I'm travelling into a new way of working, a new country, a new language, and a new hobby which I'm passionate about. Come with me for some of the journey...

Friday 30 July 2021

The glorious influence of summer

Hello all!  I'm here with a final inspiration journal page for the Summer Countryside theme I'm hosting at Art Journal Journey this month.  I was so honoured to be invited to host, and it's been such a joy seeing all the amazing pages you've been sharing.  For my final page, I've kept things simple with a soft framing of a watercolour doodle I painted at the start of the month.

I'd been planning to join in daily with World Watercolour Month.  Sadly there's still too much going on, so didn't manage to stick with it, but I was fairly happy with the seven or eight days I did manage (I'll try to get round to sharing them soon) especially given I hadn't picked up my watercolour paints since the Inktober last year.


It took some time for me to get back into the swing of the watercolours, so these trees - from day one - are really pretty simple doodles.


Simple or not, the painting does have that deep summer look about it to me... when the bright fresh greens of May have matured, the glorious flowering of June is over and the countryside settles into the deep lush greens of late July.

I used some of the watercolour ground again to give the background some texture, but otherwise I wanted to let the painting take centre stage.


So I simply stamped one of the quotes from my PaperArtsy EAB22 Summer Edition quote collection on a separate piece of card and snipped it into sections.


The words are stamped in Ground Espresso Archival (I really hope we'll get some more Distress colours in Archival)...

... and layered over some torn strips of Idea-ology Design Tape.  I think this quote is a pretty good match to this landscape of summer trees.

So that's that for this month of Summer Countryside pages for Art Journal Journey.  You've got one more day to come and join in if you're inspired.  I didn't get quite as many done as I'd hoped, but it's been lovely to dip my toes in here on the blog again, and to catch up with some of you again and your lovely entries to the theme.

Thank you so much to the amazing team at Art Journal Journey for inviting me to guest host for July and thanks to all of you for stopping by today.  I'll be back before you know it with a more three-dimensional finish to the month!  Happy crafting all.

Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.
Sam Keen

I'd like to share this at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where they would like us to go Wild with Washi... well, I've not really gone wild, but the washi plays a significant role in making the words pop here

17 comments:

Nan G said...

Hello dear Alison. You’ve captured summer brilliantly in your watercolor sketch, Hugs, Nan

nwilliams6 said...

Beautiful! Love the trees and how you did your words over the tape! Very pretty and peaceful and wonderful, Alison!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I enjoyed seeing those beautiful trees and the way you framed the painting on the page. These trees many seem simple to you, but they are really stunning to me. Thank you for another lovely entry to inspire us, and thank you for hosting Art Journal Journey this month with your summer in the country theme.

My name is Erika. said...

Your water color doodle could be a framed piece. I love the look of those trees, all green and standing proud in the field. The textured background really works as a wonderful frame too. Thanks so much for hosting for us this month Alison. It was a very inspirational topic and inspired so much wonderful art. Happy end of the month and start to August. hugs-Erika

Valerie-Jael said...

Your watercolour 'doodles' are beautiful little paintings! So summery and atmospheric. Thanks for hosting at AJJ this month in spite of being so busy with your move etc. Have a great weekend, hugs, Valerie

Christine Alexander said...

Beautiful country scene, your loosely watercoloured trees are beautiful ♥

Craftyfield said...

The beauty of watercolour is a few strokes can suggest a whole scene! For some reason I see a Spanish landscape, fig or olives trees in the summer, very effective. x

Helen said...

I love those trees and the overall page is just beautiful.

Meggymay said...

Its a beautiful watercolour piece you used for this fantastic page. Thank you for all the beautiful summer country pages you have inspired us with this month at AJJ.

Cocofolies said...

Beautiful country scene and page with your watercolored trees, just gorgeous in their simplicity, as well as your perfect words with them! Hugs, Coco xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

An absolutely wonderful way to finish! Thanks for all the inspiration while hosting this month. A fabulous theme - just wish I could have made more pages myself, hugs, Chrisx

sarascloset said...

Alison, I took some time this morning to visit each of your journal page posts, and I feel refreshed by your words and delighted by your artwork on those pages. This one's a favorite, because it has one of your watercolor plays as the focal. Love this little work of art; it reminds me of the trees at the top of the 'steep hill' viewed from the back of our house on the farm where I grew up. Just to the left was a patch of birch trees that served as our playground in the fall months. While I've taken in every word on your posts for the month, sadly, I don't have time to comment on each of them. Looking forward to visiting again soon! Hope all is going well in the countryside! Looking forward to our move to the lake, which is tucked away in the countryside of South Carolina.

Mac Mable said...

Absolutely beautiful and love the loose effect of your pretty water colouring Alison x.

Let's Art Journal said...

Loving your page, it captures the summer countryside so beautifully! I so enjoyed joining your challenge this month over at AJJ, thank you for being such a wonderful host 😀. Happy and creative wishes! Hugs, Jo x

Diana Taylor said...

Such beautiful work - the watercolour is so lovely and suits the simplistic background perfectly. The words are perfect too. Such a calm and tranquil page - I love it!
Diana xx

craft and color said...

How beautiful you have made it.
I started following you.
I had to make a new blog, I couldn't post the old one on fb anymore
Would you like to follow me too
Corryxxx

Anke said...

WOW WOW WOW Alison your page is so beautiful, I love it. The watercolour is so wonderful and the words are perfect.

Hugs
Anke