circles on all three cards were made just by adding some droplets of water, letting them sit on the panel then dabbing them up with a paper towel.
The card above with the purple flowers doesn’t feature any stamping, the patterns made by the cling wrap made me think of a hydrangea flower head so I painted a bunch of little flowers using a purple watercolour pencil to draw centres then a paintbrush and water to blend the pencil into petals. While the petals were still wet I used the pencil again to add some darker areas in the centres.
The red shape on the left hand side looked a bit like a flower so again I used a watercolour pencil to add a bit more colour and followed the lines left by the cling wrap.
Whether painting or stamping over the panel, I love the patterns and play of light and dark in the background; I think it creates atmosphere. Have I finished with this technique now I hear you ask? No, definitely not. Have you tried it?
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Soulful Silhouettes
Posted: July 13, 2020 Filed under: Penny Black, soulful silhouettes | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks, Tsukineko Versafine inks 6 Comments
There is a lovely new clear set of silhouette stamps in the latest Penny Black release. I’ve used it to create a set of co-ordinated cards in a simple clean style.
I chose some of my favourite distress inks to create slightly blended prints.
All the stamped images are from ‘soulful silhouettes’ and the sentiments are from the ‘trust me builder’ set.
I used hot pressed watercolour for all the stamped panels and white luxe textured cardstock for all the bases.
After inking the silhouette stamps for each design I gave the stamp a very light spritz of water, just enough so there would be blends and watermarks on the stamped image. I couldn’t predict how each would turn out so there are some dryer areas with no blending and some parts where ink has bled into the adjacent ink quite distinctly.
I often pop up my stamped or painted panels on pieces of foam but this time they are raised on just one piece of cardstsock cut a little smaller than the main panel.
The ‘trust me builder’ set is designed so we can make sentiments that begin with the words ‘trust me…’ then finish with one of seven different phrases. I kept the sentiments short using only the endings which are in a smaller simpler font.
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Groovy Greenery
Posted: July 10, 2020 Filed under: groovy greenery | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Papertrey ink, Penny Black stamps, Tsukineko Versafine inks 5 Comments
Groovy greenery is the name of this set; it’s full of cute plants and pots, seven of each that you can mix and match.
I stamped all the plants and containers with Papertrey ink cubes. I mixed and matched with four different greens making sure I used a combination of two greens in each plant. I stamped the greenery in one ink then blended the inside of the leaves with the stamping ink plus one other. I did some basic masking with post it notes so I could have leaves overlap the leaves of the plant beside and some leaves overlap the pots.
The pots are all narrower at one end than the other so they are designed to be tall not wide but I decided to have some looking a little wonky and wide, kind of like I might have made them myself.
The sentiment is from the new PB ‘trust me builder’ set. There is a large ‘trust me’ stamp and seven phrases to finish the sentence. I just used one of the phrases. I stamped the sentiment in dark green and matted the panel to match.
Just a reminder to enter the giveaway I am hosting with Foiled Fox right now. You need to go back to Monday’s blog post and leave a comment letting me know what you are doing for refreshment these days. Thank you everyone who already let me know, I enjoyed reading all your refreshing tips and past times, some of them are exactly the same as mine and there are a few involving sitting by the water that I wish were mine!
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Barrel of Blooms
Posted: July 8, 2020 Filed under: barrel of blooms, Penny Black | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Inktense, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 7 Comments
This washtub full of flowers is called ‘barrel of blooms’ and it’s a beauty from the new PB release. I worked on cold pressed watercolour paper in a stamp positioner so I could ink a section, stamp it, blend that section, wipe the stamp then ink another section.
I stamped colour by colour, inking with distress ink cubes and markers. Once I’ve stamped a section I blend it with a paintbrush pulling out the ink of the outline and adding extra where necessary. I used a couple of different green inks for the leaves, candied apple, spiced marmalade and dried marigold for the flowers then a mix of brown and grey for the barrel. All the inks are listed below. Because I do all the stamping and painting with the panel in the stamp positioner I am able to re-stamp a section after I’ve painted to add some of the detail back in.
