Tulips are one of my favourite flowers. Possibly they might even hit the number one spot. So when I saw the Mother’s Day Tulips set in the new Hello Gorgeous release from Simon Says Stamp, then it was a given I wanted to paint it. I pulled on my experience from a ‘the 100-Day Project‘ I attempted a while back. I can’t remember how far I got into the 100 days, not many I’m sure. However, I do remember painting a tulip study and if you are interested I’ll put some of the photos I took of that below. Also below, you will find details of a blog hop to celebrate the Hello Gorgeous release.

I’ve linked all supplies with compensated affiliate links used where possible at no cost to you.

watercoloured tulips

There’s even a little video footage in the 100-day project on Instagram. However, I’m not getting many videos done currently, but I did snap a couple of photos as I started this card.

Last Christmas my Mum bought me this table easel. It’s not small I will tell you, however, I am finding I reach for it often. It means I can paint and keep my back more upright, in fact my general posture is much better than hunched over my desk. I stamped the Mother’s Day Tulips set in Antique Linen Distress ink on Arches cold-pressed watercolour card and painted with Daniel Smith watercolours. Here you can see me starting on the leaves as is my preference. I like to ground the image with my favourite greens and then work from there.

After I got the first layer of greens down on the stems and leaves, I started on the flowers. I remembered the photograph which inspired my ‘the 100-day project’ and painted the tulips with purple hues. You can see here the light layers I add to start with before continuing to build the colour with successive layers until you eventually end up with the finished card. 

Once I’d finished the painting, I splattered with leftover paint and white gouache and when dry trimmed to fit on a card base cut and scored from Neenah Desert Storm card. I wrapped the front panel with twine and attached to the base with foam tape.

For the sentiment, I took a greeting from the Mother’s Day Tulips set and stamped it in Versmark ink on Ivory card and heat embossed with Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I die cut the sentiment with a Nested Circles die and attached on to the card with more foam tape.

I embellshed the card with Lilac Blooms sequins and enamel dots. Are you like me and have many enamel dot sheets left over from years gone by? I recently had a tidy up and separated the dots into rainbow order so now when I want a green enamel dot I know where to go, rather than having to dig through sheet after sheet of them. I keep them in these pockets from Simon Says Stamp. One pocket per colour.

more inspiration

Here’s some more inspiration using products from the Hello Gorgeous release. This uses the Mom’s Spring Flowers set with a greeting from the Garden Boots set. You can find the original post here.

the 100-day project

Here’s a snapshot of the tulip painting I did for the 100-day project a few years back where I took my initial inspiration photo and studied it before starting out on the final piece. If this type of project isn’t for you, then please scroll down to the blog hop below.

I took this original photograph on a trip to Amsterdam. The tulips were amazing and I could’ve taken photographs for ever!

From this picture I pulled out a colour swatch palette. and played around with it in my sketchbook. I love to experiment with ideas in a sketchbook and find them a valuable part of my process.

Using my sketchbook experiements as a guide I painted the initial layers of the tulip painting. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this walk down memory lane with me and that seeing some of these initial drawings and the first layers of painting on my easel above, make up in some part for the lack of videos at the moment.

blog hop

As mentioned above, to celebrate the Hello Gorgeous release from Simon Says Stamp, this post is part of a blog hop. Hopefully, you’ve arrived here from Laura’s blog but if not then a good place to start is Simon’s blog. As with all good hops, there are offers and giveaways.

• Use code HBD322 to get the 3×4 Birthday Wishes stamp set FREE with purchase! This promotion will expire 3/27 at 11:59 pm EDT.
• Simon is giving away a $25 coupon from comments left on each stop of the hop. Winners will be announced on the Simon blog on Wednesday 30th March. 

Now it is time to hop on over to Amanda’s blog. Here’s the full hop list to keep you on track.

Simon Says Stamp Blog  

Laura Bassen

Debby Hughes

Amanda Korotkova

Amy Rysavy

Miriam Prantner

Bibi Cameron

Barbara Tarayao

Alberto Gava

Vicky Papaioannou

Heather Hoffman

Lea Lawson

Tina Smith

Emily Midgett

Jennifer Kotas

Seeka

supplies

You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or shop icon to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you! Items marked with an asterisk (*) provided by a store or the manufacturer. You can read my affiliate and product disclosure here. I genuinely appreciate your support.