Critters aren’t always my favourite things to paint. However, these Puffins had me with their edgy, quirky style. I mean puffins with party hats and balloons? Definitely!

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simon cozy hugs new release

Before I jump into more about this card, please check out the new Cozy Hugs release from Simon Says Stamp. There are such a lot of fun products for the season ahead.

critters with party hats & balloons? definitely!

I tucked the party hat Puffin just a little behind the balloons one and set about painting. I had such fun with these wee guys! I spent some time on google before getting started, looking at what puffins colouring is like, and I also googled ‘watercoloured puffins’ too so I could see how other artists had dealt with the black and white feathers. My conclusion was to go for blacks and blues for the dark areas and light greys for adding shading to the white areas.

Before starting to paint, I used a permanent marker for the puffins eyes and the balloon strings. Getting these in first meant they wouldn’t get lost when the paint layers went on. The key feature of Puffins are their beaks, and I went for a coral underlayer with brighter red stripes over the top. That, along with their brightly-hued legs, makes them so distinctive.

I always like a nice balloon to paint. I picked out blue to go with the hints of blue in the black plumage and green, well, because I love green, and it added a natural feel. I picked the violet for the party hat to keep with a colour scheme on the cool side of things. A light splatter with left over paint and Perfect Pearls finished it off.

I die cut the painting with a Basic Rectangle and then for the sentiment comes from the Balloon Greetings set simply stamped in Versamark ink on Black card and white heat embossed. Then I mounted the finished panel on Neenah Desert Storm card.

supplies

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