Sketch & Stash challenge

This is the result from one of the images I coloured today and I was so chuffed with her I decided to use her with the new sketch from Sketch & Stash Challenge blog.

Quite surprisingly this isnt coloured with promarkers of copics, it's water coloured! The hair and dress were first coloured with water colour pencils before adding some depth with distress inks. Delft blue with concord distress ink and burnt umber & walnut with walnut distress ink. The bow and apron are coloured with leaf & apple green pencils.

Paper is Posh Posies from Daisybucket, whitewash co'ordination card put through a bug folder and sanded back with a piece of crocheted lace behind. Rish razelberry cs cut with a scallop nestie and white paper airbrushed (my first try with my new airbrush, woohoo but it's not as easy as it looks on youtube lol) with copic yg11. Leone Em leaf punch and new flowers from wildorchid.

I've got to say I've had a really great day practising water colouring today with my mate Angie. We had a few different types of watercolour paper, distress inks, my SU markers and watercolour crayons and some Albrecht Drurer water colour pencils. I've mentioned a few posts ago about the difference between card and paper but today we trialed watercolour papers. Even knowing how different card and paper react I was really surprised at the differences between the papers. First off we tried the watercolour paper being promoted by Sheena Douglas for Crafters Companion. I'll hold my hands up and admit to always being suspicious of Crafters Companion products as I've never been happy with anything they've put their name to. The watercolour paper didnt change my opinion of them. Fair enough it was reasonably cheap and took a versafine stamped image ok but it was awful to blend with. 2nd paper trialled was a pad of smooth watercolour paper from WHSmiths, much nicer to work with but although easier to blend it was next to impossible to blend away lines after the paint had dried. Not something I've been used to as my bockingford always let me blend away any bloom lines.

Finally I let Angie loose with my Langton grain satine. The image wasnt even totally dry before we were putting on coats and hopping in the car to visit the local art supply shop so she could buy a pad (or 2) lol.

I knew the grain satine was good so I didnt learn anything new about card/paper today but I did find out that distress inks seem to react with the albrecht drurer pencils and leave a depth of colour more reminiscent of copics than watercolours. I'm sure I'll be using the 2 together a lot more in the future.