four seasons

 I recently acquired a heap of oblong beer mats, a size and shape that were completely new to me but ideal to stamp the tree from the Chocolate Baroque Spinney design-a-tree stamp set.

It took several coats of white gesso to hide the printing before I could decorate them, so it would probably have been easier - maybe not cheaper - to buy some greyboard or MDF shapes!

I used brusho powders as a background, they came out pastelly as the colour soaked into the gesso, but I added a little more after the first layer dried to intensify the colour in places.

The basic tree was stamped with black versafine ink, and then the mini  stamps from the set were used to create the foliage.

The foliage was stamped using a mixture of distress and pigment inks to hide most of the branches, varying the colours according to the season. Mostly greens, white and pink for spring; a mix of various greens for summer, and finally greens, oranges and reds for autumn. The winter tree was left bare.

I used some more of the green brusho to make a base for the trees, and used a black pen to extend the stamp to the edge of the shapes.

The finished trees were added to a 10"x8" canvas board, originally also coloured with blue and green brushos, then stencilled with grunge paste, more brusho added to deepen the colour, and finally some wax rubbed round the edges.

I hadn't tried anything on this scale before, and was quite pleased with the result.

I am linking this to the new challenge on
 Make my Monday, which is 'in the garden', though I may be stretching a point with a mini orchard!