Flowers of the Frost

Hello, everyone!  I'm delighted to have you stop by here for a visit.  It's a snowy morning here and so the title of this post is rather appropriate!  We're almost into March and I'm dying to see some of the flowers of the frost.  What are they you ask?  Well, they are the tiny little bulbs that brave the cold of winter and pop up to bring brightness to the dull winter landscape. I've loved them for years because they are a harbinger of what is to come with the spring and summer.  I love my garden and every year I add new plants and shrubs.  I also add some of these little gems.  I tuck them into small areas where I can see them from the windows on  a cold blustery day.  Years ago I read the quote attributed to Gertrude Wister that says "The flowers of late winter occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size."  I agree with that wholeheartedly!  So, I've wanted to do a project incorporating that sentence for a long time.  Finally, I've done one! 



I'm always cutting pictures and whole pages out of magazines and keeping them in file folders.  The biggest folder is one that is filled with flower pictures.  So, as you might imagine, many of the pictures are of those little gems of late winter.  That was the starting point of this canvas.  I covered the canvas with gesso and when that was dry I added fiber paste to some areas with a palette knife to  add some texture.  I used a combination of  paint and stains in Bundled Sage, Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce, and Shaded Lilac.  I also used Lindy's Stamp Gang Glitz Spritz in Cactus Gold add some shimmer.  When it was completely dry I did some stamping with Watering Can archival ink. A technique I learned from Seth Apter and that I use a lot is cross hatching with paint and a credit card to create some texture and color on a canvas. I did some of that, adding more color and texture to the background. I glued down the magazine clipping of potted snow drops and crocuses and then dry brushed it with gesso to blended it in and weather it some.  I printed the quote on cardstock and cut it out attaching it to grunge board to pop it out. I darkened the edges with Weathered Wood DI and used my finger to lightly rub some gesso over it.  I wanted to high light one of the snow drops so I used a stick on acrylic disk over one of the flowers.  I used a tag cut of the same CS and darkened  the edges of that and added it to the top of the canvas with a piece of ribbon from the stash under it.  I used the same ribbon along the bottom to ground the whole composition and keep it from looking as if it was floating in the air.  Here are some details.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out.  I enjoyed working on it and it kept me thinking that soon I'll see my snow drops and crocuses.  Of course, we need to get rid of the snow on the ground first!! 

Well, that's it for today.   Thank you so much for visiting with me.  I appreciate your visits and your kind comments very much.  I hope you have a wonderful day and get some time to be creative in whatever medium you chose.