2019 #13 Mushrooms: Autumn with EKC {by Chris Dark}

2019 Topic 13: Mushrooms

Well you will be shocked when you see the source of this mushroom! Chris is too clever for words and it is fabulous to see how the mushrooms grew to be! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Chris Dark with you today, and I'd like to share my card for the current mushroom topic.

I always enjoy the spectacular colours of autumn, the bright red, gold, citrus yellow and copper leaves are a welcome shot of colour before Winter sets in. There is a big hit of these colours in mid October at my local natural trust garden because of the variety of tree species they have and I always try to make the most of this time.

Lately we've been trying to think of alternative ways to use our stamps which I'm a big fan of as I like to have lots of options with a stamp set. I was looking at one of Kay Carley's gorgeous older Sets EKC 03 and one of the flowers with down turned seemed ideal for turning into a toadstool. Sorry Kay, I've obliterated all those gorgeous twiddly doodles I love again! So in effect the stamp gave me the base shape for the top of the toadstools therefore no drawing skills are required. Painting the stalk is easy, just two very slightly curved lines filled in with paint, I didn't even draw any lines, I did that part just with the brush and no-one would ever know the toadstools started out as flowers which is the fun part of the process.

I made an autumn stenciled gel print background courtesy of Sara's lovely PS027 stencil and used Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics in Autumn Fire, Limelight, Stone, Cherry Red, London Bus, Caramel, Mustard Pickle, Zesty Zing, Magic Moss, Claret, and Snowflake throughout.

 

I brayered on some paint first of all and took a few prints which left some remnants of paint on the plate and I used the stencil over the top.

I've Sponged various colours and mixes of colours through the stencil with cut and dry foam to build up layers turning the stencil as I went.

Here I allowed the paint to dry completely.

Then I brayered over a thin layer of a light coloured paint and took a print before it dried.

The flower head is stamped in distress oxide ink, using a water based ink allows mistakes to be wiped away if necessary.

I've painted outside the border at the top of one of the flowers to make it a bit larger than the others, angling the stamp in different directions also helps to give the impression that each one is slightly different even though the same stamp has been used.

I've filled in the stamped images with paint using a fine brush to paint the underside line. On the bottom toadstool I completely filled in the shape for variety.

Stone is the base for my stalk with watered down Caramel for shadow and Snowflake for highlights. 

I've added some grasses using paint with a rigor brush but I also used the grass stamp from the set with inks.

The white spots are added with a white gel pen.

There's some dot hatching for shadow and some white paint splatter too.

The card is finished off by adding the sentiment from the set and a doodled dot border.

Love that texture in the background and the subtle effect of the stenciled leaves.

It's a really nice feeling when you create something completely different from a stamp and this technique can help with mapping out a shape if drawing isn't your thing. I'm sure there are lots of other flowers in many other stamp sets that could double up as mushrooms or toadstools for this topic, I hope you'll join in with us if you have a stamp that will work. 

Hope you have some creative time this week.
Chris x

Blog: www.sketchingstamper.blogspot.co.uk
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