Susan - Creative Watercolor Media

What I appreciate most about the classes for this section is that the watercolor methods are all accessible, even to us "non-watercolorers." I absolutely love the look of watercolor, and when I saw that first video in which she "drops" the concentrated color from re-inkers into a little pool of water, it reminded me of a video I saw very early in my card-making efforts by Jennifer McGuire where she used this technique. I tried it then (about 4 years ago) without as much success as Jennifer had, but I was willing to give it another go.

I started by heat embossing (twice to make sure I had sturdy little "wells" for my water) with gold embossing powder the images from the Persian Motifs Stamp set. I then, section by section so that the colors didn't accidentally run together, used my water brush to put a pool of water in each section and then added tiny drops of undiluted re-inker with a very fine tipped paint brush. Once again, the result wasn't quite the same as was shown in the videos, but instead of dropping in a single color and letting it spread, I dropped color in from 2 ends. Here is my result:

For the colors here I used Distress Ink re-inkers in Mowed Lawn and Salvaged Patina (for the leaves) and Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, and a little more Salvaged Patina for the floral designs. To the turquoise petals, I added some iridescent water-based paint for a bit of shimmer. I then diluted the re-inkers a bit and splattered Mermaid Lagoon and Peacock Feathers in the white space.

The sentiment stamps come from the Extra Special Stamp set. I used VersaFine Clair Warm Breeze for the "hello friend" and an ombre green to blue ink for the rest of the sentiment and then heat embossed them both with a rainbow sparkle clear embossing powder.

I mounted the image panel onto some fun foam and then attached that to a metallic gold card base.

Here is another close up focusing on the floral image. This gives you a better sense of the way the light catches the iridescent paint on the flower:

These Persian flowers are one of my all time Altenew favorites, and it was fun to try this watercolor technique using these. As many of my creations go, it wasn't quite what I had envisioned at the outset, but I'm pretty happy with the result!

And, here's a bonus watercolor effort. I was in an art store recently and saw something called Derwent Intense Pencils. I inquired about what they were, and was told they were like watercolor pencils but the "lead" contains ink and the colors are therefore more vibrant and permanent. Well... maybe I'm late to the party, but I had not seen these used before and became a little obsessed with them. Finally, I just had to order them and try them out for myself. And I'm glad I did! Here is my "first effort" with them, so go easy on me! I used the Leaf Canopy stamps which offer a nice "open space" on each leaf to apply and blend colors. Here's how they turned out:

I will admit that patience isn't my greatest virtue, so I probably colored on the wet space on some of the leaves a little too early, but the darker lines offer some contrast and enhance the individual look of each leaf.

The sentiment I used here is from the Extra Special Stamps, and I used a neon ombre ink and then clear heat embossed it. I spattered the card panel with gold paint and added some sequins for sparkle, with the cooler colors up with the greener leaves, and the warmer colors with the red/orange/yellow cluster. I will have fun playing with this new medium, and hope you might give it a try!