Sleeping co-worker

In an attempt to improve my art, I’m trying to draw at least one thing from life every single day.  I too often fall into the terrible habit of copying things from two-dimensional images.  During a break today, a co-worker so nicely co-operated with me by sleeping right in my line of vision…

For a change, my nearsighted-ness came in handy.  I don’t have to squint to see the values (lights and darks) – I just look over the top of my glasses.  *grin*

Supplies:

Ink:   black waterproof indian-ink Faber-Castell PITT (F) pen first (no rough draft in pencil – you can tell by the wrongly-sized hat, among other things)

Watercolours:  Winsor & Newton Cotman (burnt sienna, ivory black, burnt umber, yellow ochre), Grumbacher’s (indigo hue).

Paper:  Neenah’s Paper Classic Linen (Solar White), though I should’ve probably used watercolour paper instead.  Well, maybe tomorrow.

Eiffel Tower Vintage

I had a thank-you card to make, and wanted to make it in pink and brown, my favourite colour combination.  However, I knew my husband would want to keep it, so I made him his own card, in green and blue.

“Pour toi” means “for you” and “un grand merci” means “a big thank you”.   These cards are both sized to fit (a little smaller than) 3 5/8″ x 6 1/2″ envelopes. 

Supplies used:

Stamps:  Rubber Stamp Concepts Curious By Design series:  Paris Voyage (Eiffel tower) and Gypsy Legend (woman).  Beeswax Rubber Stamps (mail carrier birds 1163K).  Stampin’ Up! French version of All Year Cheer (sentiments), Linen (background).

Paper:  kraft, brown, Neenah Paper’s Classic Linen (Baronial Ivory).

Inks:  Memories Black.  Tim Holtz:  Worn Lipstick (for the pink card), Shabby Shutters (for the blue/green card), Walnut Stain, Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen.

Miscellaneous:  Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolours, dimensionals (behind the bird and the woman), sponges.

Vintage Girl

I went to a rubber stamp convention yesterday and won a door prize!!!  I got a brand new rubber stamp, not even available to the general public yet, from Stampin’ D’Amour!! Pamela, the owner, told me that I was the very first to own this stamp!!! Of course I had to use it first thing upon arriving home. I brought out some other rubber stamps to greet it, and here she is in all her beauty:

I stamped her in waterproof black ink on watercolour paper.  I watercoloured her face, and then used a coloured pencil and odorless mineral spirits for her hat – a marriage of my two favourite ways to colour!

I cased this card from Denise’s (aka Card Crazy) FS56 Petal Pusher card for today’s (Sunday) SCS challenge. 

Card Supplies:

Stamps:  Stampin’ D’Amour (girl’s head), Stampin’ Up! (background swirls from Carte Postale, heart from Gentler Times, script from French Script), Technique Tuesday (faux ribbon, little flower), Stampington & Company (corner flourish), Custom stamp (“Mon Amour”) commissioned from Imagine Stamps.

Paper:  PaperTrey Vintage Cream, Strathmore’s 140 lb cold-pressed watercolour paper (girl’s head), Neenah’s Paper Classic Linen Baronial Ivory (fake ribbon), burgundy.

Ink:  Memories Black, Tim Holtz (Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Aged Mahogany).

Miscellaneous:  Winsor & Newton watercolours (girl’s face), Prismacolor Pencils and odorless mineral spirits (girl’s hat and collar), dimensionals, sponge.

Edited note:  This stamp is now available for sale!  It is here:  http://stampindamour.com/store/index.php?main_page=products_new

Birthday cat in blue/green

I love this Penny Black cat. I’m still exploring Prismacolor Pencils with odorless mineral spirits, so I had fun colouring him.

I had so much fun colouring him, that I coloured the background too.  The bottom half of the background is inspired by the gift, and the top is inspired by the hat and the balloons.  The white dots in the cheeks are inspired by #1artistforhighhopes’ seal (it has white highlights on its cheeks too).  The “ribbon” is paper, coloured with Prismacolour pencils and odorless mineral spirits (like the rest of the card) and then overstamped with a grosgrain stamp from Technique Tuesday’s Frayed Ends set.  The paper I used is PaperTrey’s Select White. I really drenched it with odorless mineral spirits (oms) and it didn’t warp at all!! I used a paintbrush for the oms instead of a stub. I had the fan on, but still wonder how much I inhaled. Maybe I’ll switch to baby oil instead.

Card Supplies:

Stamps:  Penny Black, Technique Tuesday
Ink: Memories Black, Marvy Light Blue (for faux ribbon and for sponging)
Paper: PaperTrey Select White, blue (mat behind central image)
Miscellaneous: Prismacolor Pencils, odorless mineral spirits, paintbrush, sponge, straight edges (for bottom of background), circle guide (for top of background), 005 Micron pen

Greens

My husband painted this, acrylics on 16″ x 20″ Winsor & Newton canvas. 

His favourite colours are blue and green.   This was his first time painting with acrylics. 

Colours used:  Winsor & Newton acrylics:
Blue Hue, Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, Black