Color Combos for the Ages

When we were little, my mom let my sister and I pick the colors for our room, and then she found fabric in our chosen combo, and made these bright, happy curtains for us.

It was a hot pink and dark purple combo, and she found bedspreads that were the same dark purple. We thought it was perfection. It had wild, bold and very 70s imagery on it, although now I can't remember what the images were, but I remember the colors vividly.

So that's what inspired today's watercolored image, along with my absolute FAVE Christmas color combination, which is not red and green, as you know, but pink and green instead. It's that little shift that makes seasonal cards more interesting than the classics.

This large poinsettia image is stunning. It's the collaboration set for Stamptember with Gina K Designs and it's just amazing. I spent a few hours taking a break from worrying about the Bahamas and just got lost in painting this image.

I used the same process I use pretty much every time I paint a floral. I painted the foliage first, being sure to add a little of the pink and the purple I use in the main image to tie it all together.

Then I painted a single petal at a time, moving to a new dry area while one petal dried. I never paint adjacent petals, which does two things: 1) watercolor follows water, so this way my paint doesn't escape the one petal I'm painting and 2) it make each petal look unique, because it's like a bunch of little separate paintings - each one with a different amount of paint and water.

When the whole thing is done, I go back and add the darkest details - using the same purple to add shadows and give it dimension. I only used a few pigments on this image, even though it looks very colorful. I used: Terra Verte, Rich Green Gold, Opera Pink, Carbazole Violet, Indian Yellow and Phthalo Turquoise. The sentiments are big and FABULOUS. I painting this on Fabriano Cold Press with Escoda Versatil travel brushes, plus one Versatil detail brush. The sentiment is Nocturne. I stamped the image in Fadeout Ink to give it a soft, no-line look.

Since this is a collaboration with two of my favorite humans, it's extra special. But now I have to decide which one gets this Christmas card! EEK.

Hope you like it! I finally pulled out my new ceramic palette for this painting session - this woman makes such gorgeous palettes and this is her latest.

Gina K Designs Clear Stamps and Dies... [ SSS ] Ceramic Watercolor Palette for... [ ETS ] Amazon.com: MEEDEN Empty Watercolor... [ AMZUS ] Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors [ BLIC ] Escoda Versatil Brushes, Travel Round... [ UTR | BLIC | INK ] Fabriano Extra White Cold Press... [ BLIC ] Zots™ Singles • Medium | Therm O Web... [ THR ] The Ultimate Mixing Palette: a World... [ BLR ] Fadeout No Line coloring Detail Ink [ INK ] VersaFine Clair Ink Pad, Nocturne -... [ ELH | SSS ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSP | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Lawn Fawn STAMP SHAMMY Cleaner LF1045 [ SSS | ELH | CST | ART ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] Nesting Porcelain Bowls - BLICK art... [ BLIC ] My Favorite Watercolor Sketchbook [ UTR ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | MFT ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Airtable: Organize your stamps & dies [ ART ]

Hope you had a great holiday.

Loveyameanitbye.