Floral Watercolour

Welcome back, I hope you are well.
The world has changed so much since my last post 4 weeks ago.
More than ever we need to look after ourselves, physically, nutritionally & mentally.
Things we've taken for granted for too long are now at the forefront of everything we do...even our survival. So when I say 'I hope you are well'...I really mean it!



One of my new years resolutions was to learn how to watercolour, something, along with learning how to play the piano, that I've always wanted to learn. I've been watching heaps of amazing artists online & am so grateful to those people happy to share their skills & techniques for free.

My lovely husband bought me a beautiful paint set for Christmas and along with a good friend (shout out to Beth Boyer Benton) who has displayed a never-ending level of top tips, supply information & encouragement, I have been putting paint to paper over the past few months and coming up with a few pieces worthy *Cough!* of making into cards to give away.

So for those of you who are interested, I have settled on Bockingford 300gsm Cold Press paper to work with. Paint brush wise, I have a few different types that I've been playing with, trying to find the brand that feels most comfortable to use. I'm still at the experimental stage so will report back when I fall into a comfort zone.



These flowers are the result of 2 pages of just playing. Painting along with YouTube videos, practising, practising, practising.
I had 1/2 dozen fairly decent images that I could cut out for a card and added Wink of Stella glitter on the petals & Glossy Accents in the centres.



The leaves on the card at the front are hand drawn, the ones on the other card were simple painted shapes cut out. So my watercolour journey is just beginning, VERY early days and I'm only doing basic strokes but I'm loving what can be achieved so simply.
Stay safe and well everyone.
Don't forget you can find me on INSTAGRAM (Jane Clempson) and if you're a gardener & need a bit of a floral lift, you can find me at Tidy Gardens by Jane.
Hope to see you there x

Dashing by...

With 37 days until Christmas, 3 cards made and another 90ish to go I am, confident I will be done by June 2016, so there's no panic.

I've managed 2 cards today. My first card above features stamps from MFT's 'Cool Day' and Paper Smooches 'Joyful Greetings'. 

I used a smooshing technique using Gansai Tambi watercolours. If you haven't tried this before, it's a really easy way to create random backgrounds. I watered down my paints just a bit, not too much as I wanted a bolder colour and splodged paint onto a small piece of acetate then smooshed it around my paper.

It looks messy but you get a really great effect when dry.

I stamped out my images & coloured with the ol' Zig-a-Zigs, added a slope & some liquid pearly, snowy highlights.

My 2nd card was made with the same technique and the images & sentiment were from MFT's 'Dashing By'.

See what I mean about these backgrounds, so much texture and colour.

Isn't she a cutie?

There you go, 2 more cards.

Think I've got time to run a hot bath, put my feet up and chillax....Not!!!

Losing the Plot

I could have sworn but I won’t, wot wiv being a lady n’ all that, that I’d posted this card before but it appears not. Found all these photos on yee olde laptop.

Twas made back in March with a floral stamp set from Mama Elephant called ‘Freestyle Florals’. I stamped lots of the images & embossed with silver pearl Wow embossing powder.

I painted them with Windsor & Newton watercolours & then fussy cut them…

…before adding them to my card and stamping a sentiment from Winnie & Walter.

I’m sure I’m losing the plot, off to quadruple check my blog again…if you’ve seen this card before just smile & wave.

Thank you.

A Bit of This n’ That

Greetings Earthlings.
A quickie from me today using a bit of this & that…

…watercolours first, followed by a spot of stencilling with Liquitex Super Heavy Gel on a Crafters Workshop Circles Explosion template, liquid pearl highlights & coordinating sequins.

Simples!

Stay Away From the Light!!

So here we go…attempt number 2 at watercolours.
I was really pleased with this until Mr & Miss C said it was lacking the sun….Grrrr.

So here’s how I started, watercolour paper & drizzles of masking fluid, which I left to dry over night. The masking fluid keeps areas of the paper white when you paint over it. The drizzles were eventually going to be light shimmering on the water.

There are some amazing artists providing online tutorials for watercolour beginners with loads of tips & advice.
I painted the scene, using my Windsor & Newton paints, using more water than my last effort, but the sun was a later addition (one I regret). I added it after the family critiques gave me one of those looks, by which time all the paint had dried & the added sun then didn’t blend or wash out.
A few hours later I rubbed off the masking fluid.

Here’s the end result….just don’t look at the sun!!!!

An Attempt at Water Colouring

Don’t snigger.
This is my first ‘successful’ attempt at water colouring.
I use the word ‘successful’ as a means of describing the only attempt I was brave enough to show you. There’s a bin full of disasters beside me.
The books & online tutorials make it look so easy….phft!

I used these babies….Windsor & Newton half pan watercolours. The tree stamps are from the Cardio Winter Walks collection & the grass from the Inkylicious Essential Grasses set.

I have so many ideas in my head, ideas that I want to get onto paper.
Easier said than done.