Bold Pink and Orange cards!

I love analogous colors, they make my heart happy, really and truly. When I need color in my life I go straight to a monochrome or analogous pallet.  I had a wonderful time with this card challenge over at The Card Concept that I made a set of 6 cards, and they turned out awesome!

 I used simple art materials, nothing fancy... Here is what I used.

watercolor paper cut to 4inx5.25in then mounted it onto an A2 white card.
stencils that you don't mind getting gesso on, I was in a triangle type of mood that night so I went with that... I used some triangle background stencils from the Silhouette Design Store that I cut out on cardstock
Gesso
Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor, I used pink and orange
Kuretake Stary Colors
a mop brush (mine was 12)

This is a very addictive way to paint, so keep that in mind when you start... I could have been doing this for hours!

For the Triangle cards:
You will want to stencil gesso on onto the stencil with a pallet knife. Remove the extra gesso from the stencil and separate the stencil from the paper and then let the gesso dry over night!

Then wake up run to your studio, and look to see if it's dry, and start the watercolor process, I used a red gold starry color to add to the pink and orange Kuretake Gansia Tambi watercolor set that really worked well, I love how the metallics mix with the watercolor, it's like watching paint dance on your pallet.

I used a juicy brush with lots of pigments, and then went in to lift up some of the watercolors from the raised part of the gesso to give it some definition and extra texture.

Then once the watercolor paper is dry again, I mount it onto a card base I have already made, 4.25inx5.5in, folded.

For the circle cards, I used the paint that was already mixed up on my pallet and just made circles like Yao Cheng from Creativebug. I added just water to create some texture and added some bolder colors to the painting, it was just whatever I thought in the moment was a good idea to do I did, it felt free and expressive for me to work this way!.

Then I just mounted the cards to a card base, I did stamp Relax on one of the cards for something different.

This was a simple and beautiful outcome, I didn't want to hide the color, so I used very minimum supplies.

I would love to know what kind of analogous colors are your go too, for me it seems that green and yellow are always favored, or blue and greens.

I also thought of using blues for this one, but I love the oranges and pink with the triangles!

can't you just see this card going to someone that loves horses?

decorative tape adds just the perfect element to this card.

Kristy Rice's Fresh Florals Craftsy Class

I love how artists can have their own unique style, and it is with that in mind that I write this review.

This class is a great introduction to watercolor, she goes through the basics of water color techniques, and focuses on those techniques that she uses in her paintings. It's very directive and to the point. It is up to you as a artist to develop the skills and techniques. I have said before that art is a process, not the end result of something. keep that in mind and you will love the class. If you expect a master piece after this class, you will be sad. This Class does give you the chance to make a "master piece," however realistically if you are new to watercolor like I am, she gives you great advice on how to do a technique and it's up to you to practice.... A LOT!

Some of the things that I took away from the class: It's easy to do detail work, it just takes lots of time! Her advice to novice water colorists (like myself) is heart warming, and very helpful. Like with everything you have to get use to your brush, paint, any your style of your painting. She helps with that!

Most importantly throughout the class she mentions that painting should make you happy, she explains her story a bit and how she got to where she is as an Artist. Which I really enjoyed. With art the important thing is,  how you got to where you are now, and she explains why she paints like she does. It was worth the effort and time to take this class.

Things to keep in mind about this class: It did take me one painting session for that day to paint a rose, a peony, and the leaves, and berries each, so over a week to get the basics down. So when she says to practice each one till you think you have it, she really means practice as much as you can so when you start your final project  you feel confident in painting the flowers.  I love that she doesn't use any ways of transferring a reference picture to her painting, it's all done freehand, which I like, and I was giddy knowing that I wasn't worried about coloring in the lines, or something. (my kind of style!) However I think that if you are the one that wants perfection the reference photo would be easy enough to trace/transfer if needed. I am tempted to try it just to see if I like it any better.

I love Kristy's approach to watercolor and she is very down to earth, which helps my artist want to play and paint with out worrying about a mark that is wrong. Painting should elevate your mood, your spirit, and I believe that this class does that in a way that made me feel the joy of painting! Thank you Kristy and Craftsy for a great class! You can also find her on you tube She has a website at and blog


Here are some of my projects, my style is very expressive and it's not suppose to look "real" I love lines and color

practice Peony (4th try)

practice rose with flooding technique

roses, (with a background)

Peony blossom

closed peony blossom

purple rose I was trying with my new dioxide purple

sketch piece of the reference photo 

Final project

I hope you try this class out, if you are new or just love to paint flowers, this is the class for you! I hope to use this class as a reference to future paintings!