Mar 30 2009
Sweet Peas: Two Halves of a Whole
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an orange sweet pea, but I looked them up and, sure enough — orange. I thought if I was going to be coloring a lot of Sweet Peas (and I will be coloring a lot of Sweet Peas) I’ll grow tired of coloring them all in shades of pink, however lovely they are. So, today I made bold, vibrant Sweet Peas — a real statement of summer. My Sweet Peas, by the way, are from Flourishes. I would provide a link, but I don’t see them in the store. Could they possibly be sold out again? When Flourishes is temporarily out of stock of an item, it will not appear in the store, but it will be restocked very quickly.
I set out to color the large stamp in the set and then decided to cut it in half and make two cards instead. I painted the flowers and leaves first (watercolored with Stampin’ Up! markers), then divided the image and did the background shading — green on the first card and blue on the second. I used sentiments from Thinking of You and Poppy Patch. The first card features some of those Kaiser pearls I love so much, too.
About the painting: I began by painting the flowers plain yellow and orange. I added orange to the yellow flowers, and red to the orange flowers until I was satisfied with the color. The yellow, though subtle, gave the orange flowers a little more life, and the hint of orange under the red helped those flowers get along better with their orange companions. I painted the leaves in Garden Green, but left the stems and curly tendrils for later.
As for the background shading, I added just a little bit of marker color at a time along the edges of the image and then dabbed at it with a wet brush, pulling the color outward. Excess color was lightened with a clean, wet brush. It’s possible to dab a marker onto wet paper and get that nice, diffuse spread, but you can only do it once or twice before the marker color gives out. I’ll occasionally touch up a wet area with a marker, then set the marker aside for just a moment while it refreshes itself (new ink fills the tip).
Once my background shading was complete and dry, I used the fine tip of my Garden Green marker to color the narrow stems and wispy tendrils. This could be done with a very fine brush, also, but the marker is quick and precise with its continuous flow of ink.
The recipe, below, lists all items used on these cards. Goodbye weekend, hello Monday! I hope the week treats you well. Till we meet again…
Stamps: Sweet Peas, Thinking of You, Poppy Patch Paper: Real Red, Brocade Blue, Neenah Classic Solar White, Arches 140 lb cold press watercolor Ink: Palette Umber, Palette Noir, markers in Yo Yo Yellow, Only Orange, Real Red, Garden Green, Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue Accessories: Offray gingham ribbon, red SU! grosgrain ribbon, copper Kaiser flat backed pearls, SU! large oval and 1 3/8″ circle punches, Cuttlebug Diamonds in the Rough and Birds & Swirls embossing folders, Scotch brand foam mounting tape
They both are gorgeous! Orange looks great! It gives a real eye-catching pop-up! Sunny, warm and very gentle!
Thank you for sharing some tips about coloring, Leslie!
Leslie - your water coloring is just perfect! I adore every bit of these cards. Your gentle shading just steals my heart. I wonder how the water coloring would work if the image had been stamped in Garden Green craft ink - particularly the tendrils. Nonetheless, these are sensational. I adore the blue one. TFS
These are absolutely gorgeous! I’m so glad you explained your watercoloring technique. I was just working on the smaller image yesterday and was struggling…you helped! I love how you completed them both…thanks for bringing us more beautiful inspirations!
Leslie, both of your cards are gorgeous! I love how your colored them!
Absolutely gorgeous Leslie!
Gorgeous!
Very pretty! Great coloring and shading. tfs
Oh wow Leslie ~ I love the sweet pea set…and plan on ordering it…next payday…Both of these cards are equally beautiful and thanks for giving us the tutorial on how you colored them. The added CB folders really make a statement adding to your wonderful coloring
I love your orange sweet peas! Beautiful cards, and such a cool idea spitting the image for a 2-fer! Love your shading…wish I could get mine to look so perfect!
Your flowers are so luminescent, they’re just gorgeous!!! I’m glad you looked up the colors of Sweetpeas. I love them in gentle pinks but I’m crazy about the color of yours - so vibrant! Both of your cards are gorgeous and your watercoloring absolutely amazing!!!
Wow! So vibrant and inviting!
Jennifer
Lovely, lovely cards, Leslie. You do such a wonderful job with any coloring medium. I love these images, too. And….sweet peas, too - love, love, love them.
Leslie, I’m sorry I haven’t told you this before, but I really love your blog. Not only do you make absolutely splendid cards, but your writing about how and why you did things this way is so interesting! It is fun to read and not too “gushy” about why you like a particular stamp, etc. So thank you for your beautiful cards and your literary creativity as well!
Michele
wow, beautiful colours on these two.
Absolutely stunning cards!!!
Leslie, I think this set was designed for you! Everytime you create with it, you make it sing. Beautiful work and thanks for your instructions on how you colored it. Another wonderful work of art. TFS!
These cards are stunning. Thanks for the insight into how you did the coloring. It’s incredibly helpful. I must buy this set when it’s available again because of the beautiful cards you’ve done with it. The pink ones were stunners too. Thanks so much for sharing your talent.
Wow……gorgeous, gorgeous orange sweetpeas. Your coloring Leslie is just stunning……as always
I was already to order the sweetpea set this weekend and it was not on Flourishes site. I will keep trying. I just have to have it..LOL!!! TFS
These are both beautifully watercolored Leslie, I love them!!! Just gorgeous, girl! *STAMPIN HUGS* Alex
Thank you for sharing your beautiful creations. You coloring is marvelous and I appreciate the tips as I recently purchased some Stampin’ Up! markers and have been trying to figure out how to best use them. You are one of my stamping heroes and I hope to develop my talent as well as you have someday!
you are KILLING me with your talent!!
such pretty coloring on both, neat idea to cut the stamp in half!
STUNNING! I’m happy to see you can’t put down those Sweet Peas!
Both of these cards are just amazing! Both have such a fresh contemporaty feel! You never cease to amaze me with your talent! Thanks for all you share with us.
Leslie, these are gorgeous! Those flowers are beautiful and I love the way you colored them!
This is gorgeous Leslie. Thank you so much for letting me know via email about the Flourishes store. They now have the crocheted ribbon in but are out of this set. I cannot wait to order it. Your watercoloring is amazing. I love the layering that you do. Super job…
oh goodness..how beautiful…I so love watercoloring!
Beautiful cards, Leslie! Your coloring is gorgeous, as usual. I love the vibrancy of the colors you chose.
LOVE your cards!! Beautiful…and a great idea for big flower stamps!!
Beautiful coloring and design! I really like how you got two for the price of one here!
Beautiful cards. I wondered why I didn’t see the stamp in Flourishes store.
Goodness sakes Leslie! Your watercoloring skills are just out of this world! I also love what you can do with cuttlebug! Just beautiful!!!!
Gorgeous Leslie!!
Gorgeous!!
*THUD* Holy smokes, Leslie! This is stunning… gorgeous coloring!!
Stunning coloring and fantastic designs!!
These are absolutely gorgeous, Leslie!! I especially LOVE the one with the red base!!
What a great idea to get more mileage out of coloring that beautiful but rather large image! Thanks again to a wonderful coloring tutorial. Absolutely gorgeous! Your “yellow” hint reminds me of your excellent advice to finish burnishing with Summer Sun on your Curly Pear card for an overall glow. Linda
[…] when watercoloring images like this, and have mentioned it often in the past, such as in this post with the Sweet Peas. Today I was attempting a particular shade of pink-violet and didn’t […]