Hello, Ai Watercolor Fans! We hope you are enjoying your summer (or winter, to our friends in the southern hemisphere)! Dot, Tricia and Karen are here with a NEW watercolor roundup of beautiful projects! We LOVE how each watercolor artist develops their own style. Let's take a look at these unique projects featuring beautiful outdoors scenes!
I made this floral card using Art Impression's stamps for the Watercolor Weekend. First I stamped the two pots from the 4870 - WC Ornate Container Set after inking them in 969 and then 565 and stamping them off on a piece of scratch paper. I then pulled the color out of the lines. I used No. 93 aubergine to watercolor the decorations on the pots. I placed a mask on the one pot, then used the stamp positioner to stamp the stool from the 5055 - WC Sitting Places Set (using the 969 then 565) under the pot. Next, I watercolored the stool in with No. 105 lt. teal. I used 177 and 249 to stamp in the greenery from the 4867 - WC Foliage Set 2 and 5126 - Foliage Set 4. I used the 565 to stamp in the blue foliage. I used No. 93 to stamp in the flowers from the 4052 - Flower Set and then touched them with a wet brush. I stamped the branches in 969 from the 4964 - WC Branches Set. I stamped the small grass in 177 from the 4051 - Foliage Set around the pot and stool and the pulled the color up and out. I added shadows and sky with 565 and then green 177 from the palette. I took a Sakura Gelly Roll pen and added glitter which you can't see in the first picture but you can see it in this picture below. The glitter adds the most beautiful touch! Try it, if you haven't already. I cut out my image with the 5062 - Rounded Corner Rectangle die.
Using a larger block, I positioned both my cabin from 4962 -WC Rustic Cabins Set and the rowboat from 5057 - WC Boat Set, as this allows me to determine the right placement. I coloured them with my #969 Chocolate Tombow marker, then pulled out the colour with my damp #1 brush (this smaller paintbrush is amazing for scenes like this that are on a smaller scale!). Using a post-it note, I masked the cabin and coloured up both trees from the 5010 - WC Tree Set 1 with #249 Hunter Green. I did some second generation stamping behind the cabin to suggest some trees in the background. Now I took my pencil and sketched in the hills, shoreline, mountains and lake. With #992 Sand, I painted in the pathway and sandy shore, and used it to paint the boards and roof of the cabin. With the tiny greenery in 5009 - WC Mini Flower Set and my #158 Dark Olive marker, I added some bushes around the cabin, and tufts of grass with the small grass from 4051 - WC Foliage Set 1. With a wash of #158, I painted in the grassy foreground. I used the tiny cluster of rocks from the 5128 - As The Deer Set from the Bible Journaling collection, and my #N57 Warm Grey to stamp different clusters of rocks along the shore. I scribbled #565 Deep Blue onto my Palette, and picked it up with my #4 paintbrush, painting in the mountains and water. I went in with a second darker layer of the 565 to add shadows around the rocks, boat, cabin and trees to give a little depth to my scene. Finally, I mixed the #249(green) and #565(blue) to create the shade used to paint the far away line of trees. I used #837 Wine Red to add colour to the boat & chimney, with a touch of #991 Light Ochre on the oars. With a wash of #451 Sky Blue I painted in the sky. To finish, I used my sewing machine to run a line of stitching around the scene, matted it on grey, and adhered it to my base with pop dots.
Hi Watercolor Fans! Welcome back to Art Impressions watercolor weekend. For my project this week, I was inspired by a painting I had seen with boats. I knew I could re-create it with my watercolor stamps, so that is just what I did. Let me tell you how I created my Simple Boats project.
Simple Boats Tutorial
1. I used the small boat from the 5057 – WC Boat Set and inked it up with Chocolate. I stamped it off a couple of times so I could get a really light impression. I wanted this boat to be really light so it would appear to be further away from the other boats. Using my stamp positioner, I positioned it in the upper right corner.
2. With my brush, I pulled the color out of the lines. I added some additional Chocolate from my palette to the areas I wanted to be the darkest.
3. Next I inked the medium boat with Chocolate. I stamped it off once to get a light impression but not a light as the first boat. I decided to use my positioner so I could get them exactly where I wanted them. I added this boat in the middle to the left of my paper. I pulled the color out of the lines and again added some additional Chocolate to the darkest areas. I also added a darker shadow under the oars.
4. I inked up the larger boat with Chocolate and wiped off the bottom. I wanted it to look like it was sitting in the water. I stamped it and pulled the color out of the lines. I added Chocolate to the darkest areas.
5. I added True Blue, Asparagus, Hunter Green, Process Blue, Deep Blue and Jet Blue to my palette. I added color to each of the boats. I brushed in the water by building up the color slowly making sure to leave lots of white space. I made sure I used softer colors in the background gradually getting darker as I moved toward the front. I added darker shadows beneath each of the boats.
6. I added darker lines at the top where the horizon line would be. I added the mountain with Jet Blue. A light wash of Process Blue to create some clouds. Last but not least, I signed it 
7. Using my MISTI, I stamped the sentiment “It’s the simple things” using Gina K Designs Amalgam Ink.
8. I cut it out using the Rectangle Stitched Dies. I added it to Gina K Designs Blue Denim card stock and adhered it to a Neenah Solar White card base.
This was really a lot of fun to put together. I hope you will challenge yourself to recreate something beautiful you see.
Thanks, team! We love Watercolor Weekends - they just get us so excited to create! Share your watercolor creations with us on Facebook or Instagram with #aistamps!
Happy Stamping!
