Inspire Me Monday - Loosen Up

Hey all! Jessie here sharing another Inspire Me Monday post with you all! 

Today's topic I am focusing on is loosening up, I am always very controlled with my watercolours, I love the looks I achieve, don't get me wrong. But I hold my brushes like a pencil, always  use a small brush and make that colour do exactly what I want it to do. 

So today, I pulled out some larger (for me) quill brushes and printed off the Sunflower Poppy stamp, a stamp I have coloured many times before and went in with colour.

I started off by just splashing in some yellow, green and blue as an underpainting. All over the image and into the background, not being real fussy about it at all. Then I went in with my smaller quill brush and started working on some detail, painting in the stems and leaves, adding pinks and purples to the flower petals. Using a very granulating (Hematite Violet Genuine) for the center of the sunflower. This whole image is so outside my comfort zone, but it came togehter in the end and looks alright for my first looser attempt.

I next wanna do the same thing, or maybe continue with the same image and push it to the point I feel like its over worked (I did to much to it). Just to find that line. I am taking my time , while at home, to see how far outside of my normal I can step and this project was for sure outside of my normal. 

If you have paints and you want to try the same thing, I am serious, grab your paints throw a bunch of light washes over the background, let it dry then work out your details. It is challenging but really fun to do!

Thanks so much for sharing some time with me this week.
Jessie