Marcy released a gorgeous rose this week at Power Poppy called Vital Rose that’s absolutely dreamy! I couldn’t wait to dig into it, and I knew that it would be amazing to watercolour with all of those gorgeous petals and pretty leaves. So, I printed off the image (onto Arches 80 lb) that included the text, (there’s also a digi version without text) and set to work. I changed the colour of the image to a light-rust so the lines would fade into the design and work with the warm colours of the rose.
I’ve been playing a lot with Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, but for this designs, I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour pans, taking time with washes and glazing to give the petals a multi-tonal look with yellows, oranges, coral and rosy reds.
One of the fun parts was the working on the lettering. I think that’s what gives it this “page out of a storybook" illustration quality. Marcy’s hand lettering is always so amazing, and it was fun to play with my tiny brush and try and let the different washes bleed into each other.
Because the illustration is just so beautiful, I simply sewed it onto some designer paper from MFT that already has a watercolour wash look to it and it was complete!
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker
and Marcy at the Power Poppy Blog
80 lb? Please tell me where you got it! Gosh, that would solve the problem of trying to print a heavier weight paper. I learned a trick, but it would be nice to be able to print without being tricky. Anyway, Christine, I was looking forward to seeing this on your blog and reading about it. Love what you did with your Gansai Tambi paints. Such beautiful color layering. This rose truly is a dream to color! Sigh... watercolor... my first love. Fantastically beautiful card!
ReplyDeleteWow Fabulous watercoloring, those colors are just beautiful, almost the colors my hubby got me for Valentines this year, so life like. I too was curious about the 80 pound paper, my printer will not print heavy cardstock at all.
ReplyDeleteStunning watercolouring Christine. The colours of this beautiful rose reminds me of my father who hade rose like this in his garden.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing.
This is breathtaking Christine!! The rose just emanates light. The color reminds me of one I saw at the Portland Rose gardens late last summer. You’ve also outdone yourself with coloring the lettering. One of your best ever and sure to be a blessing! I pray your husband continues to improve and your family is rallying to support.
ReplyDeleteWow.... Oh wow Christine your rose looks amazing. The depth of the color is so beautiful and light feeling. How do you and Leslie do that with watercolor. Ack..... Love love love this!
ReplyDeleteChristine, this is absolutely exquisite! I love your watercoloring, and I especially love that this does have a storybook feel to it. Love the colors and also love how the lettering came out! Stunning card, and it only needed the sweet stitching! Amazing, my friend! Hugs! xoxo
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