Winter has arrived?

Hello everyone.

It's hard to believe that wintertime officially arrived today. Normally it's in the 20s to 40s this time of year, but today?  It was mid 70s!  Really.  I went out in just a light sweatshirt and thought I'd roast before I could get home and change it!

It may seem funny to comment on an unusually warm winter, but...that much warmth this time of year generally spells storms.  Tomorrow is expected to be no different. We're supposed to have thunderstorms and wind. Hold onto your lawn ornaments!

Well, now for a bit cheerier subject - my card for the day. This cutie is Candy Cane Anneke, the December stamp of the month by From the Heart stamps. Check out other gallery entries here.  (No one can say I'm not loyal, as I feature of lot of their digital images.) I have lots of other brands, but find these images incredibly fun to color with my Copic Sketch markers.

My Copic color choices include:
Hat and candy cane: R22, 24, 29, 39, 59, 89
Skin: E00, E11, BV00
Cheeks: R20
Eyes: B00
Hair: E50, E31, E44
Dress: B63, B66, B69
Boots: E42, E55, E35
Outline and white shading: W1

Here's a closer look:

This card features navy blue cardstock, white X-Press It blending card for the image, Spellbinders Nestabilities Lacey Ovales die cut, a royal blue oval taped behind the die cut for depth, and Liquid Pearls accents on Echo Park 6x6 "Winter Wishes" paper pad.

And on the inside, I have more Echo Park paper, along with my greeting from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Season's Greetings set.

 

 

I had a wonderful time creating this little darling. In fact, I really couldn't help myself as I made several cards from this image with various color combinations and designs.

 

 



 

 

The first and third images directly above also feature embossed snowflakes in white opaque, as well as some gold and diamond colored Stickles in the center of the designer paper snowflakes. Hope you enjoy my fun cards.

 

Now, to all you and yours, may you have a safe, happy, healthy Christmas. May God bless us each and every one, as we celebrate once again the newborn King!

Mixed Media - Copic Markers and Watercolor

Mixing media is all the rage these days, so my topic for today is mixing Copic Sketch markers and watercolor. I started with a lovely image from a practice exercise in the new Copic Coloring Guide: Level 4: Fine Details by Colleen Schaan and Marianne Walker. While I consider coloring the image a fairly advanced process, or at least labor intensive, the mixing of media itself is very simple.

There are a couple of things to know before you get into the video:
(1) I didn't focus on the coloring process today. I colored the main image in advance.
(2) I used X-Press It Blending Card as my paper stock. Blending Card is formulated for use with Copic markers, but doesn't necessarily handle watercolor very well. A nearly-dry aqua (water) pen is key to success.
(3) When mixing media with Copic markers, always do the Copic coloring first. Laying down color on top of another medium is not recommended and may not be successful.
 
Here's a photo I took in mid-process. Take a look at the differences between the left and right sides of the picture.  On the left side of the screen, the image has been stippled with three different colors of Copic markers.  (Stippling simply indicates random dots applied with the tip of my markers.) Then, I have scribbled a random line of watercolor pencil outside the male gnome's hat and body. Water has not yet been applied to the left side of the image.



Compare the left and right sides of the background image. A watercolor wash has been applied to the right side, providing a smooth, blended look.

On the right side of the screen, stippling has also been done. Watercolor pencil has been applied to the right of the female gnome's hat and body - and water has been applied with an aqua pen to provide a color wash. Notice the much smoother, blended look.

This process is very simple, but to get a better feel for it, here's a short video that shows how it's done:

Now that you've seen the process in action, take a look at my finished image (below). After shooting the video, and completely disregarding guideline #3 at the top of this post, I decided that I wanted more "pop" from the couple. To add dimension, I went back in with a Copic marker and outlined the outer edges of the image with a thin line of marker.  Note how much more dimensional they look with the final outline.

A final Copic marker outline was added to enhance dimension

Don't quite see it?  Squint your eyes and look again. You'll see a lovely, dimensional aspect that places the couple front and center in the image.

Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed today's mixed media demo. Please join me again soon as we explore more artistic techniques. And may God bless!

A Rose Blooms in Summer

One of my favorite stamp sets is Fifth Avenue Floral from Stampin' Up. My favorite stamp from the set is a beautiful rose. It's taken me quite some time to figure out how to color it with Copic markers, but I'm getting better now, I think.

I thought it might be interesting to see the progression of how I colored the rose to make this colorful birthday card. I hope you enjoy seeing it come together.

 

 

Here is the uncolored stamped image:

 

 

The uncolored image provides very little dimension. If we've seen a rose, we know of course that it has a number of layers and delicate textures. In order to start providing some of that dimension, I began the coloring process by underpainting the image with a neutral gray color (Copic N2).

 

 

 

 

Already, it seems the rose has become multi-layered. The underpainting provides just enough contrast to start showing layers - and also serves to provide some guidance about where shadows will fall in the finished image. In this case, the light source is assumed to be coming from the front right of the image. All shadowing should be consistent with that light source.

 

 

 

Now the rose is a beautiful pink (R81 and R85). Areas that were previously underpainted in gray have now been accented in a dark pink color. Some blending of color has been done, but dark areas continue to be dark. The rose continues to have dimension, but it is once again unclear where the light source is. Additional work is needed to restore a sense of light.

 

 

The final bit of "coloring" is shown in the image above. Actually, this effect was achieved by using the colorless blender marker (0) to move color around on the rose petals. Some people erroneously believe that the colorless blender marker removes color from an image; this is not true. The colorless blender simply moves color away from the marker tip to surrounding bits of the image. It is then important to do further blending to avoid dark lines where the ink has moved.

 

Finally, one last technique was used to bring dimension to the rose. The final image is actually two roses that were colored identically and then cut apart. The center and outer edges of the rose were cut from image 1, and then the middle section of the rose is from image 2. The pieces were then re-assembled using foam dimensionals to pop each piece up from the surface of the card.

 

The card uses Bazzill cardstock, Spellbinders ticket die-cut in two sizes, Mister Huey honeydew misting spray, and Heidi Swapp's 6x6 lattice spray stencil. Finally, the birthday greeting is from SU!'s Itty Bitty Banners. 

 

I hope you enjoyed this brief explanation of how this lovely rose bloomed this summer. Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for some scrapbooking fun!