Watercolor Follow-Up: For the Birds

Yesterday, I did a sweet bunny (he's too cute to be called merely a rabbit) so now I will move on to more serious-looking cards!

Like the rabbit yesterday, I followed some simple steps. I chose an image with lots of coloring room.

I stamped it on the smooth side of a sheet of watercolor paper with solvent ink (StazOn).

I then used an aquapainter to apply ink in a soft first layer. When an image, like this one, has a lot of detail, I pick one element at a time to color. In this instance, I started with the pansies and the leaves of ivy.

Once I had completed the foliage, I could better see where all the other elements stopped and started. I then went ahead and did a first layer of color on the bird houses and planters. After I had the base layer done, I went back with the same colors to add a little shadow and thus some depth.

I then applied a second, slightly darker, ink to create pools of light and shadow. As this image had so many more areas to cover, I used several pairs of inks.

For the bird houses, I followed the shadow lines already evident in the stamped image. I also went around the most prominent edges. With an element like the planters, I also followed the grooves with a very thin line of color to add more depth.


With the flowers, I added the deeper color to the middle of the flower as often pansies have deeper centers. I added a hint of a darker shade to the left side of the leaves.


In deciding how to incorporate this watercolored image into a card, I decided to focus on the central birdhouse and really make the red pop with a red matte. I wanted to keep it soft, so I mounted that on a panel of soft pink designer paper with a lacey design.

Garden Potpourri
Stamp: Garden Nesting (Penny Black)
Paper: pink lace from Classic Mat Stack (DieCuts with a View)
Cardstock: Real Red and Pretty in Pink (Stampin Up); watercolor paper
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Rose Red, Ruby Red, Real Red, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Brocade Blue, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Bordering Blue, More Mustard, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Mellow Moss and Certainly Celery
Tools: aquapainter (Stampin Up)

The next card has only hints of color in some areas. It is meant to be light and airy with the woman's dress being the focal image. The colors in the rest of the image are soft and serene to mimick the scene depicted in the image.

Madame L'Artiste
Stamp: Sketch Artist (B Line Designs)
Paper: yellow daisy paper (from old ProvoCraft stack)
Cardstock: Garden Green (Stampin Up); watercolor paper
Ink: Timber Brown (StazOn); Garden Green, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Regal Rose, Pixie Pink, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, So Saffron and Blush Blossom
Tools: oval cutting system (Creative Memories); aquapainter (Stampin Up)

Hope you enjoyed my watercolor creations!