Watercolor 101

Here ya go, I said I would work on a tutorial to teach ya to watercolor. It’s just 7 easy steps.  Anyone can do it, it just takes practice and hopefully this will give you the confidence to try it.

There will be no video, this old girl is just getting the blog figured out (in fact, I had to put tomorrows date on here to make sure it went to the top of the page).  So it is just me, jamming to my XM satellite radio on my computer, a digital camera with a timer, and a tripod. I am going to show you how to do the Bloomin’ Beautiful card that I had posted before.

These are the items you will need to do your card.

Bloomin’ Beautiful Set or similar.

Stazon Jetblack, Going Gray, More Mustard, Tempting Turquoise, Brilliant Blue, Old Olive classic inks.

Watercolor paper

Aqua Painter

 

You will need to cut a piece of watercolor paper, 3″ x 3″ and a dit (this is the little line after the three on the ruler) for the potted hydrangea, and you will also need a smaller piece for just the flowers, this you will cut out a few blooms later, and add to the side of the pot on the bottom.

 

 

 

 

Step One: ALWAYS to do your shading first (this is the way I do it, does not mean it is the right way) I like to do it first cause there is not all this color to mess with your eyeballs, and you can see what you are doing, plus the other colors bleed out into your shadow line if you do it after.

Just using your Going Gray ink (I add a little refill in the lid – makes it much easier then continually squeezing the pad to get the color inside the lid) add a gray shade line all the way around the flowers and the pot, and I also added some gray underneath, so the pot is sitting on something and not just floating in the air. Sometimes I just add gray to one side of an image, for a different look.

 

This is what it looks like after adding your gray shadow.

Squeeze the Aqua Painter and rub it gently on a towel to remove any Gray ink before going to the next color. Please do this each time you switch to a different color.  Squeeze it only to clean, not to color with.

Tip: Got a plugged up Aqua Painter and the water won’t come out? It is just hard water build up. Unscrew the brush end of the painter  where you add the water, and soak it in vinegar for a few minutes, rinse it off and screw it back on the aqua painter. It will be as good as new.

 

Step Two: Using your More Mustard ink, color the whole pot in and make sure the More Mustard is not too dark.

Let it dry (that is the secret to getting darker colors, by using the same ink pad). It has to dry before you add more, if it is wet the water just pulls the color you are adding out into the image.  Plus let it dry in between colors, for example if your pot is wet and you start to color the flowers, the flower colors will bleed into the pot. If you look close, I was trying to rush and my pot color went into my shadow line under it, you see it in Step Three…sorry!

 

 

Step Three: After it has dried go back with the More Mustard and just add color around the edges, and underneath the leaves, keep adding till you get the color you want. A little squirt of refill in the lid of the pad to pull your ink from, will help you get a darker shade.

See how I left the center the light mustard color? This is where the highlight is on the pot.

 

 

Step Four: Now color all the flowers on the main image as well as the small piece that will be cut out later, with Tempting Turquoise ink, don’t worry about staying in the lines or having the ink be the same color throughout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like when you have finished coloring with the Tempting Turquoise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step Five: Now color in and around the center of the flowers with Brilliant Blue ink, just make sure to not have it too dark. Remember to do the smaller piece of flower paper too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like after you have done that.

 

So far so good eh?

 

 

 

 

Step Six: Remember how we did the pot?  Color the leaves with Old Olive, let it dry. Then go back and add more Old Olive to have it be darker in spots. Especially under the leaves as it would naturally be darker there.

If you have trouble understanding shadows and lights, take a vase or a jar of pencils it does not matter what you use. Sit it on your desk and look at it and see how the light hits it in areas, and where the shadows are.

 

Step Seven: Now this is the final step, after it is all dry, you want to go back into the colored areas where you want it darker and add a bit of Going Gray. You don’t want to color it all over with the gray just add a bit. See the difference between this one and the one in Step Six?

 

 

 

Here is the finished sample of the card.

I added a little white gel pen to the center of the flowers, as well as some crystal effects.

Pat yourself on the back, you did it.

 

 

 

 

Got a lot of scraps of Watercolor paper, that stuff is gold ya know…this is what I do with it, I store it in this lovely oversized mug I got from my friend and down-line Karen Meinerz. I don’t throw any of it away, when I need a little piece to do some 3-D stuff on my cards, I use this stash.

I “Believe” you can all watercolor now!

 

Holler if you have any questions ok?

Thanks for stopping in!

Hugs, Di