12 Tags of Christmas 2020 – Day 4 with Lisa Spangler

Welcome to Day 4 of 12 Tags of Christmas 2020!

Christmas watercolors always include red and green, of course! But did you know that these two festive shades combine to make lovely shades of crimson, evergreen and even coal black that would make Frosty’s eyes sparkle or Santa’s boot’s dance? Lisa’s here to share the magic of these two seasonal colors.

Be sure to leave a little love for Lisa – by commenting on this post – for a chance to win $25 to spend at ellenhutson.com, then click over to this post to enter the 12 Tags Challenge!

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Hello, hello! It’s Lisa here and we’re going on a sleigh ride together! I’ve got Ella Fitzgerald playin’ in the background…

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring, ting, tingling, too
Come on, it’s lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with YOU!

So let’s get this ride started and talk about Christmas watercolors! If you know me, you’ll know I love the Daniel Smith Essentials set and keep it on my desk at all times. But this time of year it’s nice to a premixed red and green right on your palette. Enter pyrrol red and jadeite geniune!

Pyrrol red is a beautiful warm red that fades to lovely soft pink. Jadeite geniune is made from the more strongly colored of the two minerals known as jade and it has an amazing granulation.

The best part? Red and green are complementary colors and can form the most gorgeous shades of crimson, evergreen, and even coal black. Here are some swatches so you can see for yourself.

The single color swatches were done by loading up my brush, painting a swatch, then giving it one swoosh in water and dragging the brush against the lip of my water jar to get rid of excess water and repeating until the color got too faint to see.

Then on the bottom you can see the two colors mixed together — so cool right?

Even better? That jadeite is a heavy lifter — just ask Mr. Bunny! By mixing jadeite into pyrrol red you get a granulating red! OH YES!

How To:

I did the “no-line” coloring technique on the background images and the sleigh by stamping them in antique linen — love the look this gives! Antique linen seems to be hard to find these days so I listed some Catherine Pooler alternatives below.

Mr. Bunny (from EBE Backyard Party): I stamped him with black ink and embossed in clear. I added a little blush color to his ears with pyrrol red neutralized with a bit of jadeite and then added some shading with a watered down mix of jadeite + pyrrol red to make a warm gray.

Red gift (from EBE Backyard Party): is also stamped in black ink and embossed in clear. This gift is allll pyrrol red you all! I just put some strong color along the left side of the gift and then used a damp brush to pull some out. Love how this color is self-shading like that!

Tree (from EBE Santa’s List): I started out by painting the tree with sap green, then while it was still wet I dropped in jadeite. Then I sat and watched the paint dry — it’s kinda mesmerizing!

Background gifts (from EBE Bear Ware 5): these were painted with light washes of pyrrol red, jadeite and yellow ochre.

Sleigh (from EBE Bear Ware 5): The trim and the runners were painted with yellow ochre to give them a golden glow. For the sleigh, I first painted it with pyrrol red, then gradually added more jadeite to the mix to get a dark crimson. Then when everything was dry I added touches of gold watercolor to the trim, runner and some hand-painted swirls for that magic shine!

Tips:

• To finish up the tag, I cut an extra sleigh and used it to sandwich all those pieces together. Then I grabbed my trusty crop-o-dile and punched a hole — that thing cuts like buttah!
• Granulating colors like jadeite granulate even more with more water — use them in a juicy wash or drop them in to other colors.
• Mix images that are “no-line” colored vs stamped in black for added interest.
• Don’t limit yourself to Christmas images for your holiday projects! Look for presents in birthday sets, and cute critters work too!
• I left Mr. Bunny’s ears unglued and then curled ’em forward a little for extra dimension.

And there you have it!

Thanks so much for joining me today and wishing everyone a cozy and safe holiday season!

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Lisa isn’t the only one inspired by a sleigh ride! Check out what these designers have created …

• Ardyth

And don’t forget we want to see your Santa tags too! Head here to learn more about entering the 12 Tags Challenge!

Supplies: