Snow Time

So much for trying to craft and post more frequently this year!!  I just seem to get tied up with other things and my favourite hobbies get pushed to the bottom of the list.

 

Anyway, today I'm sharing another 3 artist trading cards, made for the UKATC swap, on the theme of 'Snow'

 

I started with white card, sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Mist in Astral Mystery.  Then I used a Crafty Individuals' stamp for the sentiment, using Blonde Moments heat embossing powder in Savoury Sky Iridescent.

 

 

For this one I used Winsor & Newton Watercolours to paint a childlike village complete with giant snow flakes. 

 

 I did something similar some years' ago for Christmas cards but on a larger scale.  It's quite liberating to paint a scene without worrying about proportion, scale and technique.  A bit like being back at infant school.

 

 

For the last card I used some lovely variegated blue cardstock, dry embossed using the Cuttlebug and a snowflake embossing folder.  I used Stickles Icicles for the centre of the embossed flakes and added a large white, shimmering snowflake for the main focus.

 

 

Artist Trading Cards

Today I'm sharing the first cards of this year for the UKATC   swap group. 

 

I used Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed to ink and stamp the background, using  an Inkylicious twig stamp and Crafty Individuals' CI-176.  The hares in the foreground were a free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine, stamped in DI Black Soot.  It's the first time I've tried building up stamped layers to create a picture and was pleased with the result, although I suspect it was more luck than skill!

 

 

I used a torn piece of fibrous craft paper as the backing for this Oxford Impressions, Lily Elsie photo stamp set.  The fluffy edges of the peach paper remind of the large ostrich feather fans of the 1920s and 30s.  The image was stamped using DI Black Soot and I liked the grainy quality this achieved.  

 

For the last card I dry embossed the backing with a Cuttlebug and inked the raised design with DI Tattered Rose.  The flowers were die cut using Cricut Cartridge, Flower Shoppe.



 

 

Every Journal Page Tells a Story

This is the current theme at ART JOURNAL JOURNEY for the month of January.  There's been a great response to this theme set by Erika, so click the link and get some inspiration. 

 

At first I didn't have a clue what to do and thought I'd probably skip this theme but then sitting at my desk one day looking at the display of figure paintings pinned to the wall, I had my light bulb moment.   The display represents my first foray into figure painting and I use it to study what went wrong in the painting process and how I can improve on it.  So here is my journal page depicting the struggles I have with drawing and painting faces.

 

This was a watercolour painting of a ballerina taken from a tutorial.  It was my first attempt at painting sheer fabrics and I was reasonably pleased with the results except for the face!!.  So here I've cut the painting into strips which for me represents the errors in the work and the need to improve but I left out the strip with the all-important facial features. 

 

To create the page background I allowed blue and red watercolour paint to mix on the page to contrast with the strips which were glued with Modg Podge.  For the figure painting I used Winsor & Newton watercolour tubes and Langton NOT surface watercolour paper.

 

You Need Hands

Welcome to 2017 - a bit late I know - and I hope that so far all is going well.  We have been a very decisive household so far, getting on with odd jobs, planning holidays and getting exercise.  Hopefully we can maintain this trend.

 

So to my first post this year and as I've been busy being decisive about everything else, I haven't left much time for crafting, so I'm kicking off with a fairly quick sketch I did a while ago.  I really need to try and sketch something on a daily basis but it's not easy on the days I work but we'll see how it goes.  Yes I know, not very decisive but I'm trying.

 

I drew these from a magazine picture which allowed me to measure proportion and get a feel for the angle of the fingers and shape of the visible nails.

 

 

I hope you're managing to get some crafting done and with any luck I'll post again quite soon.