Inspire Me Monday with Kathy Racoosin

Hello Friends! Welcome to another Inspire Me Monday. My name is Kathy Racoosin from The Daily Marker and I am super excited to share with you today. 

Today I hope to inspire you grab a pencil and alter one of your stamps for a new look literally drawing a few lines. I am inking up this beautiful Amaryllis Bliss. 

Even though this is a holiday flower I love the wide open spaces on the petals for watercoloring. Tombow markers are super easy to watercolor with and awesome for on the go watercoloring. 

Gina K. Designs amalgam ink is great for "no line" watercoloring plus the ink can be used for alcohol markers. 

This card is pretty tall and narrow measuring at a pretty solid 10 inches. 

The paper that I prefer is cold pressed and 140 lbs . I love the texture of cold pressed paper instead of the hot pressed that is smooth and no texture. 

Cut your watercolor paper to it's desired size. Draw two lines from the top of the flower. If your lines are crooked that can be even better ... more natural so don't worry about how your lines might look. 

Sketch a vase and stamp the sentiment inside the vase. Stamp a leaf onto your stem. 

Start watercoloring on one of the flowers that doesn't stand out as much. I like to think of it as a warm up. Be sure to leave some areas white without any color. 

Start with a first layer of color and once it's all dry add another layer color on top of the first layer. 

To make the smaller flowers stand out I used some dark grey on the parts of the flowers that touch the main center flower. 

You can see how intense the color can be when you add a second layer. When I travel and talk about my coloring tips this is my mantra. 

Don't worry about what direction the light is coming from because that is to stressful. If you create a darker area and a lighter area on each petal or stem etc. that will please the eye and your coloring will look great. I like to say that I am faking it because I really don't know where the light is coming from but, it looks pretty good because I have those light and dark areas. Does that make sense? I sure hope so! 

Let's bring back the joy of coloring or painting. Step outside of your comfort zone and draw a stem for a tall and dramatic card. Don't be afraid to add those dark areas because that will really enhance your coloring. 

Thanks for your visit today and have a great week! Hugs, Kathy Racoosin

Make A Big Impact with a Small Change

Hello  ... Hello!  How are you today? My name is Kathy from The Daily Marker and I am happy when I get to guest on the Power Poppy blog. I also LOVE to color and my belief is that if you make a small change in your coloring you can really enhance what you have colored. 

This might be one of my all time favorite Power Poppy images and I just swoon every time I look at this illustration from Marcella. The Cup of Columbine is available now as a digital print and  the end of April a rubber stamp!  

Check out my video to see how I enhanced my watercoloring by "filling in the nooks and crannies"

Full disclosure ... even tho flowers are my favorite thing to color my flower knowledge isn't that good.  When you look at the way I colored these Columbines  you might understand why I interpreted the Columbines a different way with a lot of green leaves instead of petals I wanted to go with the flo of my coloring and restrained from looking up the Columbine to see what was petal vs leaf.

This is how my image was progressing. I happened to be in the Bahamas when I watercolored this using Tombow watercolor markers. Each day I colored a portion of the image and adding layers of color with the markers. 

This is when I finished the watercoloring part and before I "enhanced" this by filling in those teeny tiny little areas.

Does this help having it super zoomed in? This are what I call the "nooks & crannies". Basically it's where the lines intersect. I also like to add a nick in the leaves and I love to add a few thorns on some of the stems. 

The berries were so small that I didn't bother with them but, looking up close I think I will add a line of white gel pen. 

Ninety percent of the time fill in these tiny areas after I color but, I thought maybe seeing it this way would help. 

I am convinced that filling in "nooks & crannies" you can really make your coloring pop and I hope after today's post that you just might agree. Thanks for your visit today and have a good start to your week. Hugs, Kathy

Exciting Announcement and Inspire Me Monday with Kathy Racoosin

Hello! Hello! How is everyone today? Did you all have a good weekend? My name is Kathy Racoosin and we have a big announcement today. More on that at the bottom of the post :)

Today I am inking up the oh so beautiful "Peony Muse" stamp set to create a bouquet. Watch my card unfold in this short video below.

I love the way that you can layer colors easily with Tombow watercolor markers & if you have dry paper between the layers it's even easier in my book. (If you have Zig markers they work beautiful too). I pack some watercolor markers in my carry on and usually do a little watercoloring on the plane. Love that you don't need much water for either.

Since my card panel is one layer I decided to pop one word of the sentiment with some foam tape.

If you are curious what paper I like to use ... I only use the bright white Tim Holtz's watercolor paper and I like that it's pre-cut to save me time.

The blooms were stamped in some antique linen distress ink.

Don't forget the video if you still have questions about the card. Thanks so much for your visit today and now ......

Drumroll please ....... I will pass you over to the most amazing artist, Illustrator, and beautiful woman!!

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Hello, my awesome friends, it’s Marcella back here with you — and can you believe what a sweetheart and talent that Kathy Racoosin is? Thank you for sharing that a luminous Peony card tutorial today, Kathy! It’s not just the card that’s incredible, I just love to listen to Kathy’s voice describing how she works. She’s a total doll and so filled with generosity. Wouldn’t you like to color with her for a day, IN PERSON can you imagine? Well ..... LOOK WHAT’S COMING UP in March:

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YESSSSS!! KATHY IS COMING TO ST. LOUIS — and I'm going to be spending the day coloring and hanging with her, and we would love to have YOU come too!

Daily Marker Coloring Challenge Road Trip

Visits St. Louis

Saturday, March 24, 2018

To register, CLICK HERE.

There is limited space available for the event — it’s really going to be a memorable meet-up, I'm fairly certain!! Imagine not only getting to color with the incredible Kathy, but I'm going to be there, too!! Kathy + Marcella = WILDLY FUN!! We’ll be talking plants, paint brushes, and paper stock all day long. PLUS you can meet other like-minded ladies (and gents?) that up til now, you may have only talked to on Instagram or Splitcoast. Let’s DO THIS, PEEPS!

A Power Poppy pop-up shop will be set up on-site, where you can snag the very latest clear stamp designs — we’ll have a fresh Spring release of clear stamps to show off.

We have a fee of $35 to register, and this includes your lunch! The fee will be used to support a local charity called Urban Harvest STL. The Road Trip isn’t a class, it’s more like a happy, upbeat day spent in the company of delightful folks. NOW, who wouldn’t want in on that?? We’re making memories, people!!

REGISTER HERE for the St. Louis stop on Kathy’s Road Trip

For more information on what to bring (and what not to bring) — be sure to read Kathy’s post here. You’ll pack your own supplies, show up with your pretty self, and we will have a BLAST in a sun-lit room that will be filled to the ceiling with laughter and good vibes. I cannot wait!!

Big hugs and hope to see you on Saturday, March 24 in St. Louis...