When I was a little girl, I loved to watercolor paint. I wanted to become an artist some day with my watercolor paintings in the Art Festival in Laguna Beach. And then I became a career woman and then a scrapbooker and I stopped painting altogether!
Recently, I've gone back to my artistic roots and started painting again. I have incorporated my doodled word art with watercoloring so it really combines both of my favorite artistic outlets. I will scrapbook again! I'm just on a scrapping sabbatical to enjoy some of my other loves for a while.
Today I thought I would share some of my recent paintings, so here goes - there are a lot of them! Through this post I'll share some of my watercoloring tips and my favorite supplies with links to a couple places to get them. I hope you enjoy these!
For the lettering on this piece, I used a brush pen. I've just recently discovered brush markers and how easy they make this type of lettering that is so popular right now. I have several favorites which I'll link at the bottom. Some are better for smaller letters and some are better for larger letters. On this piece, I used a super inexpensive one called a Pentel Sign pen. You can buy a box of 12 at Amazon for around $10! And they work great - my newest addiction. I'm sure all office supplies sell them as well.
To create my flowers and wreath, I first drew the design with my favorite black fine tip marker - a Faber-Castell XS Pitt Artist Pen. Because these flowers were so small, I used brush tip markers to watercolor them. My absolute favorite brush marker set is by Akashiya Sai sold on Amazon. I ordered them after seeing Kristina Werner use them on a video HERE for brush script. But I like them best for watercoloring small things.
I don't use a water brush for small flowers, rather I use a watercolor brush dipped in water. This gives me way more control over how much water goes onto my paper. I bought a set of Ranger brushes that work great for watercoloring, come in several sizes for both fine work and washes, and are very affordable. My favorite paper to use is my Mixed Media pad by Canson (this link is to a 7x10" pad, but they come in larger sizes as well). If I'm not doing a wash or watercolor with lots of water like this one, it holds up perfectly for watercoloring and it is PURE white which I love. I always start my pieces with the quotes and then I draw images around them to frame them.
On this piece, rather than use a brush pen for the lettering, I used my Faber-Castell XS Pitt pen and just outlined the words twice so they were thicker. I kind of created my own look of brush letters without the right tool to do it. But I like how the letters stay finer this way. Because the flowers were larger, I used a combination of two watercolor markers. I used my Ranger Distress Markers which are awesome for watercoloring and have really light translucent color that I love. But to be honest, the tips break down after a little bit of use and they become very hard to use in small areas. They aren't brush tips so you can't do brush lettering very well with them either. I went in and added more detail and shading with my Akashiya Sai brush watercolor pens.
This painting was inspired by a print I saw on pinterest by an artist called Teafly. Her work is on Etsy HERE and here is the piece I saw on pinterest. I painted this in the hospital while my daughter in law was in labor with Audrey, so it will always remind me of her birth! I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors for this one. They are my favorite pad watercolors as the colors are so vibrant! I added the white details with a Uniball marker (I hoard those things and use them on most of my paintings). Once I am done watercoloring with my regular watercolors, I usually add shading with my watercolor markers - both the Distress markers and the Akashiya Sai brush set.
On this piece, I used both my pad set - Kuretake Gansai Tambi and my brush marker set - Akashiya Sai (these are NOT easy to remember or say out loud!). I added some color to the background to frame the flowers as well. I love this about watercolors - you can do fine work as well as washes and backgrounds perfectly.
On this one, I used my Distress Markers and my Kuretake Gansai Tambi pad set. They are best for big areas like backgrounds. I used my Faber Castell XS pen for the lettering and to draw the flowers. This one took me about an hour, so you can tell it's messier with less detail. Sometimes that is the best way to go - quick!
Which one is your favorite? Do you have a quote you would like me to watercolor? Should I sell my paintings on Etsy? If so, what method would you want to see them in - color copies or digital images you could print on your own? Do you have any questions? What else do you have to say? haha Thanks for any comments if you choose to leave one - I could really use the feedback as I don't really know what to do with them! xoxo suzy
PS: Did you notice I changed my blog header???? (((finally!)))
These are really beautiful (as is your blog header), love that you've combined two loves, a perfect match!
Posted by: Miriam Prantner | April 30, 2015 at 03:04 PM
I needed to see these today. Thank you!
Posted by: Margie Visnick | April 30, 2015 at 06:54 PM
Lovely work . Like the one that said 'rise up ...". Probably digital print will be good and is more affordable.
Posted by: Carol | May 03, 2015 at 07:26 AM
I love these watercolors! My favorite is the next to the last one (love is everything). Your quotes always make me smile - thanks for sharing them and I would think the digital print would be easiest and most practical (no shipping and more affordable).
Posted by: Brenda | May 07, 2015 at 09:52 PM
Your talent has always amazed me. I hope you're doing well (and will return to your blog one day.
Posted by: Vianna | June 24, 2015 at 08:47 PM