January 9, 2014 Enjoy The Moment

Time is fleeting. Enjoy every second.

Thought for today:  

"Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example."
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613-1680); French author.

        In the last entry I said I would share a few of the more difficult art pieces I have colored. By far the most difficult are those by Thomas Kinkade.  What a talent. What a tragic loss. There are several images I have completed from the many stamps that were created based on his art. If only I were as good and talented. Having the vision and talent caused much jealously in the art world. He was not accepted in the world of art but his works are renowned. For comparison purposes I will include the images from the stamp itself if I remembered to scan it.
        Some stamps are again available at www.cornishheritagefarms.com/. This is the original site for Kincaid stamps and were unavailable for some time after his passing. They are once again selling the stamps in limited choices.
        The first selection is The Gazebo stamp. It is seemingly simple. Kinkade images are never completely simple. Below is the Stamp image. Again remember the overall card is no more than 6" on the long side. This gives you the scale I was working with.

         The  below is my rendition. Pale in comparison to the original. More than a day went into the effort. The card is not all that clear so the image used for the card is included.

         The card is kinda small. the work is not very visible. Below is the colored stamp work used for the card.

        Now the  work it took to do this image is very visible. Sorry I did not write down all of the colors used for any of the Kinkade images. Just suffice it to say there were a LOT OF COLORS used. I am not sure if the colors were recorded on the Ribbon Challenged link. The effort to get the colors as near as possible was a challenge to say the least.

        The next image was also a challenge and inspired a friend of ours to try it as well. She did a real nice job. There is a link to her site to the right. Please visit Cherie's Paper Creations and Inspirations. I don't know if this image is on her site but she is a talented card maker.

Although no card has been created for this next image yet, it is worth mentioning because the colors are subtle and attention to detail are very important when doing this image. Below is my rendition of it.

       As with all of the Kinkade images the effort to copy the colors is difficult. Again at least two days of work. Beautiful art work. Believe it or not it was fun to do. The next image was also fun but the image was highly detailed. This one was a test of patience. It is a favorite just the same. Since the image was done from someone else's stamp collection I do not have a sample I can show but you can be the judge the coloring.

        The clouds and purple tree above the house were tough. The clouds were my first attempt at using the Copic opaque white water color. Obviously it was not thinned out enough to look like clouds. The purple tree was also less than perfect but at the time I had very limited colors available.  Less than thrilled with that but it was acceptable. If you never try you will never know if you can do it. You might just surprise yourself with a little practice. By the way, this one too almost a week to do. Was it worth it? You tell me.

        The last image is also a favorite. Two days of work was worth every second. The above image and the next image were partly done under a magnifying glass. Sounds like tedious work you say! Looks like eye strain city you say! It is I say! Fun I say! Satisfying I say. Yup! Make someone happy they will!

        Unfortunately (I get tired of saying that) I didn't scan the original image (I get tired of saying that too). The above is the finished stamp. Not as good but it will have to do. Sheesh! Sometimes my "I need to remember what to do" gets tangled with my "I should do that" and I get distracted from brain to hand and arrive at "Oh, Nuts I forgot to do that AGAIN." Case in point, No example. The Beatle's "Hard Days Night" just came on the radio. How Appropriate.

        Despite everything I did manage to come up with a decent rendition of a fisherman. AMAZING! JD did a great job on the card didn't she? She does exceptional card creations. Puts a lot of love in them she does. Hope You enjoyed this post. Not sure what the next one will be. As long as you don't go away confused it was a success. Love The Details