Coloring Cards

Good Morning...I'm sitting here in my window looking at a pile of cold snow...I do love snow, it's pretty and so peaceful when it's falling, but once it's down on the ground I would like it to go away. I know...... it doesn't work that way. One of the things I've been trying to catch up on during these long winter months is doing something with all the Eco printing I did last fall. The trees are naked... so nothing to print with...now.

On many of the prints I did I used color overlays to give the background some color. It's easy peasy to lay a sheet of colored or Origami paper over the leaf while printing. Make sure it's not a fugitive paper which means the color won't last. For example, colored tissue paper is fugitive so not a good thing to use. The leaf was also traced around with a Pigma pen...giving it more definition. I used watercolor pencils to do some shading. You can see the pencil lines in the upper right corner.

and here

and very obviously here, using 2 different colored pencils. They do look unfinished but once you add a drop of water...

They blend out so well.

The are some droplets from the printing process in close to the leaf (above), but adding color makes them look intentional. I use a small round tip brush and a little cup of water. I dip the brush in, shake off or blot the excess and apply to the pencil lines. The water turns it into water color paint. 

I use Derwent watercolor 72 because I always wanted the big super duper size box of Crayola's and never got them...so this in fact serves another purpose besides lots of color choices...that of fulfilling a childhood fantasy...except they don't have the smell of a new box of crayons....

Well....back on track...here is a before and after of a leaf in the process of developing some personality. First the pencil markings...can use several colors...

then blending it with water.

Here is another one using several colors and also some color enhancement on the leaf itself.

Here is a"before" but don't have the after but it was a very soft colored leaf ...it needed a little oomf.

Another using purple and needs the water to make it complete.

 This is a finished one, 2 different watercolor penciles, outlined with a pigma pen, torn edges on the paper before printing and burnt edges with a wood burning tool before mounting on a card. And the nice thing about this is that if you have some "not so great" prints, they can often be saved with a little embellishing!

Have a great day...stay warm.