Bunnies & a Village by Karen Day

 Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

  It's Watercolour Weekend time, and I have a couple of projects to share today.

First, something spring-like:

I stamped the bunny on a stump from 5737 - Bunny & Chicks Set in N57, as I wanted softer lines for my scene.  After masking him and the pot, I began building my bouquet, with all the flowers from 5794 Whimsical Flowers, and the leaves from 5795 - Berries.  After pulling the colour out of the lines with a damp brush, I built up the shadows & shading on the bunny using N57 - keeping most of him unpainted, as I wanted a white bunny, and did the same with the daisies, adding a little extra grey in some areas to indicate shadows.  I used #533 on the bluebells, which is a lovely lilac/blue colour, again adding layers of colour where I wanted it to be darker.  #565 was used for the foxglove-like flowers, and I used both #126 and #177 on the leaves, as I find two colours make them a little more interesting!

I mixed together #565 and #177 to create the blue/green shades of the pot, adding touches of the 533 and 565 as shadows.  For the stump, I used several shades of brown (992/969/947) mixing and layering them in the crevices to create the darker and warmer shades of the bark.  With the larger grass from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1, and #177 - I added in the grass, painting it out and adding it as a wash along the ground.  A wash of #493 was painted as the sky (it's very faint in the photo!), and I added a few dots to my scene using my black Twintone marker.

I cut out my scene using 5061 - Square Double Stitched dies, and my sentiment, which is from 5734 - Friend Sentiments Set, was cut with 5064 - Circle Double Stitched Dies.  Both were matted with some pale blue cardstock and added to my patterned background.

My second card has been in the back of my mind for a few months.  Last fall my husband and I visited Mont Tremblant, a ski resort just north of Montreal - and the 5746 - SF Village stamp reminds me so much of the village!  Scroll down and you'll see a photo that was my inspiration.

I stamped the Scenic Foundation onto my Canson XL watercolour paper using Tombows #969/565.  I picked my warm and bright palette of: #993/837/373/476 to paint the buildings, layering the colours to create darker, shaded sides and keeping the sunnier sides brighter.  #837 was also used for the chimneys.  Layers of #N57 were painted onto the planters, sidewalks and to create the cobblestones.  Several layers were painted to create the chalkboard sign.  I used #249 along with the leaves stamp from 4052 - Flowers set 1 as the shrubs in the planters, and the small green from 4867 - Foliage Set 2 to create the greenery in the flower boxes.  After softening them with a damp brush, I used the Bleed Proof White Paint to add dots that became flowers in the boxes.  The mountains and hillsides were suggested behind the buildings with washes of #565/177.  #565 was also used to add shadows under eaves, in doorways, on planters and in the windows.   A wash of #493 was added to the sky.  

I like to leave a little white space around my paintings, so I selected one of the 5063 Rectangle A2 Double Stitched dies to cut out my image, then mounted it with some 3D foam adhesive to my card base.  A few enamel dots were sprinkled around it.  Here's a photo of Mont Tremblant: