I had such fun painting this card! I love images with space to get a bit creative. And when you have a person to colour, it’s a bit like dressing up when you were a child; you have total flexibility to choose colours and styles. 

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Art Impressions 2023 STAMPtember Set

Today is the turn of Art Impressions for their limited edition STAMPtember 2023 set. It has such a gorgeous autumn theme but a fun style, too!

how to draw attention to a focal point

Here are a few suggestions to draw attention to a focal point.

• Stamp the image off-centre. The rule of thirds suggests that a focal point should be placed at the intersection of a grid – top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left. Effectively, off-centre is supposed to be more appealing to the eye. 
• When colouring, include some dark areas, particularly next to light areas. The eye is drawn to the contrast between shadows and highlights. 

• Include white space – these areas don’t have to be white. They have to be calming so that the focal point is the star of the show. I did keep the rest of the card panel white, though, except for the hint of blue to suggest a sky.
• Nestle accents around the image to demonstrate that the focal point is where we should be looking. I dotted sequins, pearls and the sentiment panel, making a pleasing triangle around the image. 

• I love colour, which may surprise you as I often go for a muted palette. However, colour plays a key part whether you like muted tones or rainbow brights. Complementary colours play well together. These are colours opposite each other on the colour wheel. In this case, I used a lot of green and red. The apples, naturally, but also her trousers and the stripes on her t-shirt. 

So, there you have it, my take on a few tips to draw attention to a focal point. Don’t forget to check out the Art Impressions set, once it’s gone, it’s gone!

stamptember

In previous years I have found it helpful to put a summary of the STAMPtember events for reference. I will try to take part as much as possible, but I’m still not at full speed and so I will pop in during the month as best I can. Here’s the calendar of events as it stands so far:

• 01 September Simon Says Stamp Own Brand release
• 02 September treasure hunt blog party
• 03 September Heidi’s birthday!
• 04 September Lawn Fawn – sold out
• 05 September Picket Fence Studios stamp set and stamp set with matching dies
• 06 September Gina K stamp set and stamp set with matching dies
• 07 September Art Impressions stamp set

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.