The Verdant Watcher
Where wild growth takes form and the forest looks back.
A striking, hand-inked manifestation of the classic Green Man.
Rich with intricate detail and organic textures, ‘The Verdant Watcher‘ serves as a majestic, grounding centerpiece for lovers of nature, mythology and fantasy art.
The Inspiration
I bought the green man stamp many years ago and have used it quite a few times over the years to create birthday cards. I had always wanted to use him as a focal point for a piece of art.
The idea of showing the green man at various points throughout the year appealed and I decided to start with Summer.
The Craft
‘The Verdant Watcher’ started from a basic stamp of the green man face. I then had to mask off all of the elements of his face that I didn’t want to be covered in ink. I painted on masking fluid and then had to wait a few hours and throw out the ruined brush! (I now know the secret to not killing my brush with masking fluid, so every day is a learning day).
I collected together every green ink pad that I have to then start the stamping of leaves and dandelion heads all over the head. I found a creeping ivy stamp that I’ve had for a long time which gave me the tendrils I wanted. I started with stamping the lighter coloured images and positioning the dandelion heads. Then it was a case of methodically going gradually darker with the greens as I built the layers of greener up and adding in a variety of leaf shapes.
Once that was all dry I was able to carefully remove the masking fluid and use watercolour pencils to build up the colour in the face. A little dotting of gold and white pen across the flower heads and he was finished.