watercoloring vintage tags

 This week I am hosting the Water coloring challenge for Wednesday and these pretty tag looking shapes caught my eye when I was trolling youtube to find something a while back. She is a new artist for me and I was really curious to see the colors and if the process is similar to using your water reactive say distress oxide inks. ( it is and she does) so, if you are familiar with dropping in color and letting it dry and splattering. this is just that kind of a tutorial. You can watch it here on YouTube. the title is playing with watercolour and stamps by TheCreativeCove. If you watch the first 13 minutes the rest of the video is very similar and the only thing that really changes is in the last 30 seconds she does flash a few finished pieces from a similar style of water coloring stamped image panels as tags. 

I was really curious to see what colors she chose and I knew I probably would not have the same colors so, I just looked at my palette and went with Paynes grey blue, Prussian Blue, Geothite, Sepia, Transparent red oxide, & burnt sienna ( mixed with paynes grey blue), and some Prima #53 "glaze" a gold-ish shimmer color. 

I grabbed a sheet of Arches cold press watercolor paper and taped off some spaces. ( its not measured just eyeballed) my inner control freak said using this wide tape left me enough wiggle room to make them straight if needed later. 

Using a round size 8 brush.

I barely remembered to take a photo of the bottom row with some stamped foliage before I started painting them oops. the one on the far left is the tip of Penny Black "all you need is love", the one with the trio of almost fern like leaves next to it is unknown, the next to that with the script between the stems I want to say is Unity Stamps and the one on the far right is tall seaweed from All Night Media.

 

randomly dropped in more paint to the stamped sections. This is the wet version of where I stopped.

what it looked like dry. 

So, I knew I needed to pick a gold shade for shimmer and just laid this cheat sheet from a Prima palette on the top of the dried paint. I decided to start with the top right corner and the Antique shade in the top right corner of the palette. 

but, it really just made harsh lines and no shimmer so, I switched over to the allure (#51) color.

a few more splatters and I decided to let it dry again before trying some free hand foliage on the top. If I had been thinking I would have stamped the top row as I would have a place for my hand on the glass below the bottom row ha ha. 

I only free painted some foliage into the top outside sections of the top row and decided to keep two as just color as little blocks of color that I may build on later someday.

and when the paint was dry I pulled the masking tape off. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Loose Butterflies

 This week Linda has chosen this video from Diane Antone Studios. And I have been given and collecting some different brands of Cotton watercolor paper notebooks and decided to grab this one from Strathmore. You can click on any photo to enlarge them, just hit your browsers back button to continue reading.

I decided that even though a whole bunch of these video's the person is teaching how to paint something scaled to say frame or hang on the wall, I tend to paint things that will fit on a card front and with that thought in the back of my mind I am going to spend some time the next little while trying their ideas on smaller scaled paper. I have found this paper in a larger size on Amazon but, this one in particular seems to be sold out at the moment.

 I did use a water soluble pencil to sketch this first one on the left, and that being said it may have been a better idea to use a pen or a pencil that was not going to be absorbed by the paints. ( if you were going for that sketchy look after the paint dries) 

First round of paints on that first butterfly. These were Daniel Smith paints used here with a size 8 round brush.

This smaller blues one has a little bit of one of the iridescent green ish colors dropped in. (Ocean? something like that it shimmers. will edit.) 

Decided to go yellows & oranges for the third. 

and a combo of pink/purples for the 4th. adding a few more pencil lines over the top as it was drying.

I forgot the splatters but, I am OK with that. I think since this is a skinny landscape that the splatters may have overwhelmed the wings here. At any rate I really enjoyed watching the paints move on these and may do it again some time. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Silly Sheep

 This week Brenda has chosen these sheep in watercolor from Diane Antone's YouTube channel seen here. 

And I decided to do a trio of sheep instead of a handful after watching the video, I also changed the colors also.I did mix these using various shades of greys moonglow, shadow violet, maybe janes grey?  with some hematite in one of them.

First round of paints

Which lead to a second with some white gel pen for accent doodles on the dried paints. This was done using Daniel Smith Watercolors.

 

 If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SplitcoastStampers. I hope you are all doing well, thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring loose birds

 This week Kia has chosen this video on 5 little birds from Diane Antone studio seen here on YouTube. 

 I did watch the whole video then started the simple sketch which turned into 3 birds from me.

Although I have seen pink birds on pinterest it's not really something that comes easily to mind to me so I decided to just go bright, with green, yellow blue for the colors. the branch got a little thick at the end and that was an Oops so. 

Second layers of paint. 

a little more details added to the faces.

some splatters and more twiggy looking to the branch which was still a little off so, more paint followed over the days after that until I came home from work this afternoon and so this is where I stopped.

I do like the curve to the main branch but, the thickness of it at the end still bugs me and adding all the extra branches really didn't help. I also decided to add some white gel pen dots to the eyes which were a little big for the scale of their eyes and a little bit of darker shades of the paints on the top of the heads and sides of the birds bodies. Is it still loose? I don't know. If I had to do it again I would seriously try for a skinnier branch. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to do so. Thanks for stopping by.

May Dirty Dozen Christmas Card

 It's that time again, the first of the month when the new theme rolls over for the Dirty Dozen Christmas card challenge. You can find this month's prompt here in the special forums set aside for Fan Club members at SplitcoastStampers. 

I have spent a many a happy hour looking at and for old retired Penny Black stamps on line the last few years after I realized they were not selling the old stamps anymore or any stamps on wood blocks. This one is "Santa Club" #1238K from 1998. It's my most recent one to land on my table here and It just makes me smile to see. I did stamp it with some Versafine morning mist on Arches cold press watercolor paper and painted it with Daniel Smith watercolors. and a bit of white gel pen on the button holes and black and white places.  This panel was cut with a Studio Katia Darling ribbons & dotted frame die. The sentiment here is a reverse printed one from Simon Says stamp. the gingham ribbon is from May Arts. the red crinkled paper is from the paper studio and its finished out on some textured white bazzill at 6" square in real life. Just a simple one. there are so many shades of red on this that it really did not photograph well. I have a harder time shooting digital red's than any other color so, its not so contrasting in real life. That's about it from me, I hope you are all continuing to do well. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {great big canvas}

 This weekend Ardyth is guest hosting the Inspiration challenge and so, I punched in flowers and I found these really loose watercolored poppies. And I thought that would be a good challenge for me as Loose painting is something I have to work at. So, when I went to do it, I cut a sheet of Arches cold press cotton watercolor paper to 6" square so I could have some wiggle room and I had some big brushes on the table and left over paint in ( all the palettes) so, instead of red poppies I did change the color to a more pink-ish shade. 

I used a size 16 round, a small mop brush and a size 1 script for the stems, This is first layer of paints.

got it wet again and added another round of paints ( Daniel Smith)

and again, more paints with some more splatters. the white is Bleed proof white from Dr. PH martins. I did when this was dry run it through my big shot for a while to try to press out some of the curves it got drying just laying on the table. I think this is going to become a Mother's Day card so the sentiment will go on the inside. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers.

Watercoloring a Loose Hydrangea

 This week Brenda has shared with us this Kristy Rice video doing a hydrangea with a single brush seen here on YouTube. So, after watching the video all the way through ( her request as you watch it) I picked up a scrap of cotton watercolor paper and an angled brush and did this.

 and I decided the bristles were just too short to do the curves so I flipped that sheet over and grabbed a size 16 round brush as that was her other suggestion for a brush to do this with.

So, I thought OK this brush is OK but, the scrap is just too small so I pitched this sheet and grabbed a scrap of Strathmore 400 series paper.

and started over. 

added another layer. and switched to a 1/2" oval wash brush as it has a fine point and a slanted type side to the bristles.

and another layer.

and started dragging some of the paint around under the leaves and flower head as it was just too starkly white around the loose flower so, more paint and more splatters and more water.

I had considered cutting the sheet down to much smaller and then decided to add the black wide frame so that it could break it up a little, found this silly little snarky printed sentiment from the AALL & Create SHARP TONGUES # 4 pack doodled around the edges of that with a black micron pen. and popped the frame ( time for tea wide stitched frame) up on foam pop dots and called it good. the base is an A7 pre made base from paper source. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring simple landscapes

 This week it's my turn to host the Watercoloring on Wednesday challenge at Splitcoaststampers and I have chosen this duo of simple landscapes from MarenaArt as I loved the lavender field one.

what I loved most particularly about this video is how she did her sky in them. ( first round of paints wet)

second round of paints, and at least the sky shows up better dried I had worried I did it way too diluted to get any texture while it was wet.

I really thought oh, there is not enough paint on it during the second shot as I glanced at the phone so, I did immediately put on another layer and first round of splatters.

and some white bleed proof white splatters and then I thought oh, the front hills should have more green to them so, that received another swipe of paint also.

I did manage to get some of the splatters in the sky oops. 

But, I also really liked how it turned out even with flower splatters in the sky so, I trimmed it down and mounted it to some SU blackberry bliss. The sentiment here is from Impression Obsession stamped with monarch versafine and die cut with a labels 8 die. This one is 5 1/2" square in real life. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Belk}

 This week it's my turn to host the Inspiration challenge and I landed on the collection of pins from the Belk Store. ( they have one of these in the mall where J lives & it is a nice dept. store) 

at any rate the lady who needed custom car thank you cards a while back also needed a housewarming and a Coastal Vacation thank you cards so, I seen this plaque inside the Store and thought ah ha. 

and when I started digging through my home stamps this old one from Stamps Happen caught my eye. 

So I stamped it twice once on watercolor paper and then again on some printed lacy looking paper and cut the center out with scissors as the ivy border just did not want to stamp perfectly on the lumpy wc paper so. I did use the color index sticker on the block as a jump start and I realized after while the paint was drying this has a lot of pink on it. So the browns are in the printed Basic grey paper and the close to cocoa cardstock that has a bit of a pinkish tint to it to my eye. I did trace around the sentiment with a micron pen and the congratulations is going on the inside. This is A7 in real life and the challenge is hiding here if you'd like to play along with us. 

Her vacation card I ended up making off of next week's IC  and so you will see it soon. and then after she was told those two cards were ready she needed one more for her old Conductor who is receiving an apple award soon. This one the congratulations is from Tim Holtz, and the music notes are from an old Sizzix originals green die. This one is 6" square in real life. the request for this one was just music on the cover and congratulations. the thing that gets me about this Darice embossing folder is. ( I do not read music by the way) it looks like it has notes right side up and upside down on it. and I cannot tell if that is supposed to be that way or if its just one of those artsy things. Anyways cross your fingers she likes these I did this coming home early with a headache and have no time to re-do it. I hope you are all doing well, Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Coneflowers

 This week Linda has shared this video here on YouTube from Paintinghyun about doing some wet loose cone flowers.

So, I think as I was doing this I think this works better if you are using a larger piece of paper. I think some things are easier for my brain to shrink then others.And I found this to be a challenge actually.

So, first layer of paint wet, I had drawn these tilted so the perspectives were a little more like the video but, as I added more paint and water to it, It was drying before I could move the paint around this time. It's a funny thing when the weather changes. it really makes a difference.

how that paint dried, I really did not think to much about this and almost tossed it in the discards pile but, there was no time to really start over. 

So, I added more paint over the top of it. ( that tends to work with other things) but, for this particular piece I felt like the whole time I was looking at it, I either should have made these flowers much smaller or made the paper much larger or both. so, at this point this is where I stopped and I may try this again in a more real style the loose thing is hard for me. I did use a size 8 brush on this and the paper is about 4" by 4 1/2" ish. ( its kinda curled at the moment)

 

So, I decided to give it a second chance as I still had these colors left over on the mixing palette. this one is a 6" square piece of Strathmore 400 series watercolor. 

Moving to a larger piece helped I think. but, I did have the same its drying too fast situation happening with the not as good grade of paper. 

Shot this one off the table and it looks a lot darker from this view than real life. It's also close to sundown here. At any rate I think I would like this better if I had tried a few different things regarding that background it just did not take the splatters well as it had taken too long and re wetting it did not go over that well either. 

 If you'd like to give this a whirl you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Dans le Lakehouse} pinterest boards

 This week Kia has shared the link to the Dans le Lakehouse boards and site and I had not looked long when I chuckled to see a "backyard Chickens" boards where I seen this floral chick and it had to my mind a folk art vibe going on. And that made me think of those old folk art paper chickens Michelle used to do on Splitcoaststampers a long time ago. ( I have done this before ) and I thought the shape of the bird would work doing it this way. 

 So I started out free handing a bird shape from memory. ( all those links you see above I hunted down after the fact because, by the time I had gotten this far with it from memory I knew the bird was off a little but, could not remember why. I kept tinkering with the idea of adding "straw" under the belly. and then after I shot this. ( the panel to the right is what was glued on the inside) I realized looking at the old chicks that the hearts for the chin and crown of the head were missing. but, at this point I also had the eye and beak glued on so, I just worked around that. 

And finished her out like this. Both of those sentiments are from Art Impressions done with some Acorn Versafine ink. The heart wing is from an old yellow Sizzix originals primitive heart die and the small ones on her face are from a Mama Elephant frame set that had a heart and the Ellen hutson primitive hearts set. This is A2 in real life. the woodgrain and dots are scraps and the textured brown is tea stained leather from Hobby Lobby. the lace is vintage and then I had to laugh as one of the original chicks has that same lace on it. I thought the loops played with with the dots that were chosen for color more than shape. But, I intend to give this to hubs hunting buddy soon and he has mentioned in the past when I have done floraly things for him they are not real "manly" so, I figured aqua dots were a better choice than flowers. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Happy Good Friday & thanks for stopping by.