Sunday, September 9, 2018

Painting with Ice Water

I took a trip to Utah recently for Kathy Rac's coloring event at Concord & 9th. I travel a lot for work, and it's funny, because I really don't enjoy the travel part of it at all. I don't know if Virgo is an earth sign, but what I can tell you for a fact is that the earth is 100% my favorite. I don't like the air, I don't like bridges, I don't like water - I don't like any of that extraneous nonsense that isn't me with my feet on terra firma.

Airports are an exercise in.... I'm not sure there's a word for that. All I can say is, I need something in airports that keeps me from losing my damned mind. So on this trip, it was watercolor.

What's funny is - I am in the Phoenix airport so much the waitress knows me - AND - on the day I painted this card, she had actually waited on me a few days earlier.

On my way back home, I had a longer layover, so I decided to paint this stunning holly image, but I needed two water cups, so I asked her for two cups of water. Thinking that I was some sort of deranged thirsty and rabid bat, she brought me two cups of ice water. That is the moment in my life when I discovered two things: 1) Be very specific when you are asking for something from a non-crafty-tribe member 2) Ice water really makes watercoloring a zillion times harder!

Despite these burdens, I did manage to paint this stunning holly image from Julie's latest release at Ellen Hutson, and quite a few people around me got into the Christmas spirit as a result. I'll call that a win.
No Line Watercolor Holly by Understand Blue
Mondo Holly
[ ELH ]
Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink
[ INK ]
VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -...
[ ELH ]
DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors...
[ ELH ]
DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors...
[ ELH ]
DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors...
[ ELH ]
Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors
[ BLIC ]
Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round...
[ UTR | BLIC | INK ]
Da Vinci Cosmotop Sable Mix F Brushes...
[ BLIC | ELH ]
Fabriano Extra White Cold Press...
[ BLIC ]
MISTI Stamping Tool
[ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ]
Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045
[ SSS | ELH | CST | ART | SBC ]
Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -...
[ BLIC ]
Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art...
[ BLIC ]
My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook
[ UTR ]
Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth
[ AMZUS ]
Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding...
[ AMZUS ]
Essentials by Ellen Storage...
[ ELH ]
Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC
[ ELH | SSS ]
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88...
[ ELH ]
Ink Off Cloth
[ INK ]

After stamping the image in Fadeout Ink, I kept it simple with just a few colors, and I worked each leaf section one at a time, so that they were all very different from each other and you could still see that modern, geometric design of the set. I used Phthalo Turquoise, Quinacridone Coral and Quinacridone Gold - that's it! (If you are in my Daniel Smith Watercolor Split group - these are all in the C&D Splits)

For the next stamp set, which is so cute - I just die cut a card front with the matching dies  overlapping them a bit so it was just one big opening. I did the same with the little die for the road Then I glued that down onto the card base, and stamped the images into the openings with Memento, and colored them with Copics

I added glue and glitter to it, which just looks greyish here but it's a clear sparkly iridescent. The sentiment is from the same set.
CAS Holiday card by Understand Blue
Here's the rest of this super duper fun release - I just love Julie's style. If you don't have a few hours to kill in an airport with your Mondo Holly, they also have some beautiful cards with this set that come together a little faster than my watercolor did. Lots of you will definitely get cards with some of these from me this holiday season! And you can check out Concord & 9th's new release at Ellen today.

Over the River
[ ELH ]
Over the River Dies
[ ELH ]
Copic | Ellen Hutson
[ ELH ]
Elizabeth Craft Designs Silk...
[ ELH ]
Memento Ink Pad, Tuxedo Black - Ellen...
[ ELH ]
MISTI Stamping Tool
[ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | SBC ]
Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -...
[ BLIC ]
Sizzix Big Shot White & Gray - Ellen...
[ ELH ]
Lawn Fawn Stamp Shammy
[ ELH ]
Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding...
[ AMZUS ]
Essentials by Ellen Storage...
[ ELH ]
Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC
[ ELH | SSS ]
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88...
[ ELH ]
Ink Off Cloth
[ INK ]


Leave me a comment with whether or not you've started your holiday crafting. I've started a bit early this year thanks to some fun new stamps like these - normally I don't start until after Thanksgiving.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Loveyameanitbye.

7 comments:

  1. Start my holiday crafting???...um no it is still 110 degrees here in Arizona!! And next time you have a layover in Phoenix that is long enough for you to paint and get to know the server, you had better call us so we can meet you there! We need our Lydia hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw the Mondo Holly this morning, I love it!! Beautiful card! I have not started my holiday crafting yet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. These little houses are so adorable ! And no I absolutely didn’t start my Holidays cards.
    [margessw(at)icloud(dot)com]

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous card with that beautiful holly design!
    I haven't started any holiday cards yet! I am typically a last-minute kinda gal, so I'll probably start them in December!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love your ice watercoloring on the holly! Great story!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nope... no holiday crafting until Thanksgiving weekend! Love, love, love your holly!

    ReplyDelete

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