Paper Players 91 – CAS Watercoloring

Happy Sunday, everyone!  I appreciate all the well-wishes while I was under the weather.  I kept myself busy looking at all the wonderful creations that everyone made with my color combination from last week’s Paper Players challenge!  So many creative hearts out there!   I’m feeling a bit better, not 100%, but I did have enough energy to make a card for the Paper Players today, where the lovely Jaydee is our hostess with a clean and simple watercoloring challenge:

I recently got this cute little Ronald McDonald set called Turtle & Co.  SU donates $3 to the Ronald McDonald House charity for each one purchased.  I am planning an upcoming stamp camp for get-well and sympathy cards and I thought this was a good set to have!  So here is my little get-well turtle card:

For some reason, I had the color combo of green & orange in my head when I made this card, so that’s what I went with!  He’s got a glittery heart, and a glimmer brad for a little spunk;  he’s stamped on watercolor paper with Stazon ink and colored with Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi inks.  I am not an “exact science” kind of water colorer….I always say that I color “loosely”!  Here’s a closer view:

I don’t worry if I go out of the lines a little, or my shading isn’t blended perfectly.  That’s just the style that I like. “Less is more”, IMO!   I know a lot of people are intimidated by watercoloring, but I find it one of the most rewarding ways to color my line images!  I always make sure of a couple things: 

1. Use a good non-bleeding ink; I always use black Stazon if I am going to watercolor with ink and an aquapainter.
2. Use a good watercolor paper! It really DOES make a difference!  Regular cardstock will soak up the water and pill your paper, and you will not be able to blend or push your colors around.  There are different weights available, but I usually just use the one from SU.  It’s a good weight and easy to use.  SU’s Shimmery White paper can also be used but it has just a little different feel from the watercolor paper.

Other than that, the only other recommendation I have is to use an aquapainter.  I have spilled too many cups of water on my desk from paintbrushes sticking up, and the aquapainter has a reservoir which allows water to flow to the brush but not spill.  I squeeze the handle a few times to get the water flowing and then have a towel handy to blot the excess.  I just use a couple drops of reinker ink in the lid of my stamp pad; you can start with just a tiny amount first to get a light color.  It is much easier to layer on more color and shading than it is to remove color!  It’s also helpful to dry your image with a heat tool before adding shading, or coloring different areas of your image.  That way your colors won’t bleed together.  But if you don’t have an aquapainter, you can still use a paintbrush & water!  Don’t let that stop you! 

I hope that you will be encouraged to give watercoloring a CAS creation this week a try!  Mosey on over to the Paper Players blog to see what the other designers are sharing…..you’ll be amazed! 

Here’s my little ham, eating a strawberry: