Deer at the Stream | Watercolor Weekend | Art Impressions

Who is as excited as I am about the next NEW Watercolor Release from Art Impressions?  It is bulging again!  This week the new Silhouettes (including deer, horses and skaters) and the Vintage Card set. I am so excited as I see all the possibilities for Christmas Cards, Winter cards, masculine cards and cards for any occasion. These amazing deer would be great on any season scene!

The Painting

I started out by inking the WC Stone Creek Scene with N89.  This is a really light gray.  I wasn’t sure where I wanted to place the deer so I wanted to make it as light as possible.  I went back in with some green along the lines to darken them up.

At this point I wasn’t sure how I wanted to place my deer, so I stamped them all onto some post-it tape and cut them out.  I used the masks to move the deer around until I was happy with their placement.  I inked the deer with brown and lifted each one individually so I could make sure they were where I had them.  You could use a positioner but I just decided to wing it (except for the one with his head in the water, he needed to be positioned).

Using my small brush (#1), I added some color from my palette to the rocks.  Make sure to start pulling the color from the bottom and leaving a highlight on top to give them dimension.  I added some additional brown and blue to them to give them some added interest.  I finished them up by using my twintone marker to darken some of the rock shadows.  I added blue and purple to the water making sure that my brush strokes followed the lines of the banks. It is dark on one side fading out to a lighter color.  I also added some 569 to get some shadows into the water.  The areas in front of the rocks would be really dark.

Using the masks I created at the beginning, I covered the two upper deer and inked up the tree line from the Mini Foliage set.  I followed the gray line that was created by the Stone Creek stamp. I added water to soften the lines.   I also pulled some of the color out into the hills making sure to leave it light at the center.  I added some additional green from my palette to the ground, but I didn’t go all the way out, I stayed where the deer and water are.  I added some green shadows under the deer.

Next, I inked the small pine tree from the Mini Foliage set (I love this set!) and stamped it on either side of the card to create a forest illusion 😊.  And as you know, we almost always use the small grass in our paintings and this is no exception.  I stamped it a few places around the rocks and river bank.  I went back in with some additional dark green to highlight the river bank.

For the sky I added some blue from my palette (watered down) and dropped it in several places pushing the color around.  I then use a paper towel to dab and pull some of the color up. I like to leave the hard edges sometimes and soften others.  I took a bit of blue and brown (gray) and added that in the same fashion after the first layer was dry.

I added some water to the deer to soften them, if you push the paint towards the areas that would be the darkest, it creates a nice shadow.  Once they were dry, I darkened some of the undersides of them.  To finish the scene, I thought it needed some trees, Using the tree branch from the Mini Foliage Set (Shocking right) and just stamped it in a few spots, no water required.  I signed and dated.

The Card

I placed the painting in my Big Shot machine and stacked 3 of the stitched rectangle dies about the same space between each die.  I then cut 8 mats, 4 a little smaller than the smallest piece and 4 of the next size up.  The outside piece will be glued directly to the card base.

I stacked up each piece of cardstock by gluing them together.  I added the die cut piece to it.  I glued the entire piece into the middle square.  Do the same thing to the smaller piece.  Add it to the middle of the middle square.  This creates not only dimension but also creates stability (thank  you Jennifer McGuire!).

This project took a little more time but it was worth it.  This makes a perfect card for any occasion including men’s birthday (perfect hunter card!…maybe).

I hope you are all doing well and I really appreciate you spending your time with us.  Make sure to use the #aiwatercolor on Instagram and tag us to make sure we see what you are creating.  I can tell you I am so impressed by each and every one of you and so humbled by your love and appreciation.  Keep painting and sharing…we LOVE it and you!

Have a crafty day!

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