Tranquility

I didn't set out to make a sympathy card. I normally only make them when they are urgently needed, which means I have a few standard  quick and easy designs up my sleeve ready to create for a grieving friend. I don't like to keep them  in stock "just in case" because it feels as if I'm just waiting for something bad to happen.

And when I  set out to make a card for this week's challenge at Addicted to Stamps, where the theme is  Nature, I didn't set out to use my bare tree and branch stamps. I had something with butterflies and flowers in mind.

But maybe it's the grey miserable weather today, or maybe it's the time of year,  something drew me to these stamps  and  I decided to create a scene from them. And when it was finished, it looked perfect for a sympathy card, stark and yet tranquil at the same time.

I tore paper masks for the hills and reflections, sponging inks over the positive and negative masks and reversing  them and sponging more lightly for the reflection. Another torn mask made the island and I used a brayer for the tree reflection. With hindsight, I have cluttered  the foreground up with rather too many bare branches as the reflection doesn't really show  up.

All the stamps are unmounted ones I have had in my collection for many years, so I'm afraid I can't remember their makes.

 

I am submitting this to the challenge at Addicted to Stamps

and as it was seeing Zoe's beautiful card with the inked background and black silhouettes that put me in the mood to try this, I'm also submitting it to The Cupboard Trilogy