Sooner rather than Later: You're S'Whale!

I had a little time this weekend and decided to delve into my stack of not yet used stamp sets. This set from Ellen Hutson was calling my name.

Originally I planned to watercolor, but it just wasn't working for me, so I turned to my colored pencils.

I'm using the Spectrum Noir Premium Paper Pad (which is made specifically for colored pencils), and Prismacolor colored pencils.

After stamping all the images, I went in with the colored pencils. For most of the card, I used three shades of blue and started by just adding a kind of ring of color around each of the whales with my medium shade. I was going for a more light and sketchy look, so not pressing hard at all. Then I went in with the with the dark to add a bit more definition just around/on the edge of the whales, finally I used the lightest blue to fill in the larger areas. I did go back with the medium blue to blend and soften the transitions a bit as well.

I wanted a little more interest to the water just beneath that double cluster of tiny fishes, so I added a current of dark/medium blue and blended it into the light blue in that area.

For the algae (which is actually the wave stamp from the set) I used two colors of green and blended those into the blue. Two shades of gray were used to add some shading to the whales.

I wanted to blend the water into the background a bit more at the top of the card, so I softened the transition with a fourth very very light shade of blue.

I finished this off with a dark blue mat and one of the patterned papers from Ellen Hutson's Modern Graphics paper pack.

And, if you need this set, or really anything else from Ellen Hutson, today's the last day of the 20% off Mother's Day sale.