Christmas Evergreens

Christmas Evergreens

Hi Creative Friends,

I am sharing one of my very favorite styles of cards, the Winter forest scene. Even though this scene doesn’t include wildlife, I still love the evergreen trees against the beautiful night sky which was created using vibrant Brusho crystal watercolors.

The beautiful selection of trees is from the All Things Evergreen stamp set by Penny Black.

 

The first order of business in creating this card is to create the sky. So, I first cut an elongated watercolor paper panel and generously splattered it with masking fluid and let the panel dry thoroughly.

By the way, if you want to create a moon then this is a good time to use the masking fluid and paint it in. I was so anxious to use my Brusho paints, I forgot to do this in the beginning so I had to add it by using cardstock… more on that later.

When the masking fluid was good and dry, I began painting the sky. I used the same technique as I did in previous projects. If you would like to see a step-by-step video using this technique, click here. Otherwise, I will briefly describe the steps below.

First, I brushed on a thin layer of clean, clear water to the sky area only. I was very careful not to get any water on the snowy ground (if this sounds confusing, check out the video).

With the sky area wet, I sprinkled on patches of Brusho Crystal paint. On the left side, I used mostly Grey Brusho. The center was sprinkled with blue Ultramarine Brusho. Then, a patch of Purple Brusho was added on the right side. I let the paints mingle with the water and lightly brushed the paint to blend. The dry crystals of color in the Brusho paints are very strong, so I didn’t use very much… just a few sprinkles.

When I was satisfied with the sky, I let it dry thoroughly. It is important to get this panel very dry before proceeding to the next step.

Next, using a stamp positioner, I stamped the trees, one at a time, using Versafine Black Onyx ink. This is waterproof ink so it won’t bleed if you want to touch up the watercolor painting later.

Now that the trees were stamped, using a touch of grey Brusho paint, I added some shadows below the trees.

Once dry, I rubbed off all the masking fluid splatters, revealing the water dots that resemble snow. Since I didn’t add the moon earlier, I cut a circle of watercolor paper and glued it on the sky, then lightly painted it with a little grey and blue paint used earlier.

With that complete, I made the scene a little bit more snowy by tapping a little bleedproof white ink onto my work surface, adding a little water, then using a brush, generously splattered it over the card panel, especially on the edges..

To finish, I stamped the sentiment with Versafine black onyx ink, then mounted the front onto a slightly larger navy blue cardstock panel. This matted front was then mounted onto a white card base.

And there you have it… a serene Winter night scene. 

 

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