AECP Level 3 Botanical Illustration Inspired Watercolor

When I was picking my final classes, this class was something that I really wanted to take, but really scared me.  I’ve never been a painter other than slapping on some paint and maybe a tiny bit of blending.  I think some of that comes from the fact that I get too impatient to spend the time with making the beautiful pieces that the excellent watercolor painters make.

But the instructor, Jaycee Gaspar, is such an inspiring artist, I decided to give this a try.  I would highly recommend this class as he starts from the beginning with techniques and works you through botanical illustrations.

My final project is something I really like.  I don’t think it is perfect, but it showed me that I could make flowers look more realistic.  And with practice, I am sure I can get better.  It also showed me that I can slow down and really spend some time in painting and can find it very relaxing.

But enough about me.  In today’s blog, I won’t be telling you a lot of techniques but going through some of the tips I learned to help me not be so scared next time.

I started today with the Altenew Watercolor Paper Set – 5x7 and stamped the Altenew Craft Your Life Project Kit:  Feathered Lilies using Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Morning Frost .  I used this ink as it is a light gray and would give me a no-line look in the end.

After stamping this, I took the panel and I used a low-tack tape to adhere to an acrylic clipboard.  I taped almost completely around, only skipping where the stamped image was close to the edge.  In the class, Jaycee recommended stapling to a wood board (with plenty of space to cut out when done).  Securing this will help to keep your paper from warping.

I like the acrylic clipboard as it is easy to move around while painting.  It is also what I had available and my panel was flat when done. 

I used the Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set  and the Altenew Fine Watercolor Brushes for my painting.  I swatched out each coloring.  In the class it was recommended to swatch each color combination if mixed, but I only did that for the ones I was using today.

I found today’s watercoloring relaxing.  My petals are similar to the flower I had, but I do know they are different in some ways as well.  I had bought the flowers and let them sit for a couple of days.  Some of the brown from the stamen had transferred to the petals and I did not want that in my petals on my project. 

I also found that when I asked my 2 daughters, they saw different primary colors than what I saw.  So, I do believe that some of this is based on who is looking at the flower and the project.  Overall, I do feel that I was able to mix some primary colors of the flower and leaves and come up with a better painting than I have ever done.  And honestly, nobody is going to compare my card to the exact flower I had......so I am pleased that my card looks a little realistic.

I did set the painting aside for a few days and did a little touch-up after that.  

My next question was, should I die cut this out or should I paint around it or just leave it and cut it down.  I ended up die cutting.  Then I took a card base (5” x 6.5”) and added violet and pink passion splatter over it.  After that dried, I attached the flower image on foam tape.

I picked the Hugs sentiment from the Altenew Versatile Greetings Die Set .  I picked out several pieces from my scrap pile to find which color I wanted to used for the hugs sentiment and the shadow.

I adhered this on foam and added a few jewels.

I am very happy with this card.  And I will be trying some more watercoloring.  I will just make sure that I have plenty of time so that I can enjoy the process and the relaxing aspects of watercoloring.

 

Happy Crafting.

Donna T.

 

 

 

Products Used:

 

Altenew Craft Your Life Project Kit:  Feathered Lilies

Altenew Versatile Greetings Die Set

Altenew Watercolor 36 Pan Set

Altenew Fine Watercolor Brushes

Altenew Crisp Dye Ink – Morning Frost

Altenew Instant Dimension Foam Tape

Altenew Watercolor Paper Set – 5x7

5 x 6.5 White Card base

Colored cardstock from stash

Jewels from stash

Brutus Monroe Aqua Splash – Violet

Brutus Monroe Shimmer Splash – Pink Passion

Stamping platform

Watercolor Palette

Low tack Tape

Acrylic clipboard or some other hard surface

AECP Level 3 Stunningly Styled Stencils

I picked this course for one of my Level 3 courses because I absolutely LOVE using stencils.  I was excited to continue to build on what I already do with stencils.  And I certainly learned a few techniques I would have never tried without the course.  I have a couple still on my list to try, but today I’m going to cover 3 techniques which resulted in 4 finished cards.

Card #1 and #2 – Using pastes and adding color

To be fair, I have added color to my paste in the past, however, I always forget to do this.  So, today I decided to try this again with two different products.  First was the Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste and second was the Scrapbook.com Cloud Whip. 

I started with the Distress Texture Paste.  It was a bit creamier, so I decided to put it out on my Altenew Layered Dahlia Stencil set (attached using Pixie Spray to my black cardstock) and then add drops of die reinkers to the paste.  Then I just took my scraper tool and pulled it down over the stencil.  I continued, until the entire images was covered, even going the opposite direction a couple of times as I did not care if the colors mixed a bit.

I removed the stencil and it turned out great.  I did let this dry overnight and the next day I took a black gel pen to cover a couple of areas where the paste snuck under the stencil.  I decided I did not want to lose any of the images, so trimmed the border only and mounted on a 6x6 white card base.

For the sentiment, I decided on the Altenew Outlined Love You Die and used a card panel I had made previously using Aqua Pigments like watercolors.  This made the sentiment a little brighter on the card, but it still got a little lost.  So, since I had die cut the same sentiment twice in black (to stack under the top layer for dimension), I took the inside pieces and placed them into the outline die cut to fill in the letters.  This definitely made the sentiment pop and stand out.

 

I finished with a few pearls and jewels from my stash.

For the second of these cards, I decided to use Cloud Whip from Scrapbook.com.  Now this paste is very chalky and needs something to rehydrate it.  So I put out 3 scoops and added my reinkers to those piles along with a spritz of water. 

After working this in, I put the colored Cloud Whip onto the Altenew Layered Kaleidoscope Stencil A attached using Pixie spray.  This was still a bit chalky, so a little harder to spread, but I did get the entire area covered.  After removing the stencil, the images was SO pretty.  I let this one dry overnight as well before finishing.

I trimmed the border only and attached to a 6x6 white card base.  I cut one leaf type twice from vellum from the Altenew Leaf Essentials Die Set.  I also cut a sentiment I had from another small piece I had created previously from some mica mists and matched my color scheme.  I mounted this on black cardstock.  Then I put that in the center with the vellum leaves coming out from under this. 

I finished off with some matching jewels and my card was complete!!

Products Used:

Card 1:

Altenew Layered Dahlia Stencil set

Altenew Outlined Love You Die

Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste – Opaque

Catherine Pooler Ink Reinkers – Cummerbund, It’s a Girl, Pixie Dust

Background previously done using watercoloring swiping (used for sentiment)

Black Cardstock

Palette Knife and scraper

6x6 White Card base

Bearly Arts glue

Jewels and pearls from stash

Pixie Spray

 

Card 2:

Altenew Layered Kaleidoscope Stencil A

Altenew Leaf Essentials Die Set

Scrapbook.com Cloud Whip

Catherine Pooler Ink Reinkers – Mandarin Spice, Catching Rays and Lime Rickey

Black Cardstock

Vellum

Jewels from stash

6x6 white card base

Pixie Spray

Palette Knife and scraper

Just For You die from stash

 

 

Card #3 – Ghosting

 

For my next card, I tried the technique the instructors called ghosting.  I used the Altenew Gilded Rose Stencil set and ink blended the first stencil for the base layer.  Then I took the second stencil and sprayed the back side (that usually touches the paper) with water.  I put it in place, covered with acetate and then with an acrylic block and let it sit overnight to dry.  I was working on a tray (like a cafeteria tray) where I had taped down my base layer.  This allowed me to set this aside easily as it dried. 

The next day, I removed the stencil and the areas where the water had been where a shade lighter and looked great.

There is a stencil 3 which has two more layers.  I used a really dark color on the 3^rd layer and then put the stencil on for the 4^th layer.  I decided to try a silver paint pen through the stencil on this and it was an epic fail!!!  It was way too bright and paint bled under the stencil. 

So, I went back over that stencil with the original color which turned out different with the silver underneath.  I then took a paint brush and touched up the areas where the silver pen had bled under the stencil.

I fussy cut the rose and attached using foam tape to an older Altenew card panel which had leaves so I did not cut any additional leaves for this flower.

I die cut the  Altenew Fancy Hugs Die three times, twice on white cardstock and the last on a panel I had covered with solar paste for a little shine.  I stacked these for some dimension.

I then put the sentiment on my rose and added some jewels and pearls for a little shimmer and sparkle. 

Products Used:

Altenew Gilded Rose Stencil set

Altenew Fancy Hugs Die

Altenew retired paper pad

Jewels from stash

White cardstock

White A2 Cardbase

Premade background using solar paste (and used for sentiment)

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Pads – Seedless Preserve, Villainous Potion

Mister bottle

Blending brush

Bearly Arts Glue

Foam Tape

 

Card #4 – Stencil Printing 

For this technique, I used the Altenew Heart Builder Stencil.  This stencil is created where you usually blend it the first pass and then flip the stencil and blend the second pass.  What you are left with is a white heart with color coming off of it.

Here is a previous card I did with this as the background:

I started with some mixed media paper.  I took the stencil and covered it with Altenew’s Crisp Die ink in the Nimbus color.  I then sprayed the panel with water and put it down on the paper.  I covered with a paper towel and pressed down really well.  I love how I could use my stencil to put on the reverse image of the stencil!!

Then I removed the stencil and cleaned it up.  Next, I flipped the stencil and placed it down where the openings were over some of the area I had previously covered.  I then ink blended over these with the Nimbus ink to make that area pretty dark. 

When I removed the stencil, I was really pleased with how this turned out.  It is so different than what I usually get when using this stencil with just ink blending. 

I cut this down and layered it on a dark card stock and then on an A2 white card base.  I cut the Altenew Mega You Die from some cardstock I had created using mica sprays previously.  I also cut it two more times to place underneath to give some dimension.   I stamped the ‘Just For” sentiment from the Altenew Build-A-Garden: Rosa Gallica stamp set.

I added a little sequin and jewels to give a little pizzazz around the sentiment. 

 

Products Used:

Altenew Heart Builder Stencil

Altenew Mega You Die

Altenew Build-A-Garden: Rosa Gallica

Altenew Crisp Die Ink – Nimbus

Previously created background using Sprays, used to cue sentiment

Mixed Media paper

Black cardstock

White A2 card base

Sequin and jewels from stash

Black die ink

Foam tape

Bearly Arts glue

Spray mister

Blending brush

  

These were some fun ways to use stencils.  And as I mentioned, I have a couple more things to try in the future.  I love having a crafty “to do” list to work on!! 

 

Happy Crafting.

Donna T.