Thursday 11 April 2013

Muse Card Club...!

Hi guys!

I have FINALLY pulled my finger out and joined in with the new(ish) Muse challenge!  I always love a new challenge, and this one is a little bit different - the participants choose the winners!  I mean, how did no one think of that before?!  You are judge by a panel of your peers - perfect!


Anyways, on to the inspiration.  This is the fabulous card by this weeks' muse Therese;


I have followed Therese's blog for a while now and she just creates show stopper after show stopper!  It's quite unfair really!  ;)  Actually, all of the muses on the panel are designer crushes of mine - this is partly why I haven't been brave enough to have a go myself until today!  

Before I get to the card, I would like to thank Therese for inspiring me to get back to 'my roots'.  When I was young (around 9/10 I think?!) I lived next door to a fabulous woman who was the most outstanding artist I've ever had the pleasure of knowing.  Since I can remember, I have always had a pencil in my hand and if I wasn't drawing then I was learning a new Calligraphy alphabet/technique...you get the picture...  One day, I was in my neighbours house and I was looking at all her artwork that she had on the walls and I realised that she had done every single painting and incorporated calligraphy into many of them.  Half jokingly, I asked her if she'd mind teaching me how to paint in watercolours, to which she said yes!  So, from then on, every Saturday afternoon from 2:30 until 5:00 I would go over to her house and we would paint!  Even when we both moved we still kept up the tradition until I left to go to University when I was nearly 19 :)  In fact, those sessions were my 'in' to card making!  I used to paint small watercolour scenes and use them for Christmas cards and special birthdays.  As life got busier, I didn't have the time to sit for hours painting, so I started making the kind of cards I make now :)  I do miss our afternoons and I really miss painting too.  

Anyway, slight tangent and random history lesson there, but seeing Therese's card made me think that I needed to grab my watercolour pencils (cheating - I know!!) and 'paint' these roses!  So that's what I did...and I LOVED every minute of it!!!!  It turned out much better than I was expecting it to if I'm honest!  I've never had much faith in watercolour pencils, I'm a bit of a traditionalist I suppose, but they worked really well :)  Needless to say, I'm looking for more things to paint now!  I may even be tempted back in drawing too - we'll see ;)

Right, enough rambling, here's my card!  That's what we're all here for after all!


So there you go, my little bit of nostalgia in a card  :)  I really enjoyed it, so for once, it doesn't matter if no one else likes it!  Ha ha!  You all know what I mean ;)

Thank you for stopping by ;)









Supplies
Card:     Paper Mill Direct - White, Grape
Stamps: Kanban - Roses; Waltzingmouse - Big Day Essentials
Ink:        SU! - Black; Ranger - Perfect Medium
Other:    Daler Rowney watercolour pencils; WOW! - Ebony e/p

16 comments:

  1. Absolutely beautiful, Sian! Wow!

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  2. Gorgeous shading - wow! And what a great story - we need more people who are willing to mentor young people - I'm sure you learned lots more than just art from her! This is a super elegant take on the Muse and I'm so glad you played along!

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  3. You are a goofball if you think no one else will like this? They will LOVE this! I'm glad you joined the MUSE group!

    I thoroughly enjoyed your sentimental journey back to your artistic roots, Sian. What a wonderful, generous artist neighbor you had to spend the afternoons teaching you for all those years. And she did a wonderful job, too! Your skills are phenomenal and using them is not only answering your inner callings, it is a tribute to her!

    I hope you do paint more (and there's nothing cheating about pencils IMHO) and draw more. I think I speak for many others when I say we would love to see your original artwork on your cards. I often tell card artists that their cards should be framed. I having a feeling all your work will be worthy of framing!! Stay the course! Mwah! Darnell

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  4. Absolutely beautiful Sian. Your colour and light source is perfect, this is something that I totally need to work on. Thanks for your lovely comment, I'm only just glad that you were able to join us at Muse and hope that you will get a chance to share with us again.

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  5. Gorgeous colouring ...ur...painting! I love how you've made your image almost float across the page. Love to see some more of your work.

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  6. Great job on the "painting". Your flowers are just beautiful.

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  7. AMAZing...we don't like it we LOVE it!

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  8. This is beautiful, so vintage looking. And the style of the sentiment goes so well with the roses :)

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  9. Pencils are not cheating, especially when the flowers come out looking like this. A-maz-ing! And yes, do get back to painting. I'm not very good but enjoy my once-a-week art class.

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  10. Oh my goodness, your flowers are beautiful! Stunning card!

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  11. Gorgeous. This is one of my favorites in the Muse challenge.

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  12. Beautiful color, delicate shading, lovely font,and an abundance of white space...... so pretty and feminine!

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  13. Hi, Sian! thank you for sharing your story - it really moved me, and reminded me that often our seemingly-inconsequential actions can very much change another person's life. A beautiful story, thank you! I wish your rose was a stamp image - it is the prettiest I've ever seen (I collect rose images LOL) - absolutely fabulous. If you ever want to have a rubber stamp line, let me know and I will refer your artwork to my friend who presses her own rubber and owns an international business. Now... for your cards... SO GORGEOUS! Elegant, delicate, colorful, beautiful. Thank you again for a delightful time on your blog. hugs, de
    {Creative Smiles}

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  14. Popping back to congratulate you, little one, for the well-deserved HM from MUSE for your brilliant card!!

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