This year as I count the 7 week Omer period, on the Jewish calendar, I've decided to work on two things as I create a brand new art journal dedicated to this important period of time. Can you guess what they are? Well one, yes of course is watercolor botanicals meaning leaves and florals, and the other is lettering! It is true, we are already two weeks plus into the 7 week period, so I have a big catch up game to play, but getting there, and hope to share the basic set up and style soon! And how did these watercolor botanical cut-outs come to be? Well, they honestly are the result of practice pages full of some successes and some that didn't quite measure up, so I cut out those that I loved, and reshaped those that needed a little bit of help!
And friends, while there are many free resources on the internet, sometimes the best thing to do is to take a class from someone whose style you adore in order to save time and achieve results that you love, or are at least going in the right direction. While this is generally the only time of the year that I do art journaling, I drool over the work of Wendy Solganik aka @willa.wanders all year long, over and over and over. So, taking my own advice, I signed up for her water color leaves and florals mini course, which led to these cut-outs and more, and am now also starting to tackle her huge hand lettering for art journaling course, called Love Your (Imperfect) Letters, about which I'm so so excited. (Though is does mean putting in the time to practice your lettering to develop muscle memory and hone your own style.....and it is great to have a coach to keep you going, as it is a course with 7 weekly units and then a 30 day challenge!) Okay, but first, want to make some watercolor cut-outs? Lets do it........
- watercolor paper, I used a $5 (on sale) Canson watercolor paper pad that i picked up at Walmart once
- watercolors, I used some inexpensive Dalery Rowney tube watercolors also from Walmart, with the exception of the Opera Pink which is Daniel Smith
- round watercolor brushes, mostly a #10
- a palette with wells for making very watery mixes of color, or even a plastic ice cube tray will work!
- some good scissors and even a craft knife to cut out small areas (though I did not do that)
How To:
- First practice making leaf shapes, with either one stroke, or two strokes, then paint a stem and add those shapes to the stem
- Practice making flower shapes, with open petals and cupped petals, and even buds
- Now combine the two and paint a lush garden combining large and small, with a few tendrils that escape the crowd and some splatter to add that extra touch
- You can also opt to do an allover pattern by turning the page, or just paint elements in the corners or placed so there is white space for writing (see last image in this post)
- Practice and practice, and the pages that can be used as whole or half pages, set those aside, and those that have some nice elements and some not so great, cut them up!
- You can use your watercolor cut outs as collage elements, cake toppers, or for garlands or even paper bouquets. Plus they are easy to store to have on hand.
- Just remember use lots of water and go bold and loose, no tiny details and no fussing! Ah yes and work quickly so that the colors bleed into each other which can be magic!
Of course I love the look of the watercolor cut outs as there is just something really amazing about freeing them from the sheet of paper, though since I am creating an art journal with pages assembled as I go, I do want some pages that work as is and can be a base for whatever gets added later. Below is a page that I painted with guidance from the watercolor florals course mentioned at the top of the post:
Happy painting, I totally recommend it as a way of getting creative with minimal mess, that is as compared to my oil pastel practice (very messy) or my acrylic paint practice which requires a whole set up......
