Watercolor Basics and Beyond

Hey Crafters! I am happy to announce that I have passed the Level II challenge. Whoo Hoo!

Now onto Level 3 and a workshop. This is where I feel I should hone in a specialty so to speak. Hubby says I am happiest doing watercolor (something I do not think I am very good at), blending, and Alchohol Markers. So these are the areas I plan to focus on in my following 5 classes. I will do them a bit slower than the rest of them since we are nearing the holiday season. I am also keeping my three older grandkids 3 days a week after school and boy do they keep me busy.

 

Today I am sharing the first of the watercolor classes that I will be taking. I decided to get my feet wet with the basics. I have had my Watercolor pan set for quite some time and have not done a lot with it. So today I pulled it out and painted some of the New in November Paint a Flower Iceland Poppies for you. You can get an early release too with Altenew just sign up for one of their subscriptions.

The lessons in this class take you into what kind of papers you will need and teaches you about your inks/pallet. It also shows you how to create a swatch of colors.

 

I created these flowers below using one of the techniques in lesson 5. Here where you use the embossed image to help keep your watercolor under control. I will say blending out with this medium is pretty easy when you do it this way.

 

 

Here is the card I created to show off today.

My flowers are embossed with rose gold embossing powder first. I simply brushed on the water and then added drops of the ink color. Darker closer to the center and lighter to the top. Once all the flowers and stems were colored and dried I fussy cut them out and laid them on top of my white cardstock.

 

My Background is created using a stencil piece from Gina K Designs called water droplets. I simply used my Versamark pen and colored in random droplets. I placed my flowers over the top of the stencil so that I only colored in droplets that you would see. No waste of my pretty rose gold powder. I did use some Winter Fog watercolor splattered across the background as well for some more interest.

My sentiment is simply embossed in white on some deep teal green cardstock and trimmed down for a banner. I used the same cardstock for the base cardstock. I also added some shiny bling by adding some champagne/pink foil to the very edge of my card. Just a tiny sliver for some sparkly fun.  After all of that, I still thought it was missing something. I found the little bumble bees that I had laying around and added these to the card.

 

 

This technique needs some practice but I am presently surprised at how easy it was to do. I even managed to create a free hand painting of some flowers and a tree. I did not take pictures before they got a bit messed up. My water spilled on them, accidents do happen in the craft room. Sometimes they are not helpful.

 

Hope I have inspired you today,

 

Amy