Summer sketches - Part 2

Here is another batch of sketches done in Pescina (L'Aquila). It has been very hot during the past week, and was almost impossible to stay outside during the day because of the heat....got sunburnt one morning at 10am while sketching under the sun! Best time was in the evening around 8pm when the sun was setting behing the mountains, the colours were magnificent...not very well captured in the sketches above :(

Summer sketches - Part 1

We are finally off to Italy for a well deserved summer break! First stop is Pescina, up on the mountains of Abruzzo, in central Italy, to visit my partner's family.

The town is in the middle of what used to be a lake, il Fucino, drained in 1875. Nowadays it's a patchwork of cultivated land surrounded by the Sirente-Velino and Vallelonga mountains.

Pyracantha coccinea - Step by step

The Pyracantha coccinea is ashrub which produces masses of white flowers in May that turn into red berries in late autumn. There is plenty of those where I live; I picked a small branch on my way home from work about a month ago. First thing I did was to draw the branch on tracing paper; I then marked the outline with a Staedler fineliner.

I transferred the picture on Fabriano Accademia watercolour paper and masked the whole of the drawing.

I used a bright orange for the background to match the orange theme in my living room. Did two washes as the first one was too pale after drying.

I then removed the masking fluid and re-applied it only on the flowers and stems in front of the leaves.

I painted the leaves with three different shades of green, then removed the masking and painted the stems. The outline of the drawing was however not very precise as the tool used for applying the masking fluid had a large tip. So I decided to outline the edges with a black pen, and this is the final result.

L Letterpress Combo Kit Review

I finally got it!!! I've been looking into this letterpress for months now and was not sure if it was worth the money due to its bad reviews almost anywhere on the internet. Then I came across a review from PaperCrave which led to another review from Boxcar Press, and guess what..I thought maybe it is worth trying!!! My boyfriend was in San Francisco last week......what better than this as a birthday present...and although the extra weight he had to carry...here it is, my brand new letterpress.

So I gave it a go with the basic tools provided, including some extra tips from Boxcar and these are the results:

1st attempt

2nd attempt...much better!

I can see where this tool lets you down a bit...the supplied plates are cheap, very cheap!!

You cannot expect professional results, but overall I was quite excited with the potential of it, especially if you can get customised photopolymer plates! In addition the tool comes with die cuts (round shapes only, but I'm planning to buy different shapes):

You can also buy embossing folders which give you the most amazing effect:

I'm now waiting for some coloured paint and more plates to arrive.....