Tuesday, 14 April 2009

Break out the brushes!

I've obviously had a bit of a watercolouring mood on over the last few days! I have a couple of things to share today that both use inks as watercolours and I just picked up a cute little stacked wheel palette of Koh-i-Noor watercolours when I popped out earlier today, too.

First up, a lovely new image from the Saturday Evening Post line - these images are all cover art from the magazine and I think this one is my favourite of the SEP releases so far! Aren't these lions just beautiful?

I used Adirondack Stonewashed ink for the sky - it's one of the very few Adirondacks I've found that breaks down in water and I chose it here for that reason. I thought the purplish tones coming out of the blues made for an interesting wash.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Lion and Lioness (Saturday Evening Post line)
Motivational Centers (Mona Lisa Moments line)
Finial under sentiment from For the Men (Rummage Bin line)

Paper:
Smooth white (inked with Stazon around edge)
140lb hot press watercolor paper

Ink:
Stazon by Tsukineko (Timber Brown)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Scattered Straw, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Black Soot, Spiced Marmalade)

Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Stonewashed)


Other:
Sewing machine and thread

Then I'd been itching to pair up this sentiment and the olive branch since I got the Vegetable Harvest stamps last week and the SCS "clean and simple" challenge this week gave me the perfect opportunity. The challenge is to make a monochrome card.

I've used only shades of green - even the bit that looks fairly black on the pic is actually Versafine Olympia Green, I filled the open space of the stems by squidging a little Versafine onto an old CD and then applying it with a paintbrush. The other greens are all dye inks used as watercolours.

Stamps (Cornish Heritage Farms):
Vegetable Harvest (Shady Tree Studio line)
Christmas Expressions (Mona Lisa Moments line)

Paper:
Watercolor paper

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Olympia Green)
Tim Holtz Distress by Ranger (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint)
Adirondack dye ink by Ranger (Willow)

Other:
Paper piercer

Although they both use watercolour techniques, these two cards use different papers - hot press for the lion image because the smoother surface is perfect for these more detailed stamps and a very textured one for the olives as the texture gives interest to the white space of the design. For those of you in the UK, it was a bargain buy from The Papermill but it was a while back - might still be worth a look though!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you enjoyed today's cards!

12 comments:

Karen said...

Those lions are splendid Joanne...they look so majestic! I am pleased you paired your olive branch to that sentiment...they go perfectly X

Traceyr said...

Wow Joanne, lovely painting you are clever. The olive card is so simple and beautiful, I always wonder how come I can't make cards that look as brilliant as this?

:)

Unknown said...

Wow Joanne!!! How fantastic and majestic do those lions look? Your watercolouring is superb!

I also really love the simplicity of the olive branch.

x

Janice said...

I can see why that Lion image is your
favourite, it is beautiful. The simpicity of the olive really appeals to me to - yum, I love olives!

Kaz said...

Ooo those cards are brilliant Joanne. Lovely stamps and watercolouring.

Anonymous said...

breathtaking work!

Gez Butterworth said...

Awesome Joanne. It is always a pleasure to visit your blog. Thank you for sharing your work with us. xx

Hazel said...

Stunning cards, Joanne. I love the use of the textured card for the bottom one. x

Darlene said...

Fantastic Joanne!! LOVE those lions ... such a powerful image! Great job!!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning!

Caroline said...

Beautiful cards Joanne - love the lions and the shading is perfect. Love the simplicity of the olive card too and I do love olives, spesh with lemon and garlic, haha...x

Kathy said...

Two lovely cards and two great quotes Joanne

I especially love the second one, it has just a serene feel to it