To ground the image I painted some faded jeans and hickory smoke ink around the base and behind the barrel. I used a dark blue inktense pencil and the Wendy Vecchi stay-tion + ruler to add the look of wood wall behind then matted the panel with co-ordinating blue cardstock.
I don’t have a barrel tub like this one for my flowers but I have three old galvanised tin tubs filled with herbs and they are thriving in the current summer weather.
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Refreshing
Posted: July 6, 2020 Filed under: illustrious, soulful silhouettes, Uncategorized | Tags: distress markers, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Foiled Fox guest post, Penny Black stamps, Ranger Distress inks 28 Comments
I’m excited to show you some new summery plant goodness from Penny Black and it’s happening here and on the Foiled Fox blog! I used the new cling stamp ‘illustrious‘, a stamp from the clear set ‘soulful silhouettes‘ and a sentiment from the ‘just like you‘ mini set.
The new release is called ‘Refreshing’ so I have teamed up with Shauna from the Foiled Fox to provide a little refreshment through a giveaway!
All you need to do to enter is comment on this post telling me what you like to do for refreshment these days.
I used distress inks and cold pressed watercolour for this card. I definitely seem to be drawn to blues and greens right now; they’re a little cooler than my oft used pinks and orange combo. You can read more about my process on the Foiled Fox blog but let me say the MISTI was very helpful in creating this leafy panel. I worked on the large leaves first, inking them in mowed lawn then painting them with bundled sage. I moved onto the fern shaped plant which I inked with mowed lawn and faded jeans then did the tiny flowers last in candied apple and hickory smoke.
The illustrious stamp is stamped once on the left then partially stamped on the right and to fill the top edges I just inked and stamped the tip of the fern a few times. I used one stamp from the soulful silhouettes set as filler in bundled sage ink.
I would love to hear some of your most refreshing ideas or past times. Do you have a recipe, a book recommendation, a past time or favourite get away? We are still staying close to home here in Ottawa but I am enjoying my hammock in the backyard, oodles of audio books and the occasional iced coffee or tea.
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Hand painted grasses
Posted: June 30, 2020 Filed under: Finetec paints, Hand painted | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Finetec artist mica watercolour paint, Hand painted 8 Comments
I painted a simple scene recently featuring mainly grasses along with some berries and golden flowers. Unlike some of my other paintings where I have tried to make them look like a particular flower or vegetable, these plants are whimsical doodles.
I was inspired by CeeCee of Creations CeeCee; she does beautiful paintings in lovely natural colour palettes and often includes some gold or silver. I painted on cold pressed watercolour paper with Sennelier watercolours plus some gold from a Finetec pearlescent set.
As you can probably tell I began with the green leafy grasses but painted with the panel upside down. My intention was a weeping willow type of look but when I turned it around I decided to continue painting plants reaching for the sky instead. I finished it off with some fine gold splatter.
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Apricot watercoloured flowers
Posted: June 24, 2020 Filed under: A2 layers, Hand painted, Penny Black, sennelier watercolours, Waffle Flower | Tags: Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Hand painted, Penny Black stamps, sennelier watercolours, Waffle Flower dies 11 Comments
I have another hand painted watercolour today paired with a sweet little stamp from the new Penny Black set ‘trust me builder’. I used my Sennelier half pan watercolours on Fabraino cold pressed watercolour paper. I am still learning how to arrange elements in my paintings but I know for a random pattern (is that an oxymoron?) it is best to do the largest elements first, then the next biggest and so on, in this panel ending with the small splatters and dots.
Unless you are after a symmetrical design odd numbers of elements are usually more pleasing to the eye so I have three large flowers then three medium sized flowers but I slipped up on the berry clusters, there are four not five and I can see where I should have painted another!
I painted this design on a larger panel and then cropped it to make it look more balanced. I used a rectangle die to choose the part of the panel I wanted but you can do the same with two pieces of ‘L’ shaped cardstock held on opposite sides of a panel and moved to ‘frame’ the design. I popped up my painted panel on foam and my stamped sentiment on one extra piece of cardstock.
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Heather Telford 