Loose Watercoloring with Color Bursts

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by this chilly Monday morning (here in the Northeast that is!). I have a loose watercoloring technique to share with you today featuring the W Plus 9 Pretty Peonies stamp set and Ken Oliver Color Bursts.

I love the look of loose watercoloring; the artistic feel of it is beautiful and it let’s you as the artist be free with your coloring and not have to worry about it being “perfect”.

I stamped the outline floral images from Pretty Peonies in Versafine ink and I started mixing custom colors using the Earth Tones and Brights sets of the Ken Oliver Color Burst watercolors.

When mixing colors, I stuck to warm yellows, pinks and reds for the flowers, and mixed some smokey blues and greens for the leaves. I didn’t focus on staying inside the lines much because I was trying to keep this from looking too perfect, and simply let the color blend and bleed wherever it wanted. Once you let go of the “control” that you want over the coloring and just embrace the medium, it’s quite relaxing to watercolor this way!

After my base watercoloring was finished, I let it dry before I came  back with my Finetec Gold mica watercolors. And let me tell you, these gold watercolors are amazing; the vibrancy and opacity of these paints are superb, and they go onto the paper like butter; I love them!

Here I used them for adding swashes of color color in certain areas of each flower; no where in particular, just kind of where I thought it needed it. The result is a gold sheen that catches the light as you turn the card… GORGEOUS!

To pull my card together, I foiled a die cut from the Winnie and Walter the Big, the Bold and Comfort die set and layered it up with shite cardstock to create a dimensional sentiment.

I then added some vellum underneath to stretch across the bottom of the card, and some Sparkling Clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh to scatter about and add a bit more shine. Finally, I layered my watercolored panel onto a black cardstock panel that is splattered with the gold Finetec watercolors and then onto my white card base.

MORE INSPIRATION & DISCOUNT CODE

I love the way this ended up turning out, and I hope you have too!

And if you haven’t heard, Simon Says Stamp has a special discount code right now for $7.99 off your purchase of $75 or more! So if you are looking to pick up some of those Christmas gifts (or some of the new mini release products!), you might want to head on over and use it!

PRODUCTS

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Wplus9 PRETTY PEONIES Clear Stamps CL-WP9PRPE[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Simon Says Stamp STITCHED RECTANGLES Wafer Dies sssd111455 In Stitches[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Winnie and Walter THE BIG THE BOLD AND COMFORT 6 x 8 Clear Stamps WW043[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM SPARKLING CLEAR Cupped Sequins[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Pretty Pink Posh 6MM SPARKLING CLEAR Cupped Sequins[/one_fifth_last]

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Pretty Pink Posh 10MM SPARKLING CLEAR Cupped Sequins PPP118[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Pretty Pink Posh 4MM METALLIC GOLD Cupped Sequins[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Finetec MICA WATERCOLOR Paint 6 Set M600[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Neenah Classic Crest 110 LB SMOOTH SOLAR WHITE Paper Pack 25 Sheets[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# BLACK Black8[/one_fifth_last]

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Strathmore WATERCOLOR PAPER PAD 9×12 Bound 360109[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
US Artquest MATTE Perfect Paper Adhesive[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Tsukineko VersaFine ONYX BLACK Ink Pad VF-82[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Therm O Web GOLD Deco Foil Transfer Sheets iCraft 51025[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Bazzill 40 LB VELLUM 8.5 x 11 White 25 Sheets[/one_fifth_last]

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WHITE FUN FOAM 12 Pack 118711 9 x 12[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Gray And White 660425[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Ken Oliver – Color Burst – Earth Tones Assortment – 6 Pack[/one_fifth][one_fifth padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”]
Ken Oliver – Color Burst – Brights Assortment – 6 Pack[/one_fifth][one_fifth_last padding=”5px 5px 5px 5px”][/one_fifth_last]