Anniversary

Thanks go to Pat at Gatherings for the idea for my anniversary card. She came up with her puzzle piece swap just about the time I was looking for something to do to celebrate our 32d anniversary.

We have concert tickets for November but I was looking for something for today. Initially I was going to stitch two puzzle pieces that fit together, but time was tight so I made a watercolor. Two, in fact. It doesn't show in the photo but the puzzle pieces are about 1/2" above the background--I used folded paper strips to give some depth. The two pictures follow the same general outline of bands (dunes grass, sand, water and sky) but the proportions are different as are the colors.

I was also going to have two separate pieces that fit together but once it was done it seemed better to leave them together. I wrote a bit on the back.

I never would have thought to do something like this before taking SharonB's Studio Journals class, which got me back into working with paints and such. I used watercolor pencils and a new "water pen" I have to create my paintings. I find I have much more control than with "real" watercolors. I did a layer, wet and blended it. Added another layer on top and blended it. Then added a layer which I didn't blend. I only have about a dozen watercolor pencils and I got loads of different colors by blending.

Then I scribbled on top with a Pigma pen to make the dunes grass and plants. The outline is a black Sharpie outlined all around with a silver Sharpie. Now I'm going to head home for our evening together!