Brayered Winter Twilight Redwood Landscape

I had the opportunity to take two brayering classes this past weekend by Michelle Zindorf.  If you don’t know who Michelle is, she’s an artist who has been teaching the art of brayering and sponging scenery for the past six years as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.  To say she’s an expert is putting it mildly.  Luckily one of the last classes she’s doing on the road was held this past weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida – just a short two hour drive from my house.  

Six and a half hours later, I had completed her beginning and advanced brayering class.  I by no means do I consider myself an expert, but I now have a great foundation to create my own artwork and feel comfortable enough to teach this technique. 

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that if I had a mascot it would be the redwood tree.  So I broke out my retired set Plant Hope for that cute little trio of trees.  Here is the result – it’s not perfect, and I have Michelle’s voice in my head for reminders on her technique, but I love it.

Creative Tips:

• I used four shades of blue to create my sky and water with my brayer – Tempting Turquoise, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy and Midnight Muse.
• Be sure to start and end off your paper with your brayer.  This will help prevent those harsh looking lines.
• Window sheets or the sheet from the Stamp-a-Majig are a necessity to create the reflection in the water.
• To give my trees height, I used a Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker to extend the trunks.
• Rather than have my trees be black in the twilight, I chose to use the Versamark and Always artichoke ink pads in conjunction with the Chocolate Chip Marker and Versamarker.  I then embossed the images with clear embossing powder.
• I added some green shrubs along the base of the trees and went over with the versamarker and clear embossing powder to help keep a light snowfall on the ground.
• To give the illusion of water, I used our White Gel Pen to create water ripples.

• I didn’t want the card itself to take away from the scenery that I created, so I chose to give a little pop of Whisper White with a 1/16th inch border before matting it on Chocolate chip.  I then gave the Chocolate Chip the same 1/16th inch border.  Any more, and it would have taken away from the image.
• These little brayered sceneries are works of art.  Take pride in your creation, sign the lower corner!

I wanted my Christmas card to stand out this year, so I decided to send my father this handmade little masterpiece, dad I hope you’re not looking – if so, act surprised when you get it!  I know he’ll treasure it.  It’s completely imperfect – I made several mistakes, but I know he’ll love it just the same, how could he not – his little girl made it for him!

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Stamp Sets – Plant Hope (retired), Sweet Essentials (128315) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Chocolate Chip (102128) Ink – Midnight Muse (126860), Marina Mist (126962), Not Quite Navy (126971), Tempting Turquoise (126952), Versamark (102283), Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker (119680) Cool Tools –Brayer (102395), Stamp-a-Majig (101049), Heat Tool (129053), The Perfect Finish – Clear Embossing Powder (109130), Gold Embossing Powder (109129)