Watercoloring {Wet on Damp}

 This week it's my turn to host the Watercoloring challenge at Splitcoaststampers and not too long ago I came across this short video from Anna Bucciarelli called "Powerful Watercolor Technique" and it showcases some orchids that she drew. But, I was so excited about the veins looking real I knew in the back of my mind that I own lots of fairly large Flowers and leaves that I could try it on. For me this journey of teaching my self to paint is the main goal for me is to color stamped images I have collected along the way. I am thinking I am not alone on that thought so, here is what I did after watching that video. I stamped this Stampendous (cling) Poinsettia in the Misti on some Hot Press (smooth) Arches 100% cotton watercolor paper with Simon Says Stamp barely Beige ink.

I did ink this several times to make sure the center had some definition to it. 

And then I proceeded to do one petal at a time skipping around the flower not doing one touching the one next to it until most of the flower had at least one layer of paint on it. 

 Some petals I timed it better than others, and that is OK I am thinking as I have never seen anything that looked perfect in real life anyways. 

while the paint was drying I hunted through my phone for some old photos I took at work of the Poinsettia I picked up at Homedepot last year that is still on my desk. ( its not so lush looking at the moment this plant but, its still alive and who knows? maybe it will bloom again) 

A closer look at the petals and how the veins go. ( which at this point I realized mine really did not look real but, I was so excited that I could at least see veins on mine that I let that part go in my head) 

So I added a little more paint and a little bit of beginning shadows. and let that dry. and walked away.

Then when I picked it up again I decided to diecut it with a Spellbinders matting basics ( 6" square die) this is the second one down from the largest) and I grabbed some polychromos pencils and started to try do trace some circles into the center. ( and I could not see the pencil) so, there is some. technically it is now a mixed media piece but, "shrugs" it really I think I would have to be more obvious about it to make it so. The sentiment here is from the Ton blizzard hugs set stamped with some Versafine Clair Nocturn on Neenah solar white and diecut with a Spellbinders reverse wonky rectangle die. The painted panel I ended up putting on foam tape over the Bazzill textured base a it was slightly warped. (the inside also has some neenah for a liner but, its blank at the moment.) If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.