Watercoloring My Cactus

I'd like to share with you the images of the cactus stamp as it was watercolored in. Hope it's helpful.

First stamp the image on a smooth toothed watercolor paper. If the watercolor paper has too much texture to it you will not get a good impression from your rubber stamp.

I used Stazon Black. Any solvent based ink will do. Other inks will smear when you start to watercolor in the image.

I use different sizes of sable art brushes when I watercolor. This way I have more control over the amount of water that is on the bristles.

First I wet down the paper in the areas that I want to apply my ink (or watercolor paint). I like to do this because it makes the ink spread out more along the surface of the paper.

First layers of dye ink are SU! Mellow Moss and Rose Royal. On the flower petals I applied additional layers of Rose to darken them.

Second photo I started to add some more depth to the image but adding another layer of Mellow moss. I now added Summer Sun (Yellow) to the flower. I also added some green to the petals to create some shading.

Third image. I'm now adding more layers. The flowers have Really Rust and More mustard added to the center. You can see that I've added some yellow to the greens on the cactus body. This again gives the plant more depth.

I like to introduce more than one color to images that I want to look more realistic. I work in layers. Layers are truly important when you watercolor. But be careful. You don't want your image to get muddy.

How does it get muddy looking? By adding layers that are too heavy. Light layers on top of light layers create beautiful depths. It's all about practicing. The more you do it, the better you get. We all make the same mistakes at first. Trust me. I had many muddy watercolored paintings when I first began.

Fourth image. I now am adding Always Artichoke and Ruby red to the image. I wanted to deepen the color on some areas on the body of the cactus and the flower petals.

I think often the hardest part of watercoloring is trying to visualize where  the shadows will be. Where the highlights are. Remember, when watercoloring you go from light to dark. Layers are added to the areas that you want the shadows to fall and less, if no layers are added to your lightest colored areas.

Visualize the sun hitting the cactus out in the desert. Where would the rays be hitting it? Where would the shadows be cast?

Fifth image. I used a clean wet brush and went over the Always Artichoke layer. This helps to smooth out the colors.

Remember, I'm working rather fast. The paper is not completely dry while I'm doing all of this watercoloring. So it is rather easy to still move the pigment along the surface of the paper.

If you wait until the layers dry, you will get lines instead of a wet look on the surface of the paper, as I have here.

Tip: Don't soak your paper down with too much water. It just needs to be a bit damp when you start to color. If the paper is too wet then you get layers that smear together and get muddy looking when you start to add colors on top of each other. If the paper is too dry then you get layers that are too defined. You get what is called "dry brushing". Your paint brush needs to be wet but not soaking wet. Since we are generally coloring in smaller detailed images, you need to learn how to control how the pigment goes onto the paper. Unfortunately, there's nothing that can help but practice!

Here's the finished card  http://hopartstudios.typepad.com/hop_art_studios/2007/10/cactus-dreams.html

Comments

[pegg]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. It is so helpful and I can't wait to try it out. I have been playing with Twinkling H2Os with little success ;). But I will apply your tips and practice!!

[Jessica]

Great tutorial! Thanks for all the details and photos. It makes all the difference.

[well said cards]

These are great tips! You make it seem so easy. I'll try it out tonight and post a photo on my blog this weekend.

[Rose Ann]

Your coloring is beautiful as always! Thank you for the step-by-step instructions!

[Lisa Banks]

You make it sound so easy!!! Thank you...

Hugs,
Lisa B <><

[peggysue]

This is quite lovely. I was just playing with watercoloring last night, and you are right, it takes a lot of practice, but it is encouraging to know you can get there eventually. :) Thanks for the tips.

[Juanita]

Thank you for this wonderful treasure on how to watercolor, and using your cactus stamp for the demo!!! You've been doing some awesome things these past few weeks, as usual. I am so happy to see the layout of your home, it looks really, really big!

I LOVE your new banner. TFS.

[Dina]

Awesome tutorial!

[Lisa Trombitas]

Hi Asela! Thanks for this wonderful tutorial! One quick question - did you "smoosh" your inkpad and pick up the color from the lid, or are you using reinkers? Watercoloring with ink is new to me as I've recently graduated from "spots" to full sized ink pads. (Can I tell you that I'm using my background stamps a lot more often now?) LOL! As always, you are inspirational! I can't believe how productive you are at such a busy time in your life. When we built our house our daughter was just a baby - that "baby bucket" was drug everywhere with us! Thank you so much for sharing all of your wonderful artwork!

Lisa