Welcome to the first edition of my new weekly feature, Coloring Today. Barring unforseen events, I’ll do this every Monday until I run out of ideas. I know a lot of you are old pros at coloring, and I’m no expert by any means. Heaven forbid a trained artist should see this and want to shout, “no, no…you’re doing it all wrong!” I’m just one amateur hoping to share a few things I’ve learned along the way and possibly help other folks have an easier time of it.
Unlike today, when I first started stamping I had very few resources to turn to for enlightenment. I stamped, but my images had no life. I almost wanted to give up. Shortly after I got my first computer I read an online article titled “A Lifetime of Color” and it was the turning point for me — the beginning of my lifetime of color. I was hoping to share the article with you but it appears to be gone. Too bad, I’d love to pay tribute to the person who wrote it.
Today’s article is about watercoloring with Twinkling H20’s. It’s rather long, but I promise all the coloring techniques I’ll focus on won’t be quite so involved. I’m using the Lilac stamp from Flourishes for my example. The H20’s are from Flourishes, as well.
Stamp image. This is the raw image shown with my light and dark purple H20’s which will be used to color the lilac bloom. I stamped it on the smooth side of heavy weight watercolor paper with Timber Brown Stazon. Stazon is completely waterproof.
Watercolor paper isn’t the most ideal for stamping on and you’ll want to apply good and even pressure to get a decent image. However, some imperfections won’t show in the finished product.
For this entire image I used a natural bristle petal brush, sometimes called a tulip brush. It has flat sides and a rounded tip. When I use my H20’s I dip my wet paintbrush directly into the paint pot. Swish it around until the surface of the paint and water mixes to form a paste of the consistency you can paint with. You’ll want it to brush smoothly over your paper without running all over creation. Experiment on a scrap piece. Too wet? Swish again to bring up more paint in the pot.
Add pale lavender. Paint the lilac bloom with the pale lavender. Don’t worry about shading. That comes later. It’s going to look great! If you go outside the lines you can remove some of that color with a clean, wet brush and then blotting with a tissue. Any remaining errant color will be blended in and become part of the finished image. That’s part of the beauty of watercoloring — it’s very forgiving.
Add dark purple. This photo shows the image with the dark purple added. Simply dab spots of dark purple paint all over the lilac bloom. Hold your brush straight up and use the tip to pounce it onto the image, much like stippling. Less water gives darker color. Too much water will disperse and bleed the colors — you don’t want that. Try to have some dark and some light, but allow plenty of the first coat of light purple to show through, too.
It’s shaping up nicely!
You may think you’re turning your lilac into a blob, but you’re actually making a series of mini-blobs that will become a beautiful painting in the end. The following close up may help when you see how impressionistic it is:
Add light green to the leaves.
A little note here: The lilac bloom should not be sopping wet, but if it is you’ll want to let it dry a bit before adding green to the adjoining leaves. Any paint or ink will spread into a wet area and we don’t want that at this point.
Paint the leaves a solid light, bright green. Don’t worry about shading yet. Just try to cover the leaves with an even coat.
I’ve noticed the green seems to be a little extra shimmery — fun! Your colors will look different when turned at different angles. This bright green appears more of a soft moss when viewed straight on. It’s the nature of the twinkle in the H20’s.
Add dark green shading. Here are the leaves with the dark green added. I propped up the image for this photo so you can see the difference in the green. See how the purple looks darker, too.
When adding the dark green shading you need only think about where the light and shadows would naturally be. Where something overlaps there’s a shadow. The lower edge of the leaf would be more shadowed. Inner curves are darker than outer curves.
Moving Twinkling H20’s around on your paper is a little different from inks or other paints because the H20’s are loaded with mica chips. When it comes to doing the blending and shading it sometimes appears you’re just pushing those mica chips around. A light touch will usually yield better results. I use a combination of brush strokes and patting with the flat side of the brush. As always, experimentation and artistic interpretation are key.
I added dark green where the leaves meet the blossom and along the lower edges of the leaves. Paint a distinct line and then diffuse it with a clean, wet - but not too wet - brush. A little blotchiness is okay as long as you maintain some shading in the specified areas. Step back a time or two for an overview and remember, it’s a watercolor painting — it won’t look like it was colored with Copics. I painted the stem brown and then used a clean, wet brush to remove a little paint to create a highlighted area. Here’s a close up:
Add copper and green wash. This is the final photo of the process, showing two steps at once.
The first step is to add the green wash. I scribbled a little paint here and there, as shown, and blended it with a wet brush. The scribbled spots help to assure a background of varying tones, rather than a flat appearance. It may be necessary to add more green to achieve the desired effect.
Next, I painted a line of copper around the entire image and diffused it with a wet brush. Again, more paint may need to be added. I’ve shown the right side of the image with just the copper and the scribbled spots of green hoping to better illustrate the process.
And, finally, there’s nothing left but to frame the finished art piece and mount it on a suitable background. I covered an entire card front with some designer paper scraps and mounted my painting on foam tape to float it off the background. The swirl clip with the ribbon and cord off to the side add an accent without covering the image or adding too much bulk. Done!
If you feel this information is helpful and you decide to give it a go, please leave a comment here with a link to your art because I’d love to have a look. We could really set the world to Twinkling! Thank you for dropping in today!
