I made this card for a friend of mine. I had intended to make a Christmas card for her, but ran out of time. :( So I made this more general winter card instead. Her favorite color is blue, so I wanted an image that would be realistically blue, but still winter-themed. I initially thought of using a hellebore image, but discovered in my online research that they are more late winter/early spring flowers. So I turned my thoughts to birds, and googled blue winter birds, & found indigo buntings that way. So then the thing became to find a bunting image. Since I knew I had none in my stamp stash, I went to Pixabay.com, and did a search there. This is a great website for images, since they are all royalty-free and you don't have to pay to use them. I found this graphic of a bunting there. I downloaded it, opened it in Photoshop, and sized it to fit the main panel in my chosen sketch. I lowered the opacity of the image so it would print lighter, since I wanted to do no line coloring. I also flipped the bird horizontally, so it would face towards the greeting & I wouldn't have to rework the sketch. Finally, I printed it onto a piece of watercolor paper. This was my first time using the Kilimanjaro paper, and I like it pretty well.
I used my Mission Gold watercolors to paint the bird & branch, using the photo of the bunting I'd found via Google as a reference. When the paint was dry, I went in with a white gel pen to add a bit more definition to the feathers on the bird's wing. I'm not sure if I like it, but it's not bad. I went over the eye with a black glaze pen, and when that dried, added a highlight with my white gel pen. I also inked around the edges of the panel with Stormy Sky, to give the bird a bit of a "glow."
I cut a few different patterned papers from my scrap stash for the remaining panels. I stamped my greeting, from "Color Layering Cardinal," in Versafine Onyx Black onto one of the patterned papers. I adhered everything to a piece of dark blue cardstock, and mounted that to a white A2 card base.
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2019 GMT Views: 354
Favorited:3
Registered: February 3, 2005 Location: Delray Beach, FL Posts: 34769
Thu, Jan 31, 2019 @ 12:41 PM
Oh, Andrea! Your coloring is exquisite, and you've truly done a wonderful sketch card. Love your DP and the absolutely stunning card! I love every bit of this card and so will Linda. Truly wonderful that you found this digital image and also found inspiration for coloring it! You are amazing, my friend, and your coloring continues to impress me so much! Warm hugs and love! xoxo
------------------------------ Cheryl
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