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.