May 10, 2021

No-Line Watercolor with Altenew Watercoloring Book

Hey friends - let’s welcome the new week with a smile! 

Every Monday in May I'll be using the awesome Altenew Watercoloring Color Book. Week one was a clean and simple card and week 2 is....

Altenew Watercoloring Color Book

(50% Cotton - Cold Pressed - 24 Sheets)

There are 12 designs printed in both black and grey for a total of 24 sheets. Each sheet is detachable and ready to be watercolored. Each sheet is 5" x 7", 300gsm, Acid Free and Archival. 

Week 2: No-line watercolor

Materials Used

• Altenew Watercoloring Color Book
• Daler Rowney Artists Watercolour Pencils in Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Van Dyke Brown, Leaf Green, Vivid Green, Hooker's Green Light
• Number 2 & 4 round paintbrush
• White, Black, and Bronze Liquitex Ink
• 300gsm Cold Pressed Watercolor Card
• Versafine Black Onyx Ink, Sentiment Stamp
• Misti 2.0, Tim Holtz Mini Trimmer
• Foam Pads, Deluxe Adhesive, Bone Folder
• Sequins

This week we've transitioned from clean and simple with a black outline, to a no-line watercolor with a grey outline. I've also opted to use watercolor pencils this week, which haven’t been out for months. 

Instructions: 

(Top Tip - you must allow each layer to completely dry in order to avoid any bleeding.)

1. Start with a light Cadmium yellow wash over your floral images. 

2. Begin to build up color with another layer of light, then medium, and then dark tones. Allow to dry between each layer. 

3. Repeat the process on the foliage with your green tones - light, medium, dark.

4. Don't worry to much about light source if you're not confident with this technique. Instead, you can add darker shades to the corners and bottoms of the petals to add depth. 

5. Using a medium paintbrush, add some white, and dark brown (black and Bronze mixture) ink splatter. Once dry, cover your floral images with a paper towel and mix your medium and dark greens with a little water and add splatters everywhere on your panel except the floral images. 

6. Stamp sentiments onto white watercolor card and trim. Add foam pads to the back and then add another layer of card to the back. This is easier to move around on your card for perfect placement before sticking down. 

7. Trim your watercolored panel down to 4.75 inches x 3.5 inches and add 3mm foam pads to the back. Create an A2 tent fold card blank with 300gsm watercolor card to match the panel. 

8. Assemble components and add sequins to finish the card. 

Once the card is complete, pop it up on a shelf to make sure your colors and composition are harmoniously aligned. 

I hope you've enjoyed week 2 with this no-line watercolor technique. Please join me next Monday where we step it up again to add more dimension and interest to your cardmaking. Until then have a great week. 

See you soon, lots of love, 

Kittenmoose xx