Monthly Coloring Series - November

It is November 1st! That means it's time for the next installment of my monthly coloring series! 

For those of you just joining me, I will be coloring one image each month, using the Power Poppy digital flower images, found HERE. If you missed any of the previous projects, see the links at the end of the post. 

Let's see NOVEMBER project! 

One of my favorite things about fall and fall decorating are the beautiful colors of maize (usually called Indian corn in the USA). This beautiful corn comes in a plethora of colors! I had several ears of maize on hand to study while I colored my image. I chose to color some of my ears in a stunning dark wine red and navy blue to match the corn in my home decor. 

Maize (Indian corn or ornamental corn) comes in so very many colors! A simple Internet search will show you hundreds of color combinations! Here are the colors that inspired my project.  

I chose for my November image, Maize for Days, which is currently a $6 download. I loved the large bouquet of maize, perfect for Thanksgiving decor. (This image also comes as part of the clear stamp set, Fortunes of Fall, $18.00, which is a new fall 2018 release.)

Using Adobe Illustrator, I created my panel at about 5 1/4" x 5 1/4". I rotated the image slightly and sized it at approximately 4 1/4" wide.  

The finished panel is 6 1/8" x 6 1/8". I have used a stitched square die to cut out the main image panel (which measures 5 1/4" x 5 1/4"). My plan is to display each monthly image at my desk, as shown above.

I am using "Great Vibes" as my font, which I sized at about 45pt. I printed the panel onto Hammermill 100# cardstock with my Epson ET-3700 using black ink. (So far, I have had excellent results using Copics with this printer ink and paper combination.)

My images are colored with a combination of Copic Markers and Prismacolor Pencils 

To color the corn, I colored each kernel with just ONE marker, and then added the shadows and highlights with pencil and a white pen. There was no way that I was going to use 2-3 markers to shade each kernel individually! That would have been far too many markers! And it would have taken my a year to finish the project!

Here are the color combinations I have used for the finished project:

Red corn: R29 R89, RV69, B39, V09
Dark multi-color corn: YG93, Y35, BV23, YR09, YR18, Y02, RV34
Pale multi-color corn: YB91, E04,  E14, E49, Y38
Stalks: YG91, YG93, E51, E53, E55, pencil Sandbar Brown
Bittersweet berries: YR02, YR09, Y32, Y38
Ribbon: G2, YG17, YG61, YG63, pencil Sandbar Brown
Shading: BV20, Pencils 90% Cool Gray, 70% Cool Gray, White

Background: BG0000, BG000, Colorless blender

I wanted the corn stalks to look dried, and kept them pale so as to not detract from the corn. I colored the ribbon green to distinguish it from the stalks, but kept it in a muted color to help it blend into the background more. (My son wanted me to color it red, but I thought that would be too bright and would detract from the pretty colors on the corn. Maybe next time!)

After all the coloring was finished, I die cut my image and then quadruple matted it, choosing black as my neutral color and adding other layers based on the colors within my image. 

For this image, I chose deep cranberry and navy blue cardstock. I finished up with a few buttons and other bling.

If you missed the September post, click HERE. 

If you missed the October post, click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! I will have a new image December 1st!

Digital image: Power Poppy Maize for Days
Cardstock: Hammermill 100# Digital Color Copy, deep cranberry, navy blue (unknown)
Markers: Copic (see list above)
Pencils: Prismacolor (see list above)
Gel pen: Sakura Gelly Roll White
Button and bling: stash
Die: Elizabeth Craft Designs Stitched Squares
Tools: We R Memory Keepers Guide Layers
Adhesive: ATG tape, Scor-tape, white glue