Altenew

Altenew Color Therapy Blog Hop

Today’s post is a little different in that I’m not sharing a finished project, but rather one that is in progress and going into very detailed photos and steps of the behind the scenes coloring! We often show the finished project all nice and pretty, but what is not often seen or glanced over is the amount of time and focus the coloring process takes. Ready to get started?

I have picked out the Altenew Forever in Love stamp set to color today. This is an absolutely gorgeous set with large lined floral arrangements that make it a really great candidate for coloring. I have decided to heat emboss the image in gold on bristol paper and watercolor it. To really get a lot definition and interest with watercolors, you will be painting several layers, and you want to start out with a light coat of the colors first before building up more shades.

I started to add in darker shades with my second layer of colors. A great way to easily get a darker shade of the paint you are using is by mixing in complementary colors. Since I am using a red-purple color, I mixed in yellow-green a little bit at a time to get a dark, deeper shade to add.

I continued the process again, this time adding a third layer to my rose and also adding in even more yellow-green to my color to give it a even deeper shade. Mixing complementary colors can lead to a brown color, so if you feel that you have gone too far, you can add more red-purple to revitalize your mixture.

You can continue to add even more layers if you want, but I have decided to stop with 3 and move on to othe areas of the image. I painted in my first layer of greens to all the leaves surrounding the roses.

I went back in for my second layer of greens, but this time I dabbled with a few various shades, and a little ochre in some areas, and a little yellow in others. This created more variation and interest in the leaves, which I felt gave it a fun artistic feel to it.

For my very last layer on the flowers, I wanted to add details with color pencils. For this step, you want to color with a light hand and add more layers if you want deeper tones. Coloring is a slow process, so you don’t want to rush through it. From start to end, it took me about 2 hours of coloring. Hope this inspires you to color along and join Kathy’s #thedailymarker30day for the rest of November! If you enjoy these detailed coloring posts, give me a holler in the comments!

Blog Hop

This post is part of theΒ Altenew Color Therapy Blog Hop! If you’ve been hopping along with us, you would have arrived here fromΒ Hussena Calcuttawala’s blogΒ and your next stop is the Kristina Pokazanieva’s blog! You can find the full blog hop list or start at the beginning from theΒ Altenew Card Blog.

Giveaway

AltenewΒ is giving away a $30 gift certificate to FIVE lucky winners and Kathy from The Daily Marker is also giving away her original 5”x7” watercolor artwork (including a custom frame)! Please leave a comment on theΒ Altenew Card BlogΒ by 11/22/2019 for a chance to win.

A winner will also be drawn for aΒ $15 gift certificate to ONE lucky winner from this blog post! Please leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. All winners will be announced on theΒ Altenew Card BlogΒ 11/24/2019.

65 comments

  1. Very nice job and explaining the technique is helpful.

  2. Such a sweet card

  3. Awesome coloring!! Love the transformation at each step! <3

  4. Wow Keeway! You make it look so easy! I love the progression you showed in your post today! Thank you!

  5. I love the step by step photos of your beautiful coloring!

  6. Love this! Thanks for the tips! I love the depth & variations of color

  7. OMG – your painted flowers are so beautiful. Thanks so much for posting your progress!

  8. Very nice card. Love your colors.

  9. This is going to be a beautiful finished piece, but it also reminds us to take our time and enjoy the process as we color. That’s the whole point and the finished projects are the icing on the cake! πŸ™‚

  10. Beautiful – and thanks for the details. I definitely want to give this a try – thank you! I presume when you add the pencil colour that you dry the surface fully? Do you use a heat tool to help with that?

    1. Yes, definitely let the paint dry before adding pencils! If it’s not dry by the time you’re ready to add the pencil detail, you can use the heat tool to speed it up. Sometimes I juggle other coloring projects and set it aside to dry before I return so I don’t use the heat tool often.

  11. Such a stunning card! And thank you for the good instructions.
    I would have never of thought to use colored pencils on top of watercolors…next on my to do list πŸ˜‰

  12. Not only is that stunning, but it is amazingly helpful to see the work-in-progress. I much prefer pictures of that to 10 pictures of the finished card. Thank you for this!

  13. The flowers look so pretty. I love your shading

  14. Gorgeous flowers!!

  15. Wow!! You do beautiful work and love the process you are showing!

  16. What a master you are with a brush and with pencils – LOVE!!!

  17. That is so pretty! I love that stamp set. It’s very romantic!!

  18. Thank you for showing that it is OK to use pencil over water color. Your flower is so beautiful. Almost like you just picked. Shading is awesome.

  19. Thank you for showing that it is OK to use pencil over water color. Your flower is so beautiful. Almost like it was just picked.

