Whimsy Flower Garden | Watercolor Weekend

Welcome Back Watercolor Fans! I am loving the New Releases so far and the new whimsical flowers is no exception. These are great to use with the new Gnomes set but they are also great on their own. Here’s how I created this project.

I started by taping off the edges of my project. This allows for a crisp white border. The first stamp I grabbed was the leaves. I love that just because it looks like a leaf stamp it doesn’t mean it can’t be a flower stamp. First I inked them up with 177 and stamped them in the middle of the card then stamped a second and third generation to the right and left of that. I re-inked it and added it over to the right and a little to the top left. This keeps the painting balanced. I know I want to stamp more flowers in front of the ones on the left so I stamped them higher than the others. You want everything to be random, nature is random and therefore there are no mistakes. Just have fun with it, play is the key to innovation.

I cleaned the stamp off and inked it again to use it as flowers. First, I inked just the veins in the middle with green. Next, I inked up the “leaves” with pinks and purples. Notice that I haven’t added any water, don’t worry it’s coming, we have to make a big mess first. I stamped the pink ones to the right and left and then some purple ones. To create the daisy flowers, I inked them up with browns (stamped off to create white flowers), pinks and purples.

Using yellow and brown I created a side view flower as well as a red tulip. I inked those up with brown, stamped them off and then watercolored them using my palette. The little blue bells (that’s what I call them) are awesome. They could also be snow drops done in white…woo hoo…maybe for Christmas cards. I inked those with green and blue. I didn’t stamp them off because I wanted the bright colors. I used the vines from the Foliage set 5 set on the upper sides. You can fill in any areas that are open with any foliage. Don’t overdue it, you can always go back in.

Add water to all flowers and foliage. I tend to use a little more water to get a more loose feeling. Once everything is dry, I go back in and add darker shadows to the middle of the flowers and to anywhere I feel needs details. For the sky, I used a wet in wet technique. I love blooms so I don’t mind wet and dry areas, darker and lighter colors. I just let watercolor do it’s thing. After that was dry, I removed the tape, cut it down and placed it in my MISTI. I used black ink and one of the new sayings from little things sentiments set. AND sign and date (missed it again but I have done it now!). This is a therapeutic, let it go kinda painting, give it a try if you need some you time or if you lost your mojo.

We are all enjoying this new release (and every other release lol) and I know you guys are too. I enjoy seeing all of your awesome inspiring work. Thanks so much for stopping by. Til next time, have a crafty day!