Hot Air Balloons - I love them!

Who doesn't love seeing a hot air balloon floating in the air and watching it until it disappears?  In the fall, we see several hot air balloons floating around here and I just love them!!  I love to watch them come and go behind trees and buildings.  And in the end wonder where they finally land?!  I find myself drawing them in my sketchbook all the time!  But honestly, I don't think I could ever ride in one ... so I just enjoy watching them floating through the air and making them out of paper!

While I was experimenting with pallet wood, I was seeing what ink spray would do on the wood and had this leftover piece left sitting on my desk. I just love the way the ink sinks into the dry, rough wood grain of the pallet wood. 

But then I added some map paper and liked it more for hot air balloons.  So I pretty much covered up the pretty stencil pattern on the front ... whoops!

Then I got to work on my balloon pieces.  I covered some burlap in gel medium to make it stiffer.  I also love gel coated burlap because it doesn't fray.  I love that it gives me burlap options!!

And finally I finished up the background ....

Glued down my pieces, doodled, highlighted and finished up!!

And this is how the back ended up!

And some close-ups!!