Moon River Silhouettes

It’s a new month which means we have a new challenge at Country View Challenges for March which is Silhouettes.

We would like to see silhouettes as the main focus of your projects for this challenge, which this month is being hosted by the lovely Rachel.

I had so much fun playing around with Tim Holtz products to create my silhouettes page; I hope you like it!

The moon provided a beautiful backdrop silhouetting the trees and the Darling Deer family by the river; it reminded me of my Grandad’s favourite song “Moon River” (grin!).

I started this page by placing and marking out the scene in pencil. This allowed me to apply white gesso to the whole page, ensuring I used horizontal brushstrokes across the sky and the river section which created the texture of clouds in the night sky and the water effect. The gesso acted as a resist and also made it easier to apply and blend the Distress Inks that were used to colour this page.

I used a circle of paper for the moon template and once in place I blended Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks across the sky, keeping the lightest colour around the moon so it looked like it was glowing. I mirrored the colours over the water section and then I removed a circle of ink using a baby wipe to create the moon’s reflection; the gesso retained some of the ink colour to give the watery look and feel. For the land, I applied Forest Moss Distress Ink using a blending tool and then some Ground Espresso Distress Ink to edges of the riverbank. I also added some texture along the riverbabk using an Urban Arts stamp from Tim Holtz and the Ground Espresso ink. The same stamp was used to add the texture to the moon too, this time using Hickory Smoke and Black Soot Distress Ink. I used a black fine line marker to add some grass to the land, the horizon and some ripples across the water which I also detailed using a white gel pen.

The silhouette deer, trees and shrubs were cut from some recycled black card using Tim Holtz Thinlits die sets; the deer family using a Darling Deer Thinlits set, the trees using a Woodlands set and the shrubs using a Funky Florals #1 set. The wording was created using a Doodle Alphabet & Numbers Sizzix Thinlits set and all the silhouettes were stuck in place using matte gel medium.

For more inspiration please see the wonderful Silhouettes creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Country View Challenges.

I hope you are inspired to join us too, if you do, you’ll also have a chance to win a £20 voucher to use on the Country View Crafts (grin!).

This page reminded me of my Grandad, his favourite song was Moon River by Andy Williams.

I bought this lamp to remember my Grandad by, the year he passed away. I call it my Moon River lamp and every night when I turn it on, I’m reminded of him and I normally find myself singing the song too (grin!).

Hoping that you are all staying safe and well!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• 664968 – Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK – Darling Deer By Tim Holtz
• 659765 Sizzix Big Shot Starter Kit (White & Gray)
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Peacock Feathers
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Mermaid Lagoon
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Forest Moss
• Ranger Tim Holtz® Distress Ink Pad – Black Soot
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Chipped Sapphire, Ground Espresso, Hickory Smoke)
• Sizzix Thinlits Die Set (Woodlands 660978 by Tim Holtz, Funky Florals #1 662700 by Tim Holtz, Doodle Alphabet & Numbers 663408 by Sophie Guilar)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous (Urban Tapestry CMS061)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Recycled black card packaging
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium

Challenges I’m pleased to join the Anything But A Card challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with my art journal page. I’m happy to join Paperbabe Stamps and their #138 – Anything Goes challenge with my silhouettes journal page too. I’m also pleased to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge with my Just Breathe art journal page.