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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Craft A Scene - Majestic Mountains No 2

This is my second offering for the Craft A Scene Challenge blog.  This month's theme is Majestic Mountains and this mountain is truly majestic in real life.  I just wish the temperature today was as good as it was when I took the photo that this card is based around.  We might have had sun today, but it is freezing, and my finger tips got frostbite while I was down in the greenhouse getting things emptied for the winter.

Many, many years ago, I went off to France to stay with my French pen friend for three weeks.  I flew from Heathrow to Paris, expecting to be met by my pen friend and her family, get on a train and head off for Nantes, where they lived.  Instead, I was met just by her father, whose English was non-existent.  He worked for the French National Railways (SNCF) so travel on the trains was free, so I was not surprised to head for the Gare d'Austerlitz.  However, I soon realised that we were not going to Nantes but, instead, were heading much further south.  At some stage the engine was actually changed for a steam engine, and we had to change trains at Toulouse to get to Narbonne, where we were met by my pen friend.  From there, it was a local train and bus up the Pyrennees to Vernet Les Bains, where the family had booked a flat in the main square for Easter.  We had a wonderful time there with quite good weather.  My pen friend, her two sisters and I were free to walk in the foothills, even getting right up to the snowline of Mont Canigou.

My original photo was taken one evening at sunset, and is actually far more dramatic that my interpretation.  The basics are there, the fantastic sunlit snow covered peak of Canigou, the folds of the surrounding mountains, and even the building to the right.  However the mountains were far darker, but when I tried to replicate that, it just looked an evil mess.  That was when I decided that I had to start with just the shapes, which I drew in lightly in pencil.  All the colouring in was done with Derwent watercolour pencils and my trusty water brush.  The vividness of the peak was difficult to portray.  I used several thickish layers of white, and then added highlights in quite a bright orange,blending it in.

The trees were two different stamps from Clarity, stamped in Adirondack Bottle, with quite a lot of masking to achieve the smaller trees in the distance.  The birds came from one of the Hobby Art sets.  So all my stamps were easy to place, all being clear, see through polymer.  I started using the burnisher all over and realised VERY fast that ordinary graphite pencil smudges under the burnisher, and I had drawn in the tiles in pencil.  So I had to leave the roof of the cottage unburnished.

Normally, I use quite a narrow border, but I thought this time that a wide black border would suit the image better, and kept it simple by mounting on to plain white pearlescent card.

This is the photo with which I started, and I hope you think I did it some sort of justice.

Spectacular or what?  Mt Canigou at sunset.

 Although we were there for 10 days, this was the most dramatic shot I got.  As you can see, from the next two shots, luck played a great part.

Good shot, but definitely second best

Then, of course, there were the times when the clouds came across -

Not to mention the times when it vanished completely in the gloom

We had a great time up in the mountains, and I always wanted to go back, but I suspect I might lose the magic from my memories if I did.  Still I have my photos to look at and to use.  Hope you like them, and the card they inspired.  I just hope it might have encouraged you to creat a Majestic Mountain scene for this month's Craft A Scene challenge.

6 comments:

Jacqui's little piece of England said...

This is lovely Maggie, what a lovely memories you have

jacqui x

Sally H said...

Wonderful scene, Maggie and your photos are fabulous!

brenda said...

A lovely scene Maggie, you have captured the scenery of the region so well and lovely depth of colour as well.

B x

Linda Simpson said...

Stunning creation Maggie! I love your photographs of the mountains too. I hope you are keeping well.

Hugs
Linda xxx

Hettie said...

Beautiful scene Maggie and glad you showed us the photographs too. Well done you.
xx

Di said...

Gorgeous Maggie! Di xx