Watercolor Weekend 9-2-2023

  Hello everyone and welcome to Watercolor Weekend!

It's always such a fun surprise to see what the Watercolor Design Team will come up with.

They're not given themes to work with so we never know what they'll create.  Maybe something floral, whimsical, maybe a still life or something with little critters?  Sometimes they play along with our challenges and SOMETIMES they ALL create something with the spectacular new GNOMES set!  Who can resist these adorable little fellas?
No matter what they make, it's always beautiful.

This week our first designer up is Karen.

Hello Ai Watercolour fans!

I created a little harvest gnome scene this week, combining some new and older sets.

I stamped the sitting gnome from 5785 - Gnomes Set, inking up only the gnome, and not the pot he's leaning against - in Tombows #969/565.  I masked him off, and stamped the basket of produce from 5598 Harvest Set that was released last fall - positioning it as though he is leaning up against it, and also added one of the squirrels from 5599 Mini Mice & Squirrel set.  Creating the scene is the hardest part!

I painted the orange pumpkins in tones of #933/905/947, and the blue ones in #228/493/249, painting the large one on the ground in a mottled pattern.  The red apple and his hat are done in layers of #856, and the green one is #126/249.  The spaghetti squash on the ground is painted with #990/991.  For all of the produce, I kept the lightest layers on the top of each piece, as that is closest to the light source, and kept the undersides as the darkest, where the shadows are.  Darkening the crevices also makes each piece seem more 3 dimensional.  His nose and hand were painted in #850/903, his coat is in #993, and his shoes in shades of #977/969.  The basket and squirrel both have light, warm tones of #947, with darker brown shades of #977 & 969 painted where the darker areas are under the squirrel's tummy, and in between the slats of wood.  I used the small grass from 4051 Foliage Set in #126, and painted in out as a wash of grass, then added in darker shades of #177.  #493 was painted on his trousers, and as a wash for the sky.  I made all of the stumps to be tones of brown, and used #565 to add shadows around and under my images.

I added a few dots with my Navy Twintone marker, and cut out the scene with a decorative oval die.

Hello Ai Watercolor Fans! Aren’t you just loving the new releases? The Gnome Set seems to be loved by all – even those who didn’t know they loved gnomes! That would be me, but now I think they are just the cutest! For today’s card I’m using 5785 – Gnomes Set, 5794 – Whimsical Flowers, 5795 – Berries, 5009 – WC Mini Flower Set, 5792 – WC Mini Journal Containers, and 5372 – WC Mini Foliage Set. To set the stage for my painting, I used a die to cut my Canson XL watercolor paper. It was introduced to me by my talented friend from the Netherlands, watercolor artist and card maker Irm Fondse. This die creates little sections that look like postage stamps! However, it’s not necessary to have this die to create this card. With a pencil and ruler, you could draw sections for your individual gnome paintings to get a similar look.

 

I kept my color palette fairly simple, incorporating colors that pair well with the new Gnome Paper Pack: Tombow 565, 969, 947, 177, 249, 856, 526, 636, 910, 912, N25, N52, and N79.

Instead of inking the stamps with 565/969, this time I inked all the stamped images with Versafine Onyx Black ink. To help with the stamping, I used a Misti stamp platform. I was able to ink and stamp all the main images at once, and if anything didn’t stamp well, could easily stamp again. Versafine Onyx Black ink is waterproof once dry. If you are in a hurry, you can speed up the drying process by using a craft heat tool. It is also easy to remove the ink from your stamps, unlike Stazon. For the flower vines in the center section, I stamped the right facing vine from 5794 and then the left facing vine above to create a longer wavy vine. I masked the top of the bucket and gnome hat before stamping the flower vines in the bucket. For the leaves in the bottom section, I used the three-leaved stamp from 5795 and then added the drooping flowers from 5794 behind the leaves.

I began by painting the gnomes’ noses and hands in 910 and 912 for the shadows. For the metal parts of the bucket I used N79. I mixed a little 565 with N79 to add shadows and contours to the bucket and 969 for the wooden handle. For the gnome hats I used 856, 526 and 177. For the jackets I used 565, 177 and 947. For the pants I used 947, 526 and 856. For the shoes I used N79, 947 and N25. For the gnomes’ beards, I added details with a small brush using N52. For the flower cart from 5792, I used 856 for the canopy and 565 to add shadows to the white selections. The wooden posts are 969 and the flower pots are 526. For the greenery in the pots I inked the tiny leaves from 5009 in 177. For the flowers I used the tiny dotted flowers from 5009 and inked in 636 and 526. For the grass in each of the sections, I used the tiny grass from 5372 and inked in 177.  For the remaining floral images I used 856, 636 and 526. I brushed in a watery sky with 526 in each section. As a final touch, I added spokes to the wheel of the flower cart using a pencil. To finish the card, I matted my painting with a layer of vellum before mounting onto my blue A2 card base.

    

I just love how this little gnome painting turned out and I hope you will give it a try! Thank you for joining us for another Watercolor Weekend. Until next time – Happy Painting!

Hello Watercolor Fans, welcome back to the world of gnomes!! No one can resist these adorable little creatures and I am no exception.  I decided to do a monochromatic take on these cute little gnomes and I was able to work in the new Challenge on the Blog, Feeling Blue. Head over there to win a free stamp set of your choice. Let me share with you how I made these Friendly Gnomes.

 

There’s gnome-one like you

 In order to get the gnome to appear as though he is sitting on the mushroom, you need to stamp him first and mask him off.  I inked him up using 969 and stamped him off onto a piece of post it masking tape.  I cut it out and set it aside.  

Next, I stamped him onto the watercolor paper.  Make sure you leave enough room for the mushroom in the bottom left.  It is more pleasing to place your images using the rule of thirds.  I placed him in the bottom right third of the paper.  Brown is the only other color other than blue that I used. 

 The other paintings I did not use brown first.  Adding the brown changes the color slightly.

 I masked him off and inked up the mushroom with my first blue color (528) is one of my favorites.  Because the stamp is clear, it was really easy to position it where I wanted it.  I used some small foliage to stamp in the grasses below the mushroom.  Once this was all stamped it, I added water to pull the color out of the lines.  As it dried, I continued to add layers of color to deepen the shadows.  Using a lot of water I added some color to the background.  Make sure to come back in and darken up those shadows and fine details.

 As soon as the entire painting was completely dry, I used my MISTI and one of the sentiments from the set inked with the same marker as I used on the piece.  You will need to keep going over it until it is as dark as you want.

 Lastly, I signed and dated.  The process was the same for the other 2 paintings.  Have fun, be creative!  Show us your work by tagging us on Instagram!  Hope you have a crafty day!  Thanks for stopping by.

We hope you enjoyed all of this "gnomie" inspiration!

What sweet and fun cards these are!

Thank you WCDT!

We appreciate you so much!