Challenges Combined

I came home early today feeling badly and slept for a long time. I woke up feeling no better but decided maybe stamping therapy might help.  I combined yesterday’s Splitcoaststampers color challenge using River Rock, Black and White with today’s sketch challenge. I never really think of black and white as a color for some reason.  To me they are both basic necessities in art but not really color.  Color is soft or bright, vibrant or muted or warm or cool. Although I love the color of River Rock I feel it almost falls into the same category as black and white. It is bland and very neutral.  I sketched out my trees and fence with an artist pen and sort of groaned in my head that I was going to paint these wood images with black. Black tree bark.  Black fence rails and posts.  It just didn’t feel right to me…but hey….it’s a challenge. As I started laying down River Rock around my sketched trees and fence I felt something come alive in the scene. As neutral as it is it created a soft backdrop for the the harshness of the black images.  After sponging River Rock on the ground and leaf areas of the trees I used my fern stamp to add texture. Hmmmmm……!  I wonder what the scene would look like if I added black fern texture to the leaves and ground as well? The whole scene seemed to come more to life with the black.  The contrast of the River Rock and the black against the crisp white cardstock was striking to me. I wanted to carry my scene from layer to layer and I felt the energy flowing from one to the other.  I didn’t know what to do to add the embellishment section for the sketch challenge.  I kept looking at the two layers and finally came up with the idea to sketch out a simple branch of leaves.  It is a simple embellishment but I love the addition. My head doesn’t feel any better but my creative soul has been fed and that is what I am always striving for.

Stamps: Watercolor Minis Fern

Paper:  River Rock, Black, White

Ink: Adirondack Black Dye Ink and Reinker, River Rock Ink and Reinker

Accessories:  Black, Dark Gray and Light Gray Artist Pens, Watercolor Brush, Sponge Dauber, Grosgrain