  20. Your coloring is spectacular.
    the shading is makes the
    flowers so lifelike.
    thanks for sharing
    txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com

  21. Love your beautiful flowers & I appreciate the coloring tips a lot! Thanks for sharing!

  22. I have just discovered coloring and really enjoyed your step-by-step documentation of your process. I love the results and would happily trade a gift certificate to have this card! Thank you for sharing your technique; results are quite stunning and a feast for the eyes.

  23. Absolutely beautiful water coloring. I think I might give this a try. Maybe with the embossed lines, I can keep my colors where I want them. πŸ™‚ Thanks for all the information!

  24. Really beautiful! I LOVE the step by step you did!

  25. Loved watching the transformation of your art piece.

  26. Gorgeous coloring

  27. Gorgeous flowers

  28. Thank you for sharing the process! Simply gorgeous!

  29. Thank you for the time it took to take those photos during your process and then to narrate them on your blog. It was incredibly helpful to see the process and to read about your thoughts. Your coloring is gorgeous and so inspiring! Lovely, lovely!

  30. Definitely loved the step-by-step explanation of your gorgeous watercoloring!

  31. Excellent job of explaining your method.

  32. Amazing! I will never be able to color like that but you did it beautifully.

  33. Thank you for the steps to your wonderful water coloring! Your card is amazing!

  34. It made me really happy to visit this blog and enjoy your card because it’s pretty much my own style. I love how nice and delicate this card turned out. Love the colour palette too!!
    Cheers!

  35. I loved seeing these photos of the colouring process , its very interesting to see how the flowers look after each layer of paint ! Looking forward to se the finished project

  36. Beautiful coloring, and with that gorgeous stamp it’s a great pair

  37. Wow, this is so beautiful. I really appreciated seeing the work in progress — very inspirational!!

  38. This turned out gorgeous.

  39. You always make such beautiful cards.

  40. so pretty

  41. Beautiful coloring! The roses are so Pretty! Thanks for showing the steps along the way.

  42. Lovely and BEAUTIFUL!! You make watercoloring look easy!

  43. Enjoyed your tips in the step-by-step process and the coloring you achieved is amazing. This is a beautiful stamp set

  44. Great coloring! I think my main problem is patience. I must need to use my heart tool and set my layers. I tried to add layers without setting the previous one but I didn’t get any depth. Thanks for the tip on how to darken the colors.

  45. […] RacoosinAshlea CornellAnna KomendaEmily MidgettJaycee GasparGayatri MuraliHussena CalcuttawalaKeeway TsaoKristina PokazanievaLauraJaneLilith EeckelsNenette S. MaderoNorine BorysTaeEun YooMaryam PerezTania […]

  46. Oh so stunning with the gold embossing, such a beautiful work of art!

  47. How pretty! Thank you for describing your process in such detail. I learn so much that way. I will have to try mixing complementary colours in future watercolour projects!

  48. Gorgeous bouquet Keeway! Great colouring! Thanks so much for sharing!

  49. Gorgeous… I love watercoloring and you did a great job explaining and showing the process! This is a gorgeous Stamp set!

  50. Wonderful watercolors! Thanks for the photo tutorial. πŸ™‚

  51. As a very novice water colorer, I appreciate you sharing and showing your progress. The explanation was quite clear. Thank you for sharing your talents!

  52. First and foremost, I truly appreciate how detailed you were in explaining the process to us. I only recently started painting with watercolours and there’s still so much to learn so your explanation has helped a lot .
    Secondly, I appreciate that you did this as a work in progress as opposed to the finished product.
    Lastly, what a wonderful job you have done. I love the outline embossed in gold and just love how the petals and leaves look soo beautiful due to your technique. Well done!! Thank you for sharing this with us.

  53. Thanks for this lovely example. Love the touch of gold.

  54. Gorgeous! Fantastic painting and I love your color palette.

  55. Beautiful piece! I love the colors and the process pictures! Wonderful work!

  56. Watching your beautiful card come alive step by step was inspiring.

  57. Beautiful coloring! Thanks for sharing.

  58. So pretty! I love the shading and color variation you are creating!

  59. Very beautiful and inspiring work. Love the gorgeous coloring.

  60. Adoring seeing how you create.

  61. Beautiful watercoloring! I love the pencil detail!

  62. Wow Keeway πŸ™‚ Taking a couple hours on one card is inspiring and it also sounds VERY therapeutic!!! Lovely…just lovely! Thanks for inspiring me πŸ™‚

  63. That is gorgeous. I’m working on my watercoloring and you’ve inspired me to keep at it.