Lisa is here with tips and techniques for watercoloring an ocean scene — so let’s DIVE right in!
Aloha, friends! Today we’re taking a stampy trip to Hawai’i, so grab your sunscreen cue the ocean breeze!
For my card today I decided to mix and match stamps from a bunch of recent Summer of Stamping releases, including:
I really love mixing and matching stamps like this — it’s a great way to get more from your supplies!
I started out by trimming a piece of watercolor paper a little bit larger than the front of a 4-bar notecard — having the 4-bar Rectangle dies on hand made this super simple — and I used the dies again later!
I got out my trusty Daniel Smith Essentials set and mixed up a big juicy puddle of watery phthalo blue. Note: the only colors I used on this card are from the Essentials set — it truly is essential! I listed the individual colors for ya below in case you already have some of them and want to add the rest to your stash.
Then I got out my BIG brush and painted all over the watercolor panel with the phthalo blue. Using a big brush is really helpful here so that you don’t get the dreaded streaky lines. Mine is a size 12 synthetic, and in the photo I shared a size 6 for comparison.
While the paper was still wet I swiped on a few darker streaks of phthalo blue here and there just to add interest. Then I let it dry completely.
Once things were dry I die cut the panel with 4-bar Rectangle dies — this will also flatten out any warping in the paper — BONUS!
Next I stamped the palms and other foliage and then colored then colored them with Hansa yellow light to make green. This technique is called glazing and I love the look it gives!
Once that was dry I mixed up a deeper green with French ultramarine and new gamboge and added that to some of the foliage.
Then for the sunbather, I turned her towel into a floaty just by coloring it with quinacridone rose — just make it darker on the edges of the stripes! Her swimsuit was colored with pyrrol scarlet — gotta love a bright red suit!
Her skin was colored with a super watery mix of quinacridone rose and new gamboge, and the hat was the same tone with a bit of phthalo blue added in.
Last but not least — the shadows! This really ties everything together y’all! I made a mix of phthlo blue and French ultramarine, and then added shadows to the leaves and the floaty.
To finish off the card, I painted on some white highlights with white ink — if you don’t have white ink you can also use a white gel pen or titanium white watercolor straight outta the tube!
And that was that! Hope you give these techniques a try, and thanks for stopping by! — Lisa
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