Garden Dirt: Copic Marker Swatches for Power Poppy Stamps, Red Rose

 

Are you coloring hearts and flowers yet?

Yes, it's that time of year when our thoughts turn to roses, bouquets, and heart shaped boxes full of treats.

It's also the time when I pull out my red Copic Markers and colored pencils.

Valentine's Day is when Power Poppy stamps really shine! So many blossoms to choose from, perfect for declarations of love, devotion, or even simple friendship.

Hello, my name is Amy Shulke and I'm the illustrator and art instructor over at VanillaArts.com. Welcome to another article in my blending combination series here at Power Poppy-- The Garden Dirt.

Why dirt? I know, it sounds like gardening tips or gossip-- but really, it's about dirty color. I layer odd colors underneath bright and happy colors to make the murky, muddy colors necessary for realistic depth and dimension.

I've got a whole series of artistic coloring articles here at the Power Poppy Blog. Here's a quick link to read more.

I love red Copic Markers!

Not just for Valentine's Day; I'll take any excuse to pull out and play with my favorite colors.

I happen to really love red and turquoise color palettes. Red and blue-green sit opposite of each other on the color wheel which makes them "complementary". It's a yin-yang thing, red makes turquoise feel turquoisier and vice versa.

This same complementary relationship doesn't just work for color palettes, it also works for underpainting. Mixing red with turquoise sounds strange but together, they create the wonderful neutral color you'll see in the shady recesses of rose blossoms.

By the way, the image here is Power Poppy's Vital Rose digital stamp which I've printed nice and large, then die cut the fully colored rose into a crisp heart shape.

Power Poppy has several rose images available and many will work as a die-cut. I recommend the digital version so that you can size it precisely to fit your unique heart die.

But back to the color swatch here, I started with BG05, placing it into the shadiest, darkest crevices of the rose, then layered warm reds on top. The golden color isn't just on the petal undersides, you'll also see it kissing just the edges of each red petal.

Red over turquoise sounds yucky but wowzers! It makes for a gorgeous rose!

Let's color roses together!

Today's cut-heart rose project was the class sample from one of my online Marker Painting Workshops. Rosie Gets the Blues is a beginner's challenge level online class.

This class is available now with no wait. Work at your own pace, color it as many times as you want, no expiration.

Rosie Gets the Blues uses Power Poppy’s stunning Vital Rose digital stamp. We use a combination of Copic Markers plus Prismacolor Soft Core colored pencils to underpaint the red rose with gorgeous turquoise.

You can find out more about my Rosie Gets the Blues class here.

And I'll meet you back here on the blog next month with another colorful bit of Garden Dirt.

Inspire Me Monday ~ Embossing Digital Images

Hello, hello, hello!!!  I tried something I've never done before not knowing if it was even going to work.  When Marcella first showcased this Vital Rose digital image, I knew I wanted to emboss it in white and watercolor it.  But, it was a digital image.  So, I thought I could use my Minc machine and add white foil after coloring it.  Well, that was a fail.  When I tried photo copying the image onto watercolor paper, the toner ink spread to random places.  Nope.  

I was discouraged until I remembered I had a Versamark pen.  Why couldn't I just print the image, onto watercolor paper, in a light gray,  and trace it with the Versamark pen?  Fingers crossed...IT WORKED!!!  

Now, it transformed the rose a little bit by making it more whimsical with the bolder lines, but it only proved how versatile the Power Poppy images are.  The pen has a thick brush side, and a nib, but the nib is still pretty wide, so you really do need more "coloring space" before outlining because of the bold lines it creates after embossing.  But with digital images, you can just enlarge them. 

I used Zig Clean Color Brush Markers to color the Rose, cut it out, and added some pizazz with a Gold Leafing Pen by shaking it over the top.  I also added some gold roughly around the edges of the layers.   The sentiment (from the clear stamp set Chrysanthemum XL) was stamped onto Gold Metallic cardstock with white pigment ink and embossed also.

That's it.  I hope you give it a try.  It's easy, and expands the use of your digital images even more.  How fun is that?!?!?!?

Happy Stamping!!
 Tosh

New Digital Download: Vital Rose

And sometimes.... the 10th. I guess as long as the date is divisible by 5, we’re okay. Regardless, here comes a beautiful rose illustration, rejuvenated, full of life, and vital to your collection of florals. It’s a digital download, so you can grab it whenever you’re ready to get coloring...

This rose is a beaut. It’s lush and open, with lots of room for your brush or marker tips. In the image I colored above, I started with generous washes of Daniel Smith watercolor. After that dried, I went in with Prismacolor Premier colored pencils, and then followed up with more watercolor and touches of opaque Winsor & Newton gouache.

Vital Rose includes a second version with the hand-lettered snippet of a poem. Here’s a peek at Instant Gardener Nancy Sheads’ beautiful Copic creation with the alternate version of Vital Rose...

Isn’t that fun? Go see the full image right here on Nancy’s blog, HERE, and check out the cheeky quote (written in 1815, but still made me laugh.)

Vital Rose is perfect for Valentine’s Day, but just like live roses, it holds up the rest of the year, too. That’s one of the reasons I named this set Vital Rose — it’s vital to have a really great rose in your collection, and a great image to practice on.

This morning while readying the card I made for a little photo shoot, I had the most wonderful production assistant. Tibbs thinks Vital Rose is indeed, vital. That Corgi is always in my corner.

Psssssst... a very special class is coming up on Friday, February 15 with Amy at Vanilla Arts. As a matter of fact, she is the one who inspired Vital Rose. If you take her coloring class, you will get a discount on this image, how about that? 

Learn more about Amy’s newest class right HERE.

We’ll see you on Monday with a brand new Inspire Me Monday with Allison Cope. Be prepared to go into a full and complete swoon, folks.