Watercolor! Sunset Expressions

I have been way busier this January than I originally thought I would be so my blog got pushed to the back burner. But, I've got cards to post and so am going to jump back into my blog in a big way with tons of pics in this post!

In December, there was a sympathy card swap with some fellow consultants. I make a lot of sympathy cards but was looking for a new way to approach them. It was bitterly cold outside so what better thing to do than sit with a warm cup of tea or coffee and get some stamping on, right?

The inspiration for the card happened as I drove home from work. There in front of me was the most amazing sunset. The sky would light up with colors and shades of oranges and golds and purples and pinks. Amazing! Don't believe me - here you go:

I searched through my camera and found a few other sunsets for inspiration.

 I posted about it on facebook and a couple of friends sent me their favorite sunset pics:

Aren't they amazing?! So glad they shared!

So, that was it. The cards had to have awesome sunsets with something stamped in silhouette. What could be better than that? I looked at my different coloring mediums and there in the front were my Peerless Watercolors. Perfect!

I took a rectangle piece of Bristol cardstock (our watercolor paper) and spritzed it with some water, picked up some color with my waterbrush and went to town adding colors. The sky was the limit (no pun intended - lol!) as the colors of a sunset in Kansas can be any color. Layers of colors- dabs of this  and that were added in. If the paper started to pill up, more water was added and back to blending and adding of colors. Here's the batch of swap cards:

As you can see I played around with colors, dark/light, blending/not blending, etc. But, I love all the variations. This had to be a class card but the design would have to be modified a bit:

I left the inside simple. And, if the class peeps chose, they could leave the sentiment off because this is also just a perfect notecard to have on hand. 

I watercolored first, dried it and even ironed it and then stamped the Sunny Side of Life image with Versafine Black ink. Versafine is a great ink to use when you have a lot of detail on your stamp. It's an oil-based pigment ink and dries fairly quickly. It's acid-free, archival, non-toxic and fade resistant.

So, this card turned out to be a favorite of many at class. It was fantastic to see all the variations of sunsets so I want to share - here you go:

Aren't they great! I just love the different variations and different layers of color and the joy shown in all of them! It was fun because many didn't care for the backgrounds until they stamped their image and then it was a wow moment!

I was asked if you could stamp first and then watercolor. I wasn't sure outside of embossing the image first, if this could be done. So off to the A Muse message boards to ask and got responses right away - so great to have helpful peeps! The answer was yes. If you stamp with an archival ink such as Versafine or Ranger, you can stamp first, let the ink dry and then watercolor. Other inks may start to bleed when wet and trust me, you want the color to move so you want the paper to be wet.

These cards are so easy and fun to make. I'll be back with more watercolor posts soon. I do want to tell you that the Peerless Watercolors are just great. You can make a carrier to make them easily portable. The color lasts a really long time. I've taught several watercolor cards in class and have also done a bit of watercoloring myself (ok - more than a bit) and I'm just now starting to replace my first sheets. I cut mine into fourths to use and those are the sheets I'm talking about so I still have three more to use before I need to buy a new set. After this class, I'll probably have to replace a few more but it will be totally worth it.  Here's a post that will tell you more about them and show you how I have mine mounted: http://amethystcat.blogspot.com/2014/10/simple-swirls-watercolor.html

Visit my webstore to pick up some bristol paper, a waterbrush and your Peerless Watercolors: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

I hope you've enjoyed this post of watercolor and sunset love. Have a wonderfully creative day!