Snowman and Fairy Scene by Karen Day

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I'm kicking off the 2025 Watercolour Weekends with a wintry valentine card - or just a generic winter birthday card if you like.  Here in Canada, it's still snowy way past Valentine's Day, so I decided to use 5060 - WC Snowman Set for my scene:

I stamped him in #N55 grey, as I didn't want a brownish cast at all, but since his twig arms are separate, I stamped them using #969, then pulled out the colour with a damp brush.  I used a pencil to sketch in the heart dangling from his arm, and added a bow & string.  I picked up some #847 that was on my palette to added layers of colour to the heart, keeping the center area lightest - and did the same on the small heart that I drew on his hatband.  Layers of #N55 and #N25 were painted on his hat and coal buttons to suggest that they are shiny and black.  #407 and #126 were painted onto his scarf and hatband for a bright pop of colour.  I used my #933 marker directly on his nose, just colouring the underside, and softened it with a damp brush.  To finish, I added a wash of #565 as the sky, and used it to add shadows to the snow and his body.  I like to echo a few of the colours used, so there are faint areas of #847 painted onto the snowman's side nearest the heart.

I used the 5064 - Circle Double Stitched Dies to cut him, out and matted him on a larger dark grey circle.  5734 - Friend Sentiments Set provided the sentiment, and was cut out with the small tag from 5132 Tag Stitched Dies.  A tiny heart from 5721 - Nested Heart Dies was added to the corner.  The background paper is from 5853 - Christmas Magic PP, and the finished card size is 5 1/4" square.

My second card was a little more involved!  Whimsical doesn't come naturally to me - I'm more of a realist when I paint, so I typed "Magical Fairy Houses" into Google images to get some inspiration.  I wanted a warm colourful scene - and I think I achieved it!  

I used two houses from the 5916 - Woodland Castle set, positioning them both on my block using the carrier sheet for 5377 - WC Fenced Scene to determine placement, and stamped them with #N55, then created masks of both houses.  With the masks in place, I stamped the Scene overtop, colouring the hills in #158, and the fence in #969.  I added two rocks from 5414 - WC Small Rocks Set around the houses in #N55.  The stump from 5413 - WC Weathered Stumps was added in #969 in the foreground, then toadstools from 5788 - Whimsical Mushrooms were added near the house, and behind the stump.

Before adding any colour to my scene, I created my sunrise sky by adding a fair bit of water as a base, then dropped in #991/885/565 while it was still wet, so that the colours blended together seemlessly.  With my mask still in place, I added the two eucalyptus sprigs from 5920 - Long Stem Foliage Set in #407 behind the larger house, and painted in the leaves using 407.  A sprig from 4963 - WC Fall Set was added behind the smaller house with #245.  I'm just going to list all of the marker colours used in the scene - not each location, so if you need any more info, just leave me a note in the comments.

Yellows: 993/991 Orange: 933 Blues: 565/403 Greens: 126/245 Browns: 947/969 Pink: 725 Purple: 676 Grey: N55.

I used two of the fairies from the 5345 - Fairy Cubbies Set, and stamped them with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on my Canson XL Watercolour paper.  I used Copic markers to do their skin and hair, due to the fine nature of the areas I needed to colour in.  They were cut out with their matching dies, and adhered to the scene with thin 3D foam adhesive.  Oh - and a little Wink of Stella was added to their wings for some glimmer!  The sentiment is from 5935 - Fairytale Houses Set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.

The scene was a little too large for an A2 card, so I matted in on black, and then used 3D foam adhesive to attach it to a 5 1/4" piece of paper from the 5873 - Mini Birthday PP. *I realized after photos were edited, that I forgot to add in the doorknobs!  So just imagine they're dark grey...  Happy painting!