WOYWW - 99

Having been away for Easter, there was no action on my workdesk this week - at least, not at home.  So I thought I would show you some of what I have been up to, and the beautiful surroundings we were in.  Eastnor Deer Park, near Ledbury in Herefordshire, is a fantastic place to spend time.  Peaceful, no street lights, nothing to irritate, unless you have a strong objection to Land Rovers.  As we are members of the Midland Rover Owners Club, we have no problem with lots of the vehicles all in one place and it is a good time to sort out any little niggles with the motors.  There is always someone there who can help.  All you have to do is to lift the bonnet and everyone flocks around to have a look and a chat.

Before we went, I did a lot of stamping and printing out of images to colour in, and had a great time just playing with different mediums and techniques.  I took my trusty old paint box (see previous postings), some Derwent watercolour pencils, some Derwent Inktense pencils and some Derwent Graphics pencils.  I ended up mixing them all up on the same piece of work.  The Inktense are gorgeous but I think I prefer them as accents on a water colour, rather than for the whole project.  It all depends on the effect you want, and you have to remember that I am a beginner just trying things our and experimenting.



Watercolour pencils only



Inktense pencils only





I like both of the above, but I think I prefer the softer look of the watercolour on these Pilkington stamps.  You also need to be very sure you have your colour in the right place with the Inktense, as you cannot work them as much as the watercolour.



Watercolour paints



This is a lovely little stamp from Kaycee and reminds me so much of a fantastic view just outside Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.  The shading is very good and the image is clear and crisp.

Watercolour paints

Cannot remember if this is a Pilkington stamp, but it is very pretty, well cut and shaded.  Doing this taught me a lot about mixing the colours I wanted, especially to get the lavender.  The flowers in the foreground were just the strong vermilion direct from the box with no mixing.  I am still using just the Kuretake water brush, which does most of what I want. 

Embroidery design

This old embroidery design was scanned and then cleaned up before printing out.  I chose not to put in a background and just stick to the original idea.  The only difference in that was in the lady's dress, which I managed to shade.  I think most of the flowers were done with the Inktense, while the lady was done mainly with the watercolour pencils.

This poppy was a print out from Joanna Sheen's Pamela West CD set 2, and I used just the watercolour paints on this one, as I wanted a really vibrant colour for the flowers themselves.  I allowed it to dry and went back several time to darken the shaded areas.  I also had a go at sketching while we were away, but I will show you my results later.  Due to advancing years, I did come to the conclusion that I cannot sketch landscapes "in the field".  If I can see the landscape, I cannot see my paper, and if I can see the paper, I cannot see what I am trying to copy.  So I may have to settle for working from my own photos.  Time will tell.  I am not very good, but I am having fun just trying.

Having gone on at length, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to enjoy the glorious weather.  Now it is time you all went to look at all the other desks linked to Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/   I will try to do better this week with visiting as many of you as possible, but I would like to thank all those who visited me, and I hope I managed to get back to all of you.  Have a lovely May Day and enjoy watching the Royal Wedding and your street parties.