Alice Journal and An Announcement

Hi watercolor fans, welcome back to Watercolor Weekend here on the Art Impressions Blog. Today I have my Alice in Wonderland journal and I have an announcement. I will start with the announcement, which is, after a lot of soul searching, it is bittersweet that I have decided to retire from my Watercolor Design Team position. I have been so blessed to have been part of this amazing watercolor team since Bonnie’s vision of expanding the regular line design team in 2017.

I started using Art Impressions stamps in 2016 after I attended a scrapbook show and thought it looked fun. I have always been drawn to watercolor. I jumped in FULL FORCE. It was also my first experience with social media (Instagram).  I set a goal to work with Art Impressions and in July of 2017, I was invited to be a part of the New Art Impressions Guest Design Team. I was beyond excited!

Well, it’s been 7 years and this watercolor community has grown in leaps and bounds. It has been such a pleasure watching you all blossom into your art and encourage each other along the way. I have been inspired, lifted up and humbled by all of you. I sincerely wish each and every one of you joy in your journey and know that I will still be around watching and encouraging you. I am so proud to be part of your tribe.

For now, my heart is telling me that I need to move forward. I will continue to make art in all forms and continue on my journey to see what my next chapter looks like. I wish you all the love and happiness in the world. Thank you for joining me on this wonderful journey!

Alice in Wonderland Journal

Here is the complete Alice journal that I created a while ago.  A couple of the dies are not released yet so I have blurred them here.  I hope you enjoy!

Cheshire Cat / Alice

I started out inking the Rugged Tree and stamping it diagonally to create a tree branch for the cat to sit on.  I used my positioner to place him perfectly on the tree. Next, I added long vines and leaves.  I did this in a couple of layers to get some depth and interest.  I pulled the color out of the tree and added some additional darker values.

For the cat, I pulled the color out of the lines first to create the shadows. Next, I drew in the stripes and face with a pencil.  I stayed with the contours of the cat.  I used my palette to add color.

For Alice, I used the standing Angel stamp without the wings.  I stamped her in brown stamped off to get a light image.  I added color to her from my palette. I extended her hair down, tip: Do her hair first so you don’t fill in color where you want hair.  I grounded her with gray using a back and forth stroke.

Finally, I added in the sky.  To get the really blurry look, use more water than normal.

Dormouse

I started out by stamping in the peeking mouse.  I then masked him off and using my positioner stamped the teapot (inked with blue and brown and stamped off).  I pulled the color out of the where the shadowed areas would be.  Once it was dry, I added the flowers and leaves free hand along with the lace below.  I pulled the color out of the mouse and added some additional color from my palette. To finish it off, I added some brown for the table and blue for the sky.

I used 1 10x14 piece of watercolor paper to create all the paintings. I cut them out with the journal template dies.  I picked some coordinating papers and cut those as well.  I assembled the journal and printed the parts of the story I thought went well with the paintings.  

This was so much fun to do and I loved stretching my stamps.  I hope you have been inspired to create a journal too!

 Here is the entire journal:

 

Again, I have been so blessed these last 7 years and I am so excited to see what the next chapter brings. Have a great day!

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