Orchard Fruit

Hello all!  I'm still a bit groggy from my cold, but getting there.  Sorry I've not been visiting much - I'm conserving my energy for recovery!  I'm here with some watercolour orchard trees today for the Fruits & Vegetables theme at Art Journal Journey.

Most of this page spread was done before I got ill, and it's been sitting on the craft table for two weeks waiting for me to have the energy to stick it all down.









The trees themselves were actually painted months ago - done with some of my Daniel Smith watercolours in an A4 watercolour sketch pad.
















For these pages, I tore around them and inked the torn edges with Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs to give a nice framing effect.












I think they look pretty good against the simple kraft pages of this 8x6 inch Paperchase journal.  (As a double spread it measures 12x8 inches.)














I love the soft patches of colour creating the foliage...
















... layered and overlapping...















... and the intricate twining of the trunk, branches and twigs...













... done with dip pen and ink.

I'm also pretty pleased with the soft shadowy trees in the background, giving the scene a touch of depth.













The Art Journal Journey theme meant I needed some fruit to be hanging from the branches of my trees, so I used Fresco acrylic paints to add some green apples.














I applied the paint quite thickly to give them a bit of dimension.  But then I decided the green wasn't really doing it for me...














... so I gave all the apples a touch of Cherry Red/London Bus over the top.















And then on top of that each one got a blob of Glossy Accents to give them even more dimension and that glossy look of delicious ready-to-eat apples.














It also helps them stand out from the watercolour effects in the background...















... as well as fulfilling my favourite light-catching function.














The words are from my PaperArtsy EAB04 Autumn Edition.

They're stamped in Sepia Archival on one of the leftover scraps from the torn up watercolour page.











You'll have noticed in the green-apples-photo that I'd done some colourful splattering on the kraft background.  When I changed apple-colour I also decided I wasn't enjoying that, so I turned over a new leaf and tried again.













Now there's some watery brayering of Cloud 9 (a lovely soft white by PaperArtsy) as well as splatters and credit-card streaks of the same paint.













There are twisted tangles of thread and some of my much-loved ivory sequins.  Again, it's about catching the light I think - but in a nice subtle way.

And a trio of punched leaves cut with a Tim Holtz punch from some Distress Ink spattered cardstock add the final touch of autumnal colour.













I hope you like my watercolour trees and their glossy fruit, hanging low and ready to be picked.














I was a bit nervous about adding the apples, worried that I might just spoil my autumnal trees on the turn.









But I've ended up rather liking the effect.  And I do think it's quite a good way to give these trees something more to do, rather than having them tucked away in a sketch pad somewhere, never to see the light of day again!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I'm glad to have a bit more colour to share with you than for my previous watercolours Got the Grey-Blues!  I hope you're all having a lovely weekend, and I also hope to catch up with what you've been up to very soon.  Happy crafting, all!

...and so many orchards circled the village that on some crisp October afternoons the whole world smelled like pie.
Alice Hoffman

I'd like to share this at Art Journal Journey where Rike is looking for Fruits & Vegetables
At the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog they are gathering up Lovely Leaves - since these trees are really all about the colours of the autumn foliage, I hope they will fit right in
I'd also like to join in with Week 38, Year 9 of the marvellous Paint Party Friday

April Showers

Hello all!  Firstly, apologies for being a poor blogger again at the moment.  You'll see why over the next few posts - it's been a busy old month or so, and I'm away from home yet again so I had to do lots of making in advance to get ahead of the game.

Also I'm scrambling up the steep learning curve of doll-making, so that's taking lots of time and energy.

But I'm absolutely delighted to be a guest over at Frilly and Funkie today, sharing a project for their new theme, April Showers, hosted by the fabulous Suzz.

It's always a thrill to have something you've made singled out for recognition, and Frilly and Funkie is one of the places I discovered very early on this crafting journey, so it was especially lovely to have my Tiny Greenhouses honoured by their amazing Design Team.










From the moment I learned what the challenge theme was, I had an idea in my head about wanting visible raindrops on whatever I made.

It took a bit of experimentation, but I'm rather pleased with how it all ended up.  I hope you like it too!












I always enjoy my layers, so way back in the invisible distance there is some dipped and spritzed paint and ink, over which I scraped a thin layer of the PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze.
















Next step, once the glaze was dry, was a coat of Snowflake Fresco paint...














... and then some more dipping into droplets of Stormy Sky Distress Ink and Faded Jeans Distress Oxide.

I love the ink droplets over the crackle texture - already a slightly rainy sky, wouldn't you say?











Around the foot of the tag, I blended on some Peeled Paint and Mowed Lawn inks, and then spritzed with some water to create even more showery droplets within the layers.













At this point, I mounted the tag on some sturdy cardboard to give it strength and stability for what's to come.














The fabulous Calico Craft Parts provided my central image - a lovely MDF wood field full of flowers.













I don't seem to have a picture of it "naked", but regulars will know what how it started out (and if you need a reminder, you can get the idea if you hop over to my Three Little Birds where you can at least see a "before" of that Calico Craft Part).















As I did for that ATC, I applied a coat of gesso first of all, and then used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics to paint the flowers, grasses and butterflies.














Since many of the Fluid Acrylics are translucent, you can build up layers of colour and create some really lovely effects.














Can never resist a bit of white spatter...















My sentiment - one of my favourites - is stamped in Leaf Green and Olive Archival inks.  I apply one and then add touches of the second before stamping.

We're still looking for that showery feeling, so I clear embossed the sentiment.










You get that lovely glossy dimensionality - like a film of water just sitting on the lettering.

For extra watery effect, I also clear-embossed the inky shading right around the edges of the tag.











And then it was time for the raindrops.  I settled on Glossy Accents and did some practising on a separate sheet of card to find out the best way to form a nice teardrop shape.

When they go on, of course, there's a slight cloudiness to the gel, but you just have to be patient and let them dry fully.












And yes, I know that raindrops aren't really that shape when they're falling, but we're allowed a little artistic licence, aren't we?

If I were making this again, I would spread my drops a little less regularly.  I was concentrating so much on the shaping, that I didn't even realise I was doing the spacing so evenly.












But I do like the effect, even if you have to wave the tag around a bit in certain lights to catch sight of the droplets - I do seem to like to set myself photographic challenges.  You can always feel them with your fingertips if you're in doubt!










I dyed some seam binding with Wild Honey and Picked Raspberry Distress Stains which gave me colour tones that blended nicely with the flowers and butterflies below.










And there you have your April Showers on a tag.

Thanks so much to Cec and the Frilly and Funkie Designers for having me along for the ride - I had a lovely time getting wet and watery! - and I hope it will inspire you to come and splash about in the April Showers at Frilly and Funkie too.

There's a clue in the last couple of posts about where I'll be bobbing up next as a guest, and there's another exciting project in the offing, not to mention those Tudor Tavern dolls.  I hope you'll hop by again soon... but, for now, happy crafting all!

For after all, the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. 
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Roll Out The Bottles

Hello all, and welcome to 2016!  After last night's festivities and a huge post here yesterday (What do you wish for? - an altered book, full of good wishes for you all) I'm going to keep it short and sweet today.

It's the first of the month (in case you hadn't noticed) so we're straight in with a new theme at Country View Challenges and the wonderful Brenda is hoping we'll be Inspired by Bottles.  Well, I hope you weren't too inspired by bottles at midnight last night (whenever your midnight was), and that your glass recycling isn't too full of these today!

Regulars will know that I'm often inspired by bottles -  I alter the real thing (sometimes very wackily), I make them out of leftover acetate packaging (sometimes with extra frosting!) or out of MDF, or layers of crackle over die-cuts, and I've got a whole Pinterest board pretty much full of the things.  You might say I'm not so much inspired by them as obsessed by them, so I was very happy to see this theme come up!  You'll find lots of inspiration from my lovely team-mates over at Country View Challenges, and as always we'll be serving up more throughout the month so do pop back and visit us regularly.

For my first offering I've kept it very simple - an ATC, one of the wonderful PaperArtsy bottle stamps, and some of my favourite translucent Fresco paints, some Glossy Accents and that's really about it.

The Fresco colours are Glass Blue, Blueberry and Limelight, applied in watery washes and blends.  Then there's a thick coat of Glossy Accents which I allowed to dry overnight...

... before adding some delicate stamping to a Distress Ink spritz and flick background...














... some puddles of shadow - each bottle casting its shadow according to the colour of the glass it's made of...

... and a couple of words of wisdom in the form of Remnant Rubs.

No regrets, I think, is a pretty good resolution.  Since there are already adventurous travel plans in place thanks to work, I'm ready for adventure this year too.







And I will continue to work in whatever ways I can for a fairer, more compassionate society, that has something other than money as its beating heart.  I hope that 2016 will bring light and peace... we need it in these increasingly fraught times.  Happy New Year to you all.

Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.

Goran Persson

Crazy Caterpillar

Well, it's been a busy old time here at Words and Pictures, so I'm taking a few days off from Craftyblogland as you read this.  I thought I'd leave you with a bit of fun while I'm having a bit of fun (it's only a couple of days - you won't be rid of me for long!).

This page was just a bit of crazy playtime, letting off steam... so I got out the Crazy Birds.  I tried to feed them a crazy JOFY caterpillar, but I think they're a little bit wary, maybe rightly so!

I'd had the crackly background sitting on the page for a while (and I think it was a cover up of whatever was there before, which I'd given up on), and so I just started stamping JOFY flowers around the place.

I thought they'd make a nice crazy garden setting for the crazy birds.














(I know Cestina will like the "mushrooms".  She's always complaining there aren't enough fungi around here.)













When the crazy caterpillar started climbing one of the stems, I thought, "Ah, crazy dinner!"...














In the long run he got a coat of Glossy Accents and some white doodling.  Maybe that's what scared the crazy birds.













You can tell from the look in his eye that this might mean biting off a bit more than he can chew...











And I think his concerned friend probably agrees!

All the "colouring" is done with PaperArtsy Fresco paints, including on the birds themselves.













There's some Glossy Accents adding light to the butterfly our caterpillar might grow up to be, if the birds don't get him first.











And I've borrowed Alie's trick again of Glossy Accents on the birds' eyes... so that they can keep a beady eye on their prey (or on each other!).












I stamped the words with a Hero Arts alphabet - and added more Fresco paints top and bottom to edge them with "grass" and "sky".











I'm not sure, but I think I prefer the page without the words (though it hasn't got the butterfly either at this stage).  I think the thought is pretty clear even when they're not there.

(Shock, horror!  What, no words?  Now what am I going to call the blog - ... And Pictures?!)










But they're firmly stuck down now, so I guess they're staying... and the birds do look better with a bit of ground to stand on and a bit of shading to bed them in to the page.

So, that's my bit of crazy fun journalling for you.  I'll be back very soon with a slightly more sensible journal page, but one which still has a degree of risk about it.  I remain uncertain whether I'm feeling brave enough to share it... we'll see.

In the meantime, happy crafting all!

The early bird gets the worm.
The early worm... gets eaten.
Norman Ralph Augustine


I'd like to share this with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for their Use a Stamp theme - I've used quite a lot of stamps!
And given that's so, I'd like to play Work It Wednesday at Simon Says Stamp too, where they also want us to Use A Stamp.