Hello everyone! I have some easy techniques to add texture and depth to a watercolour. My card features a winter’s night with Simon Says Stamp’s WARMEST WISHES … a wonderful combination of beautiful and cute!
I masked the moon and the profile of the hillside on a panel of Canson XL water colour paper. The mask for the hillside profile was cut with a die from Simon’s Stitched Slopes and Hills die set. Mijello Mission Gold Watercolours were used for this piece. TRICK 1
To easily create snow drifts begin by applying sweeps of texture paste using a palette knife. I began by creating a thin horizon and then applied the paste in short bands in the foreground. When complete, the paste was thinned by going over all the bands with the palette knife again picking up the paste creating more texture. The paste is left to dry and will act as a resist. A combination of lilacs, purples and blues were used to create shadows. The night sky was painted with under tones of dark blues and purples and finished with black.
TRICK 2
While the paint is still wet, apply sprinklings of table salt and let it dry naturally. The crystals will absorb the liquid leaving a pretty, starburst texture. Some crystals will dry onto the panel and should be rubbed off with paper towel or a cloth … not your hand! Ouch!
The moon was painted with a yellow colour wash and some watered down black dropped in.
TRICK 3
Ball up cling film and place it on the wet water colour topped with some weight like an acrylic block. Leave it to dry naturally. A soft texture will be created.
The main sentiment was stamped with Black Onyx Versafine ink and clear embossed For a faux black embossed look. The secondary sentiment was stamped with just the ink. The sentiment was masked.
TRICK 4
Apply spatter with watered down gouache. This opaque water based paint leaves a beautiful textural finish and will not absorb the colour in the background.
To continue with the focus on texture in this piece, the trees were stamped with Versamark ink on Simon’s Midnight Green card stock and embossed twice with puff embossing powder. They were fussy cut and spattered with gouache. The snowman was also stamped with Versamark and embossed in white on water colour paper. The twig arms were then stamped with the black Versafine ink and clear embossed. The painting was done with lilac and purple tones.
The panel was trimmed and mounted on black card stock and then onto an A2 sized, top folding card base. The elements were adhered to the panel. The snowman and the tree in the foreground were mounted with foam squares. The shadows beneath the elements were darkened with purple. The snowman eyes were finished off black Nuvo drops. A handful of of clear iridescent sequins topped with Nuvo Crystal Drops Morning Dew embellish the card.
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