Inspire Me Monday: Watercolor Tips & Tricks

Hello all! Kathy here from The Daily Marker bringing you another edition of Inspire Me Monday! Are you one of those crafters who enjoys watercoloring or are you one that tries, always wishing for better results? If you said the latter, maybe a few of these tips can work for you? 

I am the kind of crafter who loves to color when I am traveling and it just so happens I'm away for the weekend with some friends. I packed some minimal supplies to lighten my load, but I had enough to be able to share some tips and tricks with you all.

It’s no secret that I love Power Poppy’s extra large flowers so I packed this beautiful flower from the Chrysanthemum XL set. Also, did you see it's on sale right now? 

My Mini MISTI is usually always in my bag but, this time, I forgot it! So, to try to get a great impression with this large stamp, I ended up placing my paper (Fabriano 140lb. extra white cold pressed) on top of the flower to stamp it and that worked fairly well.

To prep my paints, I wet my desired colors and put some in the palette. By adding more water and really diluting the paints, you get a nice wash and I think it’s easier to paint this way. 

I love the details in this flower, but let's be real, it does take time to color this beautiful illustration! That's why using a simple watercolor was a must for me. Alternating the shades of red and purple was easy and appealing to the eye.

Creating in this way is super easy to do while you are chatting with friends. Another tip? Adding a wash of a darker color can really make these blooms pop, see?

I think the wash really works well since there is so much color variation on each petal.

Once my background was painted and dry, I used a sharpie marker to outline each and every petal. Of course, this isn’t necessary but, I believe the effort is worth it.

To give the petals just a little more pop, I decided to accent them thanks to a little white gel pen.
Outlining an image and adding white gel pen will make your colored images pop. I encourage you to stamp an image twice and practice on the spare image to see if this might work for you!

And what you see above is my final colored image. When I get home, it will be easy to add a sentiment for someone special. 

Thanks for stopping by! If you haven't delved into watercolor, maybe some of these tips will help bring out the best in your watercolored images. I hope you give these tricks a try! 

Have a great week and I will see you next year! Wishing you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 

Hugs, Kathy