I thought today I’d share my recent experiences of thinking more about the colour palette I use on a card. I must admit that as often as not I reach for a favourite colour and just start and then halfway through I get stuck as to what other colours to use. I find this, often when colouring a multi flower arrangement, where I start with a favourite pinky peach colour and then get a bit stumped further along. So for this card using the beautiful Friendly Florals set from Neat & Tangled I purposely set out at the beginning to choose my colours carefully before I actually started. In the end, I created a colour swatch with the colours I planned to use to help me stay on plan. I suggest keeping a Pinterest board of colour combinations you find inspiring and then you’ve always got a wealth of possibilities when you sit down to create. Here’s my Pinterest Colour board. I’ve linked all supplies at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used.
So with a colour scheme in mind, I sat down to make this card. I stamped a range of images from the Friendly Florals set in Antique Linen Distress Ink on Arches Cold Pressed watercolour card and then used Daniel Smith watercolours to paint. I used dilute mixes of colours to give the muted colour scheme I was after and to ensure the colours went well together I used a few of the same colours in the mixes. So for the blue flowers, I used Ultramarine Blue mixed with Sepia, but I also used Sepia when mixing with Undersea Green for the leaves. I used Undersea Green again with Quinacridone Violet to dull down the purple mixture a little. For the large pinky peach flowers I used Quinacridone Rose with a touch of Quinacridone Gold but equally for the rich yellow flowers I used the same two paints but this time more Quinacridone Gold than Quinacridone Rose.
I’ve had a number of enquiries about the brushes I like to use. Recently I splurged on a set of Escoda travel brushes (see supply thumbnails for more options) which I am in love with! This set did not come cheap but I watercolour a lot and I count these brushes as an investment. You can get the brushes individually, for the size to paint on cards I would recommend a size 4 and a size 2. At a better price point but also ones I really like are the Princeton brushes, I have size 1, size 3 and size 6 as well as a couple of bigger brushes for when painting a larger canvas.
After I finished painting, I used a Faber Castell pencil and a white gel pen to add details to the flower centres.
For the sentiment, I stamped a greeting from the No Words set in Clear Embossing Ink, sprinkled with Antique Gold embossing powder and heat set. I also stamped a coordinating sentiment from the No Words set on Slate card and white heat embossed before trimming to a banner and adding with foam adhesive below the gold embossed sentiment. I mounted the finished panel on a Desert Storm card base and accented with Pretty In Pink sequins.
I’m certainly going to keep creating swatches, be it watercolour or any other media, before starting a card, and I’m planning on keeping the swatches too for future reference.
SUPPLIES
You can find links to the supplies I’ve used below; click on the picture or shop icon to get taken directly to the product. Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read my affiliate and product disclosure here. I genuinely appreciate your support.
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Summary of the project which gives all the views of the card in one photo :D I’d love if you pinned and called by on Pinterest :D
Such a gorgeous card, Debby! I have been loving your posts about color, mixing and this one on choosing a palette to begin with. I’ll be pressing your Pinterest board some more!
This is so beautiful, Debby. I usually just start painting without thinking, so it’s good to see a planned approach.
Just an amazing artist
I really enjoyed this post Debby! I love that you added in the COLOR SWATCHES for your project. Please do this more, just gorgeous. It’s so funny but I love seeing the swatched colors as much as the watercolored flowers, LOL!!! Beautiful work Debby!
Swatches are beautiful in themselves aren’t they Tami!
Some great tips in your post and the card is simply breathtaking!
That is an outstanding card. Your colors mesmerize me. Thank you for the detailed instruction on how this card came together. Neat and tangled “friendly florals” is a huge winner because of this card!