FunWithWatercolorCrayonsClass

SAMPLES: There are five gorgeous samples to view.

SUPPLIES NEEDED:
The only supplies needed are paper (I used Beckett Expression for the samples, but watercolor paper is great), stamps, a fine mist spray bottle of water and of course, the watercolor crayons. I used the Lyra brand, but I think there are some others available.

PART I
1. As you can see from the examples, the technique works on a variety of different stamps. In most cases I start with the lightest color I have chosen and color the entire stamp. From there I keep building and blending layers of color. Keep in mind where the shading would be. I usually go over this with some of the lightest color to help blend. This is not a neat or precise process....just
make sure the entire stamp is colored.
2. Next you lightly spritz the stamp with water. It usually takes two or three spritzes. This is the only tricky part. If you don't get enough water, your image won't stamp properly and if you get too much it blurs. I usually do a trial run with each stamp to test the amount of water needed.
3. It's fun and easy to vary the colors and the look with this technique. On the samples, I've tried to show some of the variety:
4. Some of the pears are shaded with green and some with red. I used at least two shades of yellow, a shade of orange, then two different shades of either red or green.
5. The fish can be colorful shades of blues and purples and pinks or more realistic using greys and greens. I used different combinations of blues, purples and teals on the sample card and varied the order I applied the color.
6. The leaves can be summery greens or fall colors. I chose different shades of green for some and shades of brown, rust and dark gold colors for the others, just kind of applying randomly after putting on the initial layer of the lighter color (or the primary color you want to show through).
7. The sun was obviously just done with shades of yellows, orange and rust blended in, with the rust used to emphasize the features on the face.
8. The little bird is kind of a whimsical little guy and I tried him in several different combinations and he looked good in anything!

So, that's all there is to it. I also have a couple other ideas for the crayons....I'll send in a separate post.

PART II
A couple other things to do is using this same technique on watercolor paper, after you've stamped the image, you kind of go around the outline of the image with a stylus. Then turn the paper over and push the back of the image out slowly and grafually, keeping the paper moist by spraying. It's hard to describe, but it is like paper sculpturing.

Also, I have a scan of a page MaryJo McGraw did in one of my Art Continuum journals using the crayons. She took several colors and literally scribbled on the paper, then stamped collage type images over this. She colored and shaded some of the images, then covered the whole thing with Diamond Glaze. If you've ever seen her work, you can imagine the next step. She smears it
around (lightly) with her fingers til the whole image is covered...then just let it dry. Looks very cool. I should have done a sample with this technique too.

A special thanks to Jay Warner, for her contribution to this class.