Watercoloring a Fall Background

 This week Brenda is sharing this video tutorial seen here on YouTube  called ridiculously easy Watercolor Autumn Leaves by Creative Lass doing a quick little fall background with some branches peeking in.

 I had a piece of A6 sized Artist loft watercolor paper on the table so, that is what I used. It's taped to an old piece of chipboard and I did sprinkle some table salt in the darker areas to set aside to dry.

What it looked like dry with the salt removed. You can't really see any salt blooms evidently I did not use a dark enough shades of color in that background. So, I just kept going. 
 

Yes I used all but the tiny brush in this shot for this simple painting haha.

 I decided after the leaves went on to add a few splatters. I did skip the find a stencil and use a magic eraser to make shadow lifted leaves into the background ( maybe next time) I would have to find my leaf dies and cut them from something to create some leaf stencils. I don't like cleaning stencils so, I do not own that many of them compared to say stamps or dies.

 The difference between a cell phone mug shot and a camera one on a sun shine day. I really like how this turned out and may do some more of them. I did lose some of the paper edges when I took off the masking tape ( delicate surface tape ha ha) The sentiment here is one from Red Lead and it was stamped on some textured Maja designs printed paper. I did cut this with scissors and inked the edges with some DOX vintage photo ink. The base here is a textured whitewashed one from Coredinations and Its A6 in real life. That's about it from me. I hope you're doing well & thanks for stopping by. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. 

 

Clean & Simple Pumpkins

 The clean and simple challenge today at SCS is Pumpkin themed. And I received a big envelope of happy Gummiapan dies from "Color Me Nordic" and in that pile I have the Pumpkin teapot & cup. 

So, I did cut the cup twice and then a pumpkin from some scraps of Artist Loft watercolor paper and used what ever colors of DS watercolors were on the palette. ( we've been doing a bunch of Fall things lately so, its a lot of yellows and oranges and greens on mine)  

 I knew I had this sentiment ( its an old one from Verve Stamps the One Cup set) and I had already cut this Penny Black elegant frames a few times from watercolor paper when it arrived in the mail a while back so, this was a really Quick card. The base here is some Neenah solar white at A2 in real life. I have the idea I managed to get it all a little offset to the left of center here and I am debating about cutting the card up and making it a tag or something but, right now its a card and I left it alone. The shadows here are from a Zig clean brush marker in a pale grey. That's about it from me, Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Watercoloring an Autumn Forest

 It's my turn to host the water coloring tutorial challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week. I came across a new to me artist named Hannah M. P. who has this video (seen here on YouTube) called paint a vibrant autumn forest with me. I loved the perspective of the title photo of the video and thought it might be interesting to try. 

I started with an Piece of Arches cold press wc paper cut to A6 and taped to an old piece of chipboard.

 I did wet the paper with an size 12 brush, 

And I used that same brush to do some blue cloudy sky for the background, proceeded to mix up some Autumn foliage paint colors and then 

I and thought she said it was a wet on wet thing... and I do not remember her saying to let that blue dry, but I knew better looking at her paint and tried it wet anyways... the yellow went Woosh haha...So, I did let that sky dry. 

 

So I added some random cone shaped treed pointing towards the center and then started adding trunks.

And then I walked away and let this dry because, in my head I was trying to remember what the branches would do. If they were say Aspen trees the branches would go kind of up and straight towards the trunks I was thinking so, I let this sit until this morning and then just added a few branches before work.

 

So, this is what I came home to this afternoon. Today is our 36th wedding anniversary and these challenges tend to go live at Dinner time in my time zone so, part of my brain is thinking maybe it needs some bare branches in here and is there enough time for it to dry from that and be "finished" ( not sure, its been pretty chilly here so) and the other part of my brain is thinking... maybe I can get someone to load the challenge for me if we end up going out to dinner. ( it is an unknown thing right this minute) depends on how the day goes kind of a thing. I have come home before hubs with another head ache. ( I think its the new glasses) and the whole "oooh Shinny" squirrel part of my brain has distracted me again. 

I am not so sure what I want to do with this, so I ended up mounting it to just some textured rusty orange textured Bazzill ( A6 ) and left if flat and no greeting to cover the painting. I think this turned out well and I am glad I tried it. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Watercoloring a White Pumpkin

 This week Kia is sharing this video from Emma Jane Lefebvre called No fail watercolor pumpkins seen here on YouTube. I did watch the whole video and my brain retained the I love the "white" one and the bumpy edges parts the best so, that is where I started and I liked it so well that I just made it into a simple fall card.

 I did mix my "white" as very diluted black with a touch of van dyck brown. and then later I added in some greens got it "too green" and wiped some of that off with a damp brush. and I just decided to stop before I totally overworked it. I think I will be doing more of these "white" pumpkins soon, maybe a little larger. this was done with an Size 8 Brush on some Arches watercolor paper. (the back side of a failed piece) 

 because this is so small it did not take long to dry so I trimmed it down with an Tattered Lace Antique lace essential rectangle die and put foam tape under it. the ribbon wrapped around the end is stitched and has some bulk to it so, the tiny lili of the valley sentiment tag is just tied on that with some natural hemp string. I cut that out with scissors and used a bit of watercolor paint on the acorns on it. It was stamped on a scrap of SU soft seafoam cardstock. I recently received this pack of Brutus Monroe "Ever After" lace printed papers pack and I thought the colors of this one played well with my not really white pumpkin. The base here is some columns grey Neenah and its A6 in real life. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Terrain}

 This week Amy is sharing the Terrain site and They also have pinterest boards seen here. I seen so much eye candy... but, seeing as this is the first week of fall ( My Favorite Season) I found my self keep coming back to these leafy paper placemats. I loved the colors. So, I dug out these Tim Holtz Sizzix leaf dies and cut some from watercolor paper.

 So I started cleaning off a palette from previously with some warm toned paints on it. and let them dry.

 more paints added and left to dry.

 I had originally thought I could pile on all the leaves but, it ended up being just too cluttered for this stark white base to me so, I just kept two of them and the one on the top is up on slight foam pop dots. The sentiment here is from the Tim Holtz tiny text Christmas with some versafine here directly on the base. letting it be more Clean and Simple I guess. 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.  

Watercoloring Leaves

 This week Suz is sharing this video seen here on YouTube  By Kristin Van Leuven called "Painting watercolor fall leaves using my favorite trick" that I think the thing she most wants to share is how she uses her brush on the veins of the leaves. Or mixing the paints. I was not really sure & So, I will have some long days at work this week and I decided to try doing this with a limited supply of paint color choices That I had left at work a long time ago. Knowing I would not be home early to try this on tuesday afternoon. I did not have time to paint like normal over the weekend. So, I tossed this sketchbook in my bag this morning and ran out the door.  I did use the first page for mixing some  fall-ish colors. I did not mix the same colors she did and I did not have a pencil in my office at work. Seriously who knew? I used to use pencils all the time so that took me by surprise and I decided to just wing painting some leaves.

 Used the shades listed under the paint samples in the sketch book to get those shades and then started on the first leaf. This was jump started by the purple tipped on on her top right corner. 

 Tried a few more shapes of leaves, and did use the end of the brush to drag through the paint to make the veins. 

 Added some shadows to the edges of the leaves. The colors are interesting but, very muted so, they don't really have that vibe she has going on and that's OK I guess. :) That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring a Loose Autumn Forest

 This week Kia is sharing this video tutorial seen here on YouTube by Harriet DeWinter on doing a loose Autumn Watercolor scene. That was such a pretty preview photo of the video I was really excited to try this one. 

I did start with a piece of Cold Press Arches wc paper cut to A7 and taped down. (this is the background first layers of paint. I probably should have made it taller but, this is what I did. 

 

First layers of foliage were added to the tops of the trees here along with some quick pencil lines for tree trunks with an water soluble pencil and some ground color. I probably should have done more splatters here but, I didn't think of it. 

 

Where I stopped painting, and honestly taping this paper down to the board did not do anything to stop the warp factor for me, It hardly ever does. So my thought at this point was why did you bother with that step? Who knows? but, it does make me wonder what kind of hold the tape most of these people are using. This is delicate surface gorilla tape here. and it does not hold it flat, on the other hand it does not rip up the paper after the fact either. 

 I did press this for a while in my big shot but, its still a little tweaked. I just mounted it really simply to some SU more mustard cardstock and had trimmed it down to A6 for a finished size. I am thinking I will be trying this one again some time. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Watercolorings a Pumpkin Still life

 This week Brenda is sharing this video from Jenna Rainey called how to paint watercolor pumpkins with Eucalyptus & Berries Seen here on YouTube.  My first thought about it as I was watching it was I do not think I even own a size 16 brush hahaha... So, this paper was cut in an A6 ish size and I used maybe an size 8? ( something like that) and I my favorite part was the little curly vines out of the stems so, I got those a little close to the top edge of the paper and I thought, its OK I can counter sink it.

I ended up add-libbing in some splatters and shadows as well. 

 So, I had the bright idea to use these deckle dies from Honeybee stamps and after the fact I decided I probably should have gone with straight edge dies as after I cut a hole into the front of the sage shadow cardbase I decided if I wanted those curly vines I had to you know edge it a little off set and So I just started cutting up various pieces with those dies, cutting windows trying to layer them and hide the hole and such. ( the frame is actually pretty thick on the finished card as a result) 

 The brown texture on the top was also cut with the largest dies and then the third down in size to cover up how goofy all the layers under it looked. but, it allowed some of those colors to peek out, which was OK but, still off set. and then I seen this sentiment I had previously cut (twice ) and added some paint to thinking it was going to work with some snowman tags also under construction and I thought OK the colors look OK but, in real life, its probably a little bit too matchy- matchy as its hard to see unless you tilt the card. I did end up cutting the first cardbase in half and then putting foam tape under that layer and trimming it down a smidge so it could go onto a slightly darker cardbase that was 6" square. That sentiment is one from Sue Wilson and that's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Watercoloring Flowers & Foliage

 This week Brenda is sharing this video from Marena Art that is an abstract foliage/flower painting with fall type colors. I loved the colors in the painting so, my first thought was what do you have that is close. 

 So I started out mixing some Raw Sienna & Quincindrone Coral and got that color (left in the line) and thought that is not bad, not sure if its really what she used but, I liked it and then picked up some of the other colors in the line mostly straight with some Sepia Brown later in the painting. 

 This is a 4 1/2" square piece of Arches cold press watercolor paper with Daniel Smith watercolor paints. I thought OK its not too bad, I don't know how "abstract" it is but, I do like the colors and I kept going.

 I think I will use this for something so, I set it to the side and started a second one also cut to 4 1/2" square because, the stems are not curvy enough for this to be "pretty" to my eye, its all a little too tight together. I can see it being cut in half and becoming a couple of tags with the painting off the edges of them actually. Something in a smaller scale then this I guess.

 So I started a second one trying to get it a little more loose.

 I did add a little more paint to the crevices of this and more splatters before they became cards but, I am leaning towards fall birthdays of which I need ones for gals in October and November in my family so, I think these will work for a couple of those ladies. 

 Found this textured peach-y colored bazzill in the stash and thought its nearly the same color as the paint I mixed. ( the colors look a little more on the orange shade here but, they are really more peach in real life.)

That's about it from me, these are 5" square in real life,  The ribbons are unknown at this point. I've had them a lot of years. The sentiments are Tim Holtz cardstock stickers from the occasions sticker book and they have glue dots holding them onto the scraps I cut with his label dies from the drop pieces of the base cardstock. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

Thanksgiving Gift Card Holders

 These were built around this printed papers I found in my stash, I knew that I needed something on the A2 size as the place we buy Turkey Thanksgiving gift cards from sells them on post card type paper now rather than just the card. So, I cut up the plaid and word prints, found this orange cardstock and pushed them around on the table for a week or so. and I kept thinking maybe pumpkins maybe leaves. ( I've done leaves a lot over the years) so, I found this Pretty Pink Posh elegant Pumpkins die in the stash and It had not been played with before so, to keep some of the white I decided to cut it from some Artist loft (cheap) watercolor paper. 

And the very first one did not instantly fall apart when I removed it from the die so I decided to tape up the backside of it and keep it as an embedded die, cut a couple more and did the same thing with a few rounds of Daniel Smith watercolors over the top. 

I had some thoughts about leaving no words on the front. ( the inside has the waffle flower Happy Thanksgiving from their set that looks like Farm House font words) mind went blank. but, one of the card front layers I decided it was crooked, lifted it up (so of course the plaid paper ripped) at this point you know all three cards were nearly done so, out came the tin of previously diecut tiny tags and I found this Just for you ( it has to be SU but, who knows what set off hand) and layered those in the same general area where I had the one card rip. I am currently overthinking that idea but, I am also running out of time to come up with some other idea so, I think these are going to stand as is. 

I am really liking this die like this on watercolor paper all taped together and I think I just may do a few more of these while I have everything out. That's about it from me, hope you are doing well. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Fall Leaves

 Hi & Welcome here, this week it's my turn to host the water coloring challenge and I chose this video on YouTube Called the secret to painting stunning Autumn Leaves in watercolor by Creative Lass. I liked how the leaves have a translucency where they overlap. She did make this slightly mixed media with adding some stitching to the line the leaves are dangling from and I did skip that part. 

I started with a piece of Arches cold press and rough sketched some leaves across this piece cut to A6 in real life.

 I did use a water soluble pencil so that I would not have pencil lines to erase after.

I did mask the leaves before I started the sky wash.

I did dab this with a paper towel after this was shot to pick up some of those puddles you see here and added a little more blue to the very top of the paper.

First layers of paints on this, I had too much paint. You can see slight overlaps but, not as much as if I had taken the time to build more watery layers I am guessing.

I did use an Calligraphy nib to trace those veins into the leaves. And I felt like my leaves were getting pretty dark so, I did not add much to this after this was shot.

I free hand did the stems and the line and then used that bitty brad to attach the sentiment tag ( lili of the valley) and this is mounted to a pre made A7 base from Strathmore. it has an deckled edge along the bottom front of the base and the envelope flap. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring an Autumn Still life

 This week Kia is sharing this still life painting idea from Harriet DeWinton seen here on YouTube. I did watch the whole video before I started painting and I totally intended to do some pastel type colors but, somehow I forgot what colors went where when I started to paint.

I did sketch this scene with an water soluble pencil, and you guessed it my acorns were absorbed by the paint when I started with the ground shadow like in the video. I did walk away at this point and let it dry.

So, this is the second layer of paint for the ground and first for all the things you see. This is Daniel Smith watercolors on some Artist Loft watercolor paper I picked up at Micheal's on Sunday because, it had this interesting texture to it. I  think it went mostly OK compared to strathmore paper but, it is not as easy to blend on as say Arches cotton paper. but, I kept going because, I thought it was not so bad. 

After adding more paints and the shadows to the still life I did cut this out with an Mama Elephant Deckled frame die. The base here is river rock and its finished out at A6 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.

Watercoloring an Rainy Autumn Scene

 It's my turn to host the water coloring tutorial challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week and I have chosen this one from Marena Art watercolor Autumn Landscape girl under an umbrella. That you can see the video here on YouTube. 

I did not do anything fancy, just did a slight sketch of the girl & umbrella directly on the cold press Arches watercolor paper. This was cut to A6.

Did a slight layer of neutral tone and some clean water with a size 12 round brush, but the water splatters were just huge so after this was shot and viewed I did add a little more paint and smaller brush splatters and set it aside to dry.

So, I did add color to the skirt area (twice) some to the trees and the umbrella ( which I kept making larger and larger and really over worked this part. and I decided to walk away and let it dry to see if it was fix-able with another layer later. 

hopefully, this will add some more. but, I let it dry after this shot again also. I think I started with the colors too deep so, trying to add shadows to the ribs of the umbrella is not going well. 

So, the drop piece got the same style girl sketched on it and so it begins again.

 

neutral tint from Daniel Smith

I started out with a more watery shade of orange for the umbrella this time around.

Added some of the tint to the ribs of the umbrella.

Decided to use an Avery Elle postage die for a frame and was going to have this be A6 and then realized it was crooked so, that piece I cut away from the back of the fold of the card and started to trim that down closer to the edge of the postage and cut it crooked. So, out came some scissors to distress that edge. I decided that it needed more contrast for the next layer since it had more layers than Originally planed.

I did add the Dr. PH Martins bleed proof white for catchlights on the umbrella and I left off a sentiment since, I am not sure what I am going to do with this as of yet. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.