Paper and Fiber Arts: Watercolor Takes Practice

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Watercolor Takes Practice

Recently, I completed two Altenew Academy classes on watercolor for card makers. After viewing the two different instructors' creations, the main takeaway is that watercolor takes practice. In my case, a lot of practice! The workshops are titled Botanical Illustration Inspired Watercolor, taught by Jaycee Gaspar, and Artists' Watercolor 101 for Paper Crafters with Emily Midgett. Each instructor has their own style, but both agreed that swatching your paints beforehand is a good idea.

It is time-consuming to swatch things. But the effort is worth it. The picture, above, shows the Altenew Essentials Pan set along with the painted piece of watercolor paper with each of the colors painted on it. There are swatches of each color mixed with the other colors, as well. I swatch all of my paints, inks, markers, embossing powders, and punches. It helps to have all of these things as a reference. Some of them I refer to more than others - but all of them provide me with an opportunity to see how the product works with the papers I use.

The card featured today shows the large rose and some of the foliage from the Tranquility Rose Stamp set stamped (and masked) onto watercolor paper with a light gray color. The use of the Silver Lake ink creates a no-line coloring image. This means that when the rose is painted, the lines fade into the image and are not very noticeable. For a true no-line watercolor, it is best to use the same color ink, when stamping, as will be used in painting. I didn't decide to go with yellow until after stamping so the stamped ink is faintly visible. After the watercolor dried, the panel was cut with a GinaK Designs frame and mounted onto a gray card front measuring 4.25" x 5.5". The sentiments come from the same Tranquility Rose stamp set. These are stamped with Obsidian Pigment ink. The butterflies are stamped with the same ink and heat embossed with clear powder. After coloring the images with Copic markers, they are popped up with foam. A few sequins complete the front panel.