Tuesday 10 June 2014

Birthday olives

It was my hubby's birthday recently and this is the card I made him. He's a fan of olives and olive oils (he actually had oils as his gift) so I went in that direction.

I did something unheard of for me here - I drew my focal image! I have one olive stamp (from a set by the original Cornish Heritage Farms) but it was really a bit small for what I wanted to do. I decided to just get over my conviction that I can't draw and using the small stamped image and a photograph of a real olive branch for guidance, I sketched very lightly in pencil and then coloured using a combination of Copic markers and watercolour pencils, aiming for a "borderless" look. I was quite pleased with the result.

The olive image is mounted on a background done with home-made shimmer spray and pigment from a watercolour pencil brushed on through drywall tape for a bit of textural interest. I made speckles by wetting the surface and sanding the pencil over it (the blue around the olives and a dark purpley colour on the background panel) and also by flicking thinned down black acrylic paint from a brush. I added a few black enamel dots and a couple of photo corners for more texture and contrast.

Stamps:
Sentiment from Big Day Today by Waltzingmouse Stamps
Hand drawn image of olives

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black by Tsukineko

Paper:
Bamboo Mixed Media paper by Hahnemuhl
Laid texture
Black

Other:
Copic markers
Watercolour pencils
Shimmer spray made from Tumbled Glass reinker and Turquoise Perfect Pearls
Drywall tape 
Tim Holtz/Sizzix ATC and Photo corners die
Black acrylic paint
Black enamel dots

Thanks for stopping by!

9 comments:

Kath said...

Well you don't need stamps...those olives are perfect. A lovely card altogether.

Kathy said...

Wow! I'm so impressed - if you hadn't said it was hand-drawn I'd never have known. Have you been hiding your light under a bushel? An Olive Bushel (if such a thing exists:))? hehe

The Hardy Stamper said...

Just gorgeous! You should paint more often as you certainly have a gift for it:)

Scrapmate said...

That's a fabulous olive image for someone who can't draw. Wish I couldn't draw like you! The vibrant blue background and black olives contrast beautifully.

Unknown said...

Wow what a wonderful original painting on your card - I bet your husband is thrilled with the care and time and effort to create such an original card for him

Kaz said...

You most definitely can draw Joanne! It's gorgeous xxx

Anonymous said...

Beautiful; would never have guessed the olive branch was hand drawn. Wish I couldn't draw like you :) Love the background with the home reared stencil too. A fabulous card.

Karen Dunbrook said...

beautiful...sure he loved it....

Anonymous said...

Fabulous card, hope he had a good day!