I was delighted to see Altenew expand their watercolour range with their Watercolor Brush Markers. As soon as they were released, I immediately put in an order, and I am so excited to share my thoughts on them with you. I’ve linked all supplies at the end of this post. Compensated affiliate links used.
VIDEO
Watch below or in HD at YouTube.
ALTENEW WATERCOLOR BRUSH MARKERS
Let’s take a closer look at the markers and then below I have a card using them. Here’s the blurb from the back of the marker packet:
The barrel is filled with water-based color, and coordinateds with our line of inks. The flexible, yet sturdy bristles on the brush tip allow you to form both broad and fine strokes. Color can be applied straight from the marker, or diluted with water for a softer look.
So how did I find them? Firstly, I compared them to two other watercolour brush markers I have – Zig Clean Color Brush Markers and Nuvo Aqua Flow Pens. All three give beautiful results. I do, however, prefer the fine brush tips of the Altenew and Zig markers over the Nuvo marker. I particularly loved the effect of drawing the colour down with a wet paintbrush for the Altenew markers. I found that the watercolour in these markers really moved in the water and you got little rivulets of colour spreading down through the water.
To be honest, I’m not a fan of waterbrushes for water, preferring a normal paint brush to control the amount of water I’m using. However, watercolour in a waterbrush? Now that is an interesting idea. I swatched the ten colours out by stamping one of the Color Swatching sets from Waffle Flower in Versafine Onyx Black ink on Arches Cold Pressed watercolour card. In the top box for each colour, I used the brush directly and coloured in the rectangle. Next, I scribbled the marker on a glass mat and diluted with a brush and then painted the diluted colour into the second box down. Finally, for the largest box, I painted directly with the marker at the top edge of the box and then used a wet paintbrush to pull the colour down. This shows more of the colour variation that can be achieved with each marker.
Swatching out the colours like this allowed me to learn how the markers behave. I particularly loved the effect in the third box down – using the marker to draw a line and then pulling the colour down with a wet paintbrush. As noted above, the watercolour really moves, and you get that beautiful spread of colour through the water – love it! It is always worth the time to play with and experiment with new supplies before setting out on a project as I now had a better understanding of how they behaved and in particular the technique I wanted to use when colouring the flowers you see on the card I made with them.
SKETCHED FLOWERS
I’ve had the Sketched Flowers set from Simon Says Stamp since it was released with their October Card Kit and I’ve been dying to watercolour those pretty flowers and leaves! I stamped the full image on a piece of Arches Cold Pressed watercolour card sized to 5.5 x 7.5 inches so that I had plenty of room and could trim the piece down later on once I’d decided on how I wanted to present the watercolour on a card. I stamped the bouquet in Antique Linen Distress Ink – this is my favourite ink for no-line watercolouring as the light ink blends and merges with the watercolour and isn’t visible in the final piece. I attached the card to a board to prevent warping. Although I actually didn’t use that much water and so could have omitted this step – it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Using my experiments with swatching these markers, I drew with the fine tip of the marker in areas I expected there to be shadows – the base of a leaf or the intersection between petals and then drew out the watercolour with a wet paintbrush. The best way to get a grasp of this is to watch the video above if you haven’t done so already. Also in the video, I show how these watercolours can be mixed on a palette or equally on the card. I also talk about using complementary colours to tone down and knock back the colours slightly to fit with the season.
Once I’d finished watercolouring, I wasn’t happy with my swirly blooms. I find this front-on style of looking at a flower quiet tricky to colour if I’m honest and the Rubellite I was using for these particular flowers was quite intense in comparison to the rest of the bouquet. To fix this, I pulled out Faber Castell pencils and some white gouache and added touches to the flower to bring them to life more – never give up on a piece even when you aren’t happy with it as there is usually a way to rescue it!
I splattered the finished piece with a solution of Perfect Pearls, trimmed it down and mounted on a Neenah Desert Storm card base. I stamped a greeting from the Tiny Words set in clear embossing ink on Slate card and white heat embossed before trimming to a banner and mounting on the watercoloured panel. Finally, I accented with Pastel Paradise sequins from Little Things From Lucy’s Cards.
I hope you enjoyed this look at the Altenew Watercolor Brush Markers and using them with the Sketched Flowers set from Simon Says Stamp. I’m finding that I need to take things a little slower at present which will likely mean fewer posts per week than I have managed in the past, however, that slower pace means I can concentrate on providing the best content – so more videos and more in-depth product reviews. Hopefully, that is a win-win for everyone.
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.
|
PIN ME
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
I struggle with water coloring . It was very helpful to see and hear your water coloring process. Please do consider doing another longer video. Your card is beautiful. Thank you .
This was a very instructional video and i SO APPRECIATE that! long and detailed was GREAT for me : ) i have been water coloring for a little while, but usually use water color crayons and so this product is new to me and i will definitely consider buying them. thanks so much and your ART IS FANTASTIC! found you on Splitcoaststampers and followed the link.
This was a really great video on these watercolour markers. Thanks. It doesn’t matter to me how long your videos are – I watch them all!
Great video Debby, thanks for the comparison of the 3 watercolour brush markers. I love this gorgeous card you made and the tips you gave on the way doing it.
What a fabulous video and simply gorgeous card! I have recently purchased the Altenew watercolour markers and the SSS floral stamp but haven’t used them yet. Now I can’t wait to try them out! Thank you for the wonderful inspiration as always.
A wonderful card and helpful video. I always like watching your work, always more for me to learn, so longer is fine. I enjoy each of your blog posts greatly. Thank you!
As usual you card and video were inspired. Love the sentiment you have used.
Cheers
Lisa
This is such a beautiful stamp and a perfect size image for water colouring. The Altenew w/c brushes look amazing to work with. Debby, your card is simply stunning and I could watch you water colour all day. I especially love the look you achieve when w/c’ing your leaves, they are always so realistic looking, simply amazing to watch. Speaking of watching, the longer instructional videos are fine by me as I always learn so much when I watch you work. Thanks for that!
So beautiful. Those markers look great!