Flower Painting course

Hydrangea

For two and a half days back at the end of July I attended a Flower Painting course at Wensum Lodge, Norwich.  I haven't done any other painting during the summer unless you count decorating the house so thought you might like to see my efforts from the course.

The course tutor was Toni Hayden who was brilliant and very inspiring.  Her sketchbooks and paintings that she brought in to show us were fantastic and it would take me years of practice to get anywhere near the standard of her work.  There were about ten of us on the course and an abundant array of flowers and fruit in the centre of the studio which we could select to paint.  Toni demonstrated and also came round and gave us individual help and advice.

The medium for these paintings was Gouache, something I have only tried a few times before, and watercolour paper. Everything was painted with one brush which Toni recommended, Da Vinci - Maestro No.6.  An investment as it cost more than I usually spend on a whole set of brushes. Certainly won't be letting the grandsons borrow that one!

Add caption

 This may not look much for half a weeks work but it took a lot of concentration. I thoroughly enjoyed the class and if you like flower paintings check out some of Toni's work.

Lesley x

Claritystamp Challenge - Bingo

Flowers/Stamp/Glitter

This month's theme has definitely been a challenge for me.  I have experimented with loads of different techniques and my rubbish bin has been overflowing but as the deadline quickly approached I decided in the end to keep it simple.

Stamps:    Claritystamp NDC Alice, NDC Round Tree, Leafy Swirl

Inks:          Adirondack Stream, Archival Black, Versamark

Other:       Claritystamp Theuva card, Sizzix Die Flourish #2, Button Die, Perfect Pearls,   Glitter, Sticky labels

• Die cut some flowers and brush the edges lightly with some Stream ink. 

• Stamp randomly with the NDC Round Tree, 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation ink.  

• Stick the flowers together to make 1 flower, I used 2 large and 1 small flower with a die-cut button for the centre. (Sorry, I don't know the make of the button die.) Set aside to dry.
• Stamp Alice twice onto sticky labels with Archival black. 
• On the 1st Alice, stamp the Round Tree over her dress, this time with Versamark ink.  Dust with white Perfect Pearls.
• On the 2nd Alice, colour in her face, hair and body with colour pencils

• Carefully cut out the dress only on the first Alice and the whole image on the 2nd Alice.
• Remove the dress from the backing and stick on top of the whole image.
• Using a mask, I used a die-cut circle, brush Stream ink over the aperture, making it darker at the edges.  Sponge a little bit of ink where you think Alice's shadow will be.
• Stick Alice in position.

With Archival black ink, stamp the Leafy Swirl twice.

• Cut the card into a square and using left over ink on the brush, lightly colour the edges.
• Mount on Blue card, and then a square card blank.
• Attach flower to corner.
• Let's check the Bingo card.  Flowers, Stamp, Perfect Pearls, Dies. Some Glitter needed to make a diagonal line (and a horizantal one)
• Add glitter to the Leafy Swirls and centre of the flower and BINGO.
• There is room to add a greeting at the top but I will leave that until I know who it is going to

Phew! Just made the deadline.  Now all I need to do is put away the Shrink Plastic, Stencils, Stamps, Grunge Paste, Perfect Pearls, Dies, Glitter etc etc.  It has been a good challenge as it has made me look again at things and techniques I have not used in a while, even if they didn't get used in my final card.  

Looking forward to seeing all your entries.

Lesley x