Have An Amazing Day | A Blog Named Hero April Challenge

Hi there, I hope you’re well and hanging in there.  Thanks for spending a few minutes out of your day with me 💛

Today marks the beginning of a new challenge over at A Blog Named Hero and this month’s theme is “Watercolor.”

I pulled out the gorgeous Hero Arts and Altenew collaboration Bloom & Grow stamp set for this challenge.  Using Gina K. Designs Warm Glow Amalgam ink, I stamped the giant flower onto an A2-sized piece of Fabriano Artistico Extra White Cold Press watercolor paper.  The ink color is a light warm tone that is nice for no-line coloring.

I also created a mask of the flower by stamping it onto a piece of Avery label paper and then fussy cutting the image.  I placed the mask over the stamped flower and then stamped the leaves around the image.  Then I removed the mask.

I used Karin Brushmarker Pro markers to water color the image.  I started by adding a base layer of shading with the color Blush, which is actually a light peachy yellow color.  Going petal by petal, I wet the petal with clean clear water and then touched the marker directly to the paper, scribbling where I wanted the color to be darkest.  Then, using a water brush pen, I pulled out the color, letting it fade as I got to the tips of each petal.

When this layer was dry, I went back in with Lipstick Red. But this time, I scribbled the marker onto my glass work surface first, and then diluted it with a bit of water from my water brush pen.  Then using the water brush pen, I added color to the petals, concentrating color where I wanted shading.  I quickly wiped excess color from my brush, and then used it to pull out the color I had just added over the rest of the petal, letting it fade out as I went.

I repeated this process over and over and then went back in to add more details.  Coloring this flower took me over three hours and for the first 90 minutes it looked like a hot mess but I just kept at it 🙂 If you’re still learning how to watercolor, like I am, I can’t remind you enough to just keep going.  The whole time I was coloring this flower I felt like I was totally winging it, but it turned out just fine!

For the leaves I switched to Zigs (Olive Green and Mid Green).  I actually found it challenging to use the Zigs which I think might have been due to the combination of the ink and the paper.  Next time I think I’ll try to mix a nice leafy green using the Karin markers.

Lastly, I scribbled and diluted some Egyptian Blue Karin marker on my glass mat and used my water brush pen to add color around the flower.

When the panel was dry, I used black pigment ink to stamp the sentiment, which is from the same stamp set.  And to finish, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thank you so much for visiting!