An old friend of mine that I’ve known from kindergarten through high school married her high school sweetheart. They were wonderful people in a solid relationship back in our teens and they still are today as wonderful adults.
Even more wonderful, they used Harry Potter as their wedding theme. The couple kept it subtle and classy with touches of navy, old books, vintage keys and more in a stone and wood walled winery venue. Since I was lucky enough to have friends with such a cool theme, I was inspired and motivated to embrace it in the wedding congratulations card. You may remember that I like to play with hypothetical book covers when painting. I took that same idea and created a cover for the novel that would be Harry Potter at my friend’s wedding.
I painted an old fashioned castle tower look for the scenery. I originally went more classic brown but I did not like the direction the painting was going so when I soon started over (for resizing purposes) I switched to a mysterious blue palette.
After that had dried, I gesso-ed out the details I was hoping to add, going heavy handed on the bridal train area. I sketched out the lettering and dress shape first and, using my window as a light box, traced the lines with gesso on the painting.
I tried using watercolors for the letting as well this time rather than ink or acrylic. The only non-watercolor used on this card was the gesso and then some white acrylic for the bridal dress’s lace details to make them stand out against the white watercolor base.
The “Harry Potter” letters mimic the font seen on the most common American version of the series. I took an extra photo of the painting before cutting it to size on my bed to show off the cute new duvet cover I got for my birthday last week. Ikea, what a steal huh? Last step is just to attach the cropped piece to a pre-made blank card.
East of the Easel 