Red Poppies
Posted: March 11, 2015 Filed under: Blooming Garden, Watercolour | Tags: Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Penny Black stamps 9 Comments
More poppies. I thought it might be fun to try a few different techniques with the same stamp, especially such a pretty stamp. In some ways outline stamps such as this one are more versatile than brushstroke or silhouette stamps. On my previous card I used the outline of the poppy as a guide for my watercolour painting. On this card the embossed outline is a fence to contain the watercolouring. I have a new set of Gansai Tambi watercolour paints that I am experimenting with so painting within the lines seemed to be a safe way to start.
I stamped in black and embossed in clear powder on watercolour paper. I chose a pinky red and an orange red for the petals, laying down the pinky red first over the whole petal then adding the orange red from the centre. I used an olive green and a brown to fill the seed pods. I decided to paint over the flowers with masking fluid while I painted the blue panel which was probably not necessary considering I had the embossing to fence in the colour. Once the masking fluid was dry I ruled a rectangle around the image letting a few petals extend over the edge. My pencil lines were my guide for painting the blue background. When it was all dry I peeled the masking fluid off and discovered it had absorbed a lot of the colour from the petals. I’m not sure why this happened so I will experiment further with paper, paints and different masking fluids. But for this panel I just added more colour and carried on. To finish I added a little sentiment on the side and popped up the panel on a cream card base.
I have created a few projects with the new watercolours now and I am really enjoying both the choice and the richness of the colours.
I’m not sure if I will follow this post with another poppy project; I have been wanting to play along with the current One Layer Simplicity challenge so we will have to see where the inspiration hits first.
Supplies:
Stamps: Blooming Garden, Snippets (PB)
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko)
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper, Neenah Classic Crest Natural White 110lb smooth
Also: Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