Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom

So, I'm a slow colour-er. To be specific, I started this page over a year ago, and only finished it recently. Colouring isn't therapeutic to me, it's painful and tiring. So why do I do it? Well, I find everything painful and tiring, and at least this is enjoyable!

Anyway, Millie Marotta's Animal Kingdom is a beautiful book, though like many adult colouring books, potentially a bit overwhelming at a first glance! The book is filled with gorgeous animals filled with tiny detailed patterns. Although some pages offer a blank background which I think helps offset this.

I coloured this page using WHSmith's colouring pencils. I bought these a couple of years back, as my previous set of WHSmith pencils were getting, well, over 20 years old! To be honest, I've been quite disappointed with my new set of pencils. They are nowhere near as soft as my previous set, and the colours just aren't as rich or go down as nicely. However, they are usable when you're on a budget!

I began this page by colouring in the poppies in shades of red, with some purple and brown to add depth. I then focused on the butterflies, splitting them into pairs based on their designs, and distinguishing each pair into a male and a female by altering their colours slightly. I added in most of the greenery, then after a bit of thought decided on the round "flowers" being fircones. I think this decision really added depth to the image - I'd love to know what Millie Marotta originally intended different shapes to be! The other flowers reminded me of thrift, so I added in some peachy-yellow tones, which also reflects the yellow of the butterflies. I was quite indecisive about the final tiny flowers on long stems, but really wanted to balance the bright blue on the butterflies by mixing in some blue and purple. I think it worked out well!

Animal Kingdom is printed on both sides of the page, but after photographing it I decided to cut this colouring out to hang on the wall. I think I'll get more enjoyment from looking at it then leaving it in a book to potentially colour the other side one day!

Totally Turquoise: Butterflies

Whilst on my turquoise spree last month I also got a bit distracted with some other free printables I found on Create and Craft. Specifically, these Debbi Moore Flutterby Dreams.

 

The PDF file includes some lovely imagery to use as card toppers, as well as some sentiments and paper. I opened the PDF in Photoshop to tweak the images so that it only printed the elements I wanted and at the sizes I wanted, and assembled the bits to make these two cards.

I added extra sparkle to both cards with Liquid Pearls, mini gems and pearlescent paper. Some of the shapes in this download are a bit fiddly to cut, but with a bit of patience they worked out ok!

Mother's Day Cards

Yup, more butterflies!

I was thinking about the other painted backgrounds I have been working on recently (here, here and here), and given that my art room is currently being redone, I decided to experiment with watercolours!

I love the atmosphere that water colour can create when used like this, and I added some gold acrylic just to add some lift. I was going to leave the cards as they were, but the areas of colour reminded me of mythical creatures, fairies, dragonflies and butterflies, and I couldn't resist a finishing touch.