Sweet Light

"Sweet Light"
Watercolor on archival hot press
8 x 10 inches
2010
 

I'm playing around with watercolor too.  Robert spoiled me some time ago with a Cotman half pan field box.  It's amazing and I just love this paint.  There's just something about watercolor.... I can get light into my paintings that I have not been able to do with acrylic.  This image glows and it pleases me to no end.

I saw something like this in a book at Costco this weekend and pulled out my paint as soon as I got home.  I was reading online that a lot of people work from photos like I did with the birds.  I usually don't but am going to start giving that a serious try.  Bob takes amazing nature photography and I'm going to start doing images from his birds, landscapes and seascapes.  Wish me luck!

Thanks for looking!

Flesh Tones with Classic Ink

I got this stamp in a dollar bin somewhere. It's labels had been removed so I don't know who made it. It's red rubber mounted on wood and the rubber stains badly. I also had to condition it to get a good stamp impression out of it. All that aside, the girl is cute! Plus, it's a perfect way to show you one hue of flesh tone that you can get out of the Stampin Up Classic ink (pads or reinkers).

I used the pads because a drop of the reinker would be way to much. Squeeze the lids to transfer some ink from the pad to the lid before you open them. For this light skin tone we are using Creamy Caramel and Cameo Coral. Yes, you can mix them to get the shade you want!

Using your water brush, pick up some of the Cameo Coral color and bring it over to the Creamy Caramel lid and mix the colors there. Squeeze the brush a little to add water and thin down the intensity of the ink. Test on a scrap of the paper you will be using. You want a fairly large pool of color to finish your project without having to remix. Mine was the size of a half dollar (spread thinly over the surface of the ink pad lid).

Watercolor as usual, remembering to let it dry before moving on to other colors. You can add additional layers for shadows and straight coral for rosy cheeks. When you finish, use a tissue to clean the remaining mixed color out of your lid to keep pure color in the ink pad.


Paper makes a difference. The first example was on Whisper White and this one is on Watercolor paper. Biggest difference, stamped image and the watercolor paper seemed to absorb more of the color than the Whisper White. Which makes sense.

Her hair uses Summer Sun, Crushed Curry (perfect mid tone) and More Mustard. The deepest shadows were added with Really Rust and I blended the yellow and red with Creamy Caramel.

Finally I added shadows to the white with Brocade Blue.

Ok, it's your turn. Show me your water colored images!

Daisy Blue

I have been playing with watercoloring to develop a tutorial for an upcoming event. It’s a super fast way to create dimension and texture on a stamped image. This image is not a stamp. I don’t have an outline stamp like this so I did a fast sketch on scrap Whisper White card stock.

Water coloring is one of my favorite things to do. It's very versatile and can give you different looks depending on the paper that you use and the watercolor medium. Wait. Isn't all watercolor the same? I'm glad you asked that. It's not really. There are various ways to achieve a watercolor effect. Watercolor pencils and crayons are applied directly to the paper then the color is moved with water and a brush. The look achieved is different than when you apply wet pigments to paper.

Today I am showing you wet on dry. (wet pigment on dry paper). Stamp or sketch your image onto white card stock with permanent ink. Then set up a palette. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can use the Classic Stampin Up ink pads and squeeze the closed pad to put some ink on the lids. I use an acrylic block or recycle a plastic lid from a food container. (when we are finished it can go back to it’s original purpose with no waste) and drop some ink from the re-inkers. This gives me deep rich color.

Aqua brushes make this easy and fast because they are self cleaning. Get the bristles wet, but don’t add water to the palate. Pick up the color you are using and sweep it across the image. I used Bashful Blue, Summer Sun and Certainly Celery.

I tilted my image so the color would run to the bottom of the petals and settle there - making it darker. Then I did a second sweep on each petal to deepen the color more. The leaves and the center of the flower were done the same way. After I brushed on the Summer Sun (yellow), I swept the brush over the inside edges of the petals. I love it when colors blend and run together. The results are always a surprise.


I honestly intended to throw this away when I finished, but the colors called to me and I couldn't do it. So I cut it out and popped it up on a card. The base and second mat are Bashful Blue card stock. Don't you just love how the colors match so well? The tab is a punch (yummo) and is inked with Summer Sun on the edges. Ribbon and other papers used are scraps from the bin.

Tee's Tip
Everybody is always blending blending blending. Color in life is not always blended so well. We have harsh edges and softer ones. So try including some harsh edges in your watercolor pieces.