Dienstmarke Tulip - Postcard

I love tulips and each spring I can hardly wait for them to push their way out of the ground.  It's a sure sign that spring is just around the corner.  We have early variety tulips that first appeared around February 21 this year and whose buds opened last week on St. Patrick's Day.  These tulips bloom so early that they have even been snowed on, as this picture from March 2009 shows.

Don't the red flowers look pretty against the white snow?  This clump of tulips is still going strong which tells you how hardy they are.

Since I have tulips on the brain right now, I decided to make one the subject of a mixed media postcard.  The look I was going for was a vintage botanical print.  I painted my tulip on 140 lb watercolor paper and used a brown Prismacolor pencil for outlining and shading.  However, I didn't like the way it looked so I stood over the sink and sprayed the paper with water until a lot of the paint and some of the pencil ran off, leaving a muted version of the tulip which I then reworked with more watercolor, colored pencil, distress ink and a sepia-colored artist pen.

I added a scrap of vintage book text and a German postage stamp from the 1920s, then sponged scattered straw and gathered twigs distress ink around the edges.  The Berlin cancellation was stamped with black soot distress ink, which is just about the same color as a real cancellation mark.  The final step was to stencil additional distress ink through a piece of punchinella.

This postcard was popped into a clear envelope and is now en route to a very special person.  It's my way of sending a bit of Midwestern spring from my house to hers.

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Spring!

Supplies:
Strathmore 5x7 hot press 140 lb watercolor postcard; Schmincke Horadam watercolors; Prismacolor Premier pencils; Pigma Micron sepia pen; scattered straw, gathered twigs and black soot distress ink; vintage book text and postage stamp; cancellation image by Stampa Rosa; splatter background stamp by All Night Media; punchinella.

O Tannenbaum - Postcard Mail Art

This is the postcard I sent to my December partner in the Envie Addicts Unite exchange.

I started by adhering Tim Holtz tissue paper to a watercolor postcard.  To that I added a layer of spray ink through a polka dot stencil.  The additional colors came from Gelatos.  I created the Christmas tree by collaging old postage stamps to a separate piece of watercolor paper cut into a tree-shape.  Stickles added some necessary glitz to this card.

Have a fabulous day!

Tulipa China Pink - Mail Art Postcard

After a cold February, the second week of March has treated us to some beautiful days with above average temperatures.  I took advantage of the warm weather to clean some leaves off the flower beds and discovered that our daffodils, hyacinths and tulips (my favorite) have emerged!  Spring is not far away now.

I decided that even though tulips are more associated with May around here, I just had to use them as my theme this month.  I pulled out a coffee table book of tulip photography that I've had for years and chose a pair of China Pink tulips as my subjects.  I lightly sketched them in pencil on a 5x7 postcard, then colored them with Derwent watercolor pencils using a Niji water brush.  The black accents were added with a fine point Sharpie.

On the address side, I wrote one stanza of a poem about tulips.  Gotta love a poem that uses the words brazen and hussies to describe a flower!  The complete poem is reproduced below for your pleasure.

I hope there are signs of spring in your neighborhood this week.  Enjoy!

Supplies:
Strathmore 140 lb hot press watercolor paper; Derwent watercolor pencils; black Sharpie pen; bee stamp by Inkadinkado; Ranger Archival black ink; Krylon silver leaf pen; Tim Holtz alphabet stencil.

Spring Flowers - Tulips

~ Mary Havran

Tulips shyly smiling, greet the spring
Tightly closed when at
First we meet
Tulips slowly opening, begin to sing
Gaining volume
Ever sweet

No longer shy, as days grow longer,
Raising their heads
They begin to flirt
Tulips dressed in many a color
Breezes swirling
Each floral skirt

Tulips, brazen painted hussies,
Part their bright lips trying to seduce
The busy buzzing bees
Far too bold for dainty tussies
Vibrant tulip flowers produce
Visions certain to please.