Stampin' Up!'s Impressionist Art Gallery

Stampin' Up!'s Impressionist Art Gallery

I love that Stampin' Up! has produced almost a museum of floral paintings in their recent collections of Designer Series Paper. Last Winter/Spring during Sale-A-Bration many remarked on the likeness of Monet's waterlilies in paper designs, the DSP was titled Lily Impressions.  And in the year's Annual Catalog was a DSP pack titled Perennial Essence ~ more soft Monet and Renoir-like images. I, along with other demonstrators I suspect, framed individual sheets of 12 x 12 DSP and have them hanging in our craft spaces ~ instant art.

The Fine Art Floral Suite in the current January - June Mini Catalog this season was at the top of my shopping list because of the Designer Series Paper. It took me back to Amsterdam/Netherlands and my first visit to the magnificent Keukenhof Gardens tulip display. Can you imagine approximately 64 acres of 7 million flower bulbs?! 

Keurkenhof Gardens  Lisse, Netherlands

I am going to be hard pressed to cut into this DSP; I will need a pack to save, because you know that's what paper addicts do. Oooh, I even see a glimpse of Van Gogh - like dark blue and yellow. Oh, and  something like the American Impressionist Childe Hassam's paintings of Celia Thaxter's Garden on Appledore Island in Maine, east of Portsmouth, NH

The Fine Art Floral Suite graces the cover of the Mini Catalog.

 

How does SU create such artisitic papers? 

We had a Stampin' Up! artist hand-paint canvases with beautiful florals and textures in classic Stampin' Up! colors. We then took those canvases, photographed them, and made them into this unique designer series paper.

And now it is our turn to don a beret and smock and release our inner artist ~ seriously it is so easy when the paper does all the work. But along the way, let's play. The suite calls for 2 and 3 step stamping and even gold leafing.

Try various color combinations like Flirty Flamingo and Poppy Red, Poppy Red and Merry Merlot, Purple Posey and Highland Heather. Mix up reds, add yellows.  Try blues. Stamp the lighter color first, then the darker, then some gold!

Oh, but be careful with the Gilded Leafing! Don't sneeze ~ don't breath and DO NOT turn on the ceiling fan! The leafing is very light and is packed tightly in small, irregular pieces. It is truly easy to work with and produces quite the effect.

 

I did not use leafing on this card, but stamped twice and embossed ~ the embossing folder is appropriately named Painted Texture and is part of the Fine Art Floral Suite. 

For me, this suite is akin to wandering through an art gallery, any art gallery   ~ civilization at its best. I consider myself truly blessed to have spent countless Sundays in art museums with my mother and to have found kindred spirits to continue seeking out these special spaces and exhibits. 

Sister Wendy (Wendy Beckett, British nun and art historian 1930 -2018) offered:

    

     A country that has few museums is both materially poor and spiritually poor ... museums, like theatres and libraries, are a means to freedom.

Give yourself the excuse to pick up this stamp suite, or pieces of it, and play. The sentiments are simple, but cover a variety of occasions. And if all else fails, frame a sheet or two of the dsp for your own art gallery. 

Find the 'Gallery Map" on pages 32 - 34 in the Mini Catalog. You may order directly from this website, or contact me to help you place an order. 

I would love to see what you create!

Let's stamp!