Hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are ready for a little something to jump start your creativity! Today I have a chat with the fabulous Leslie Miller. You know you've admired her watercolor washes and the way she can bring life to flowers on her cards. I thought - why not ask the pro how she acheives this beautiful look?
FYI, this card -
Painted Tulips - was just one of her cards that took my breath away!
Q & A With Leslie
Q. What is your favorite way to color up a stamping creation?
A. Although it depends on the image, I get the most pleasure from watercoloring and I love the look. Chalks are a runner up because of the very soft blending that can be achieved. I like chalks for their portability--they're easy to carry to work and use on my breaks. They can look very similar to watercoloring and don't require any special paper or inks. The Poppin' Pastels technique (Versamark and chalks) is ideal for shading solid images. There are so many ways to color an image!
Q. Leslie, you used watercolor for your tulip creation - any tricks to getting that soft and feminine look?
A. I think the colors had a lot to do with the tulip card looking so soft and feminine--pink, gray, Sahara Sand, River Rock--very soft colors. The background wash softened the contrast, too. Without the background wash the tulips would have appeared much brighter. I placed the painted image panel on a very simple card base of the same muted colors, and used very quiet and feminine accents--the ribbon and pearls.
Q. A lot of people might look at a card like you created and say, "I can't do that!" How did you learn to perfect watercolor?
A. A lot of trial and error! I've never had lessons and I've never done research on watercolor techniques. And, believe me, I still get frustrated sometimes because I'm a long way from being an expert. I'll look at paintings, study them and try to figure out how I can manage something similar with inks and a stamped image. When I'm not stamping I'll be thinking, wondering and figuring on the logistics in hopes of accomplishing what I envision. Once in a while I'll have an epiphany. It may or may not work in reality and then it's back to the drawing board. I'm still working on ideas for how I might make a stamped image look less "stamped", if you know what I mean. The outline bothers me. When I figure it out, I'll be sure and share the information. I think everyone can do watercoloring as long as you don't say "I can't". When I was little, one of my favorite books was The Little Engine That Could. Silly, but it left a huge impression on me. I guess that was the idea when it was written.
Q. You use a lot of watercolor washes in your stamping, what's the trick here?
A. I don't know if there's a trick... When I want a full background wash I'll usually color that in first. I'll scribble two or three colors of ink here and there outside the lines of the stamped image, then blend them with a clean, wet brush. In larger background areas I'll sometimes use a flat brush which gives it more of a brush stroke look. I don't always try to cover every smidgen of the paper. After I paint the main image I'll do a little closer shading around it--adding shadows, etc.
When I want to just give a "glow" around an image I'll do that after the image is colored. The glow is done by wetting the paper first and then dabbing ink into the wet area. The ink will disperse and gradually fade out. When it hits a dry area it will abruptly stop spreading, so I always wet a larger area than I actually need--this allows the gradual fade out with no abrupt edge. The wetter the paper, the more the ink will spread and the softer the glow will be. This isn't anything I thought up on my own. Well...actually, I discovered it by accident but later I learned it's called "wet on wet" -- apparently it's routinely done in watercoloring.
Thanks Leslie for sharing your tips! It's always nice when you can see how someone creates such stunning cards! Leslie actually has a fabulous step by step tutorial on how she watercolors! Check out this link-
Watercolor Tutorial
So folks, today’s challenge is to show us how you've colored up a Flourishes stamp set with watercolor. Keep in mind, while we'd love to see a new creation, if you love a card you did before using watercolors and Flourishes stamps, please-- link it up here on this thread! We'd love to see it! Please upload it to SCS using the key words
MMM2 and
FLLC. That way, everyone can see your work- not only in the challenge group but on the Flourishes Member Gallery too!
Here's a card I did recently using the poppy set and watercolor!
Poppies In Red
You have one week to play. Next Monday, I’ll draw a name, and the winner will win the card that I used in my sample.
The winner from last week's challenge was
LOIS a.k.a. "Clownmom." You should see the sample she made! Check out last week's thread! Lois, PM me with your address and I'll mail out your card!
Motivate Me Monday! 7/14 Watercolor
Linear Mode
