Hi everyone! This is Yana Smakula and thank you for joining me today! In this video I'm watercoloring
a new background stamp from Simon Says Stamp
called Cosmos Background using my Daniel Smith
watercolor palette.
I started working on this card by stamping
the background in clear embossing ink onto
Arches Hot Press watercolor paper using my
stamp platform. Just to be safe - I stamped
it twice. You can stamp it without the platform
but for these large 6x6 background stamps I have
found it's especially useful to have the platform or some sort of a stamping tool as it really ensures you get the best results.
Next I covered my paper with white embossing
powder - this is embossing powder from Hero
Arts - I also managed to spill the entire
bottle on my desk - I clean it all up later - I
used use one of my paint brushed, a wide paint
brush like a little broom and a put all the
powder back into the jar.
I heat set the background with my heat tool
and started coloring it. I picked watercolor
paper for this card as I wanted to do to watercoloring.
I also have another card coming up soon where I
used my Polychromos pencils to color this background
- I haven't finished coloring it as there's
a lot to color, but I'll share it on my blog
once its finished.
Anyhow, I've shared many videos on my channel
using my Daniel Smith watercolors, but I don't
think I've ever shared a video showing how I used this dot chart or the palette itself.
And I was getting some questions recently about
the amount of watercolor in each of those
cards so I wanted to demonstrate on video
that you do get a fairy good amount of watercolor in there. Depending on how you like to color,
meaning if you like very pale colors, if you
dilute the pigment with water a lot or if
you like bold and saturated colors and you
don't dilute the pigment but rather use a
lot of it on your project one dot will last
you for a different amount of time and will last you for a different number of projects. I
don't have one number to give you, I can't
say that this will last you for 10 cards as
we all color differently, and for some it
might last just for 5 if you lay down a lot
of pigment and for others it might last for
50 if you just use a bit of color for your
projects.
Whenever I use this dot chart or a similar
chart I like to work with a water brush and
not a paintbrush. Using a water brush just
makes it easier to pick up the color, add the
water to the color and lay the color on your
project. And I'll link to the exact waterbrush
I'm using today - this one is medium size
waterbrush, I also have a detail waterbrush
that I used to use a lot, but don't use it so much
anymore.
Whenever I color with watercolor from a dot
chart I also like to have a paper towel on
my desk - this is just a place to clean my
brush, I'm trying to stop using my hand to
clean it, it's not a good habit to have and
I try to have a clear block or any other sleek
surface where I can dilute the color and maybe
even mix different colors together.
So how do you color with this dot chart? I
make sure that my water brush is wet, that
the bristles are wet, I pick up the color
from the chart, I transfer it onto the sleek
surface, if needed I sweese the barrel of
my waterbrush to pump a bit of water out - and
by doing so I dilute the color, mix it with
the water and using that same brush I pick
it up again, but from the block this time
and transfer it onto my paper.
When you color it is best to start with a light color, with diluted color intensity and build the color as you move
forward.
I also wanted to mention why I heat embossed my image and not just stamped it onto the paper.
With heat embossing you get a nice raised
edge to your image. This edge when you watercolor
creates an obstacle that prevents your color
from going outside the line. So this helps
me to color. I don't have to focus as much
to stay withing the lines, I'm relying on
that heat embossed edge to stop my brush and
prevent the color to travel where its not
supposed to be. Of course I do go outside
the line sometimes, but not too much.
I'm using Quinacridone Rose color to color
some of the flowers on my background and I'll
use yellow, quinacridone gold color to color the
rest.
I am doing a wet on dry coloring. Meaning
my paper is dry and I am applying wet color
onto it. Once the first layer of color has
had time to dry I come in and add a second
layer of color, but it's not diluted this
time, or diluted less and this it looks more
vibrant on my project.
You can also notice that I am not using a
lot of pigment. Yes, I am picking it up from
the dot often, but I am grabbing just a tiny
amount for my coloring.
If I were to do a wash in one color, a wash
or a background to cover the entire card front,
I'd probably use up the whole dot of that
pigment. But if I use it just for coloring
individual images it lasts me a good amount
of time.
The purpose of this watercolor dot chart or
other charts is to try the color out. You
are not buying the entire tube of color, you
are buying a sampler sheet where you have
enough watercolor, enough pigment to swatch
it and to try it on several projects to understand
if this is the color you'd like to add to
your collection.
This is how I got started with these Daniel
Smith watercolors and I'm so glad I had these
charts because they really helped me to pick
the right colors for my collection.
Once my floral coloring was finished I moved
onto coloring the background. This part is
usually the scariest as you've put all of
that time and effort into coloring your flowers
and you don't want to mess it up. I do feel
like this every time I want to color a background,
but I just keep going as I like to try new
things. And I like to have different colors of backgrounds, not just white.
So I was debating between 3 colors - Cobalt
Teal Blue, Indigo and Lunar Blue and all 3
of those are available in my dot chart. I
edged up going with the lightest color - Cobalt
Teal Blue and I colored the entire white space
using this color.
Because at this point I started to add a lot
of water I wish I had taped this background
down as taping your watercolor piece to a
hard surface helps the paper to remain flat
and it prevents it from warping, but it was
a bit too late for that. Once my background
was dry I send it through my die cutting machine
using the embossing sandwich and nothing else,
so no dies and no embossing folders, just
the paper and embossing sandwich for my Platinum
and that really helped to flatten this paper
back to normal.
I also used my Tonic Aqua Shimmer pen and
went over all of the flowers adding shimmer
to the petals. It's hard to see, this color
shows up best on dark surfaces, but it did
add a bit of beautiful shimmer to this piece.
You can also use this aqua shimmer pen as
a waterbrush for your coloring. I colored
another background using this same Cosmos
background stamp and my daniel smith watercolors,
but I used this aqua shimmer pen instead of my waterbrush to transfer the color onto my painting.
And I also did a wet on wet
coloring meaning a pre-wet the paper first
using a water brush, regular water brush and
applied the color using my shimmer pen. I
didn't quite like the colors I picked for that background
so I didn't use it but, I did not make a card using that background but I still wanted to share it with you.
I used Simon Says Stamp Stained Glass Love
stamp and coordinating die to create a sentiment
for this card and I simply white heat embossed
To My Very Best Friend in white embossing
powder onto black cardstock. And I also embellished
my card using clear droplets in small and
medium size from Pretty Pink Posh.
So this finishes my video. Thank you so much for watching.
If you have any questions be sure to leave them in a comment section below.
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Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time. Bye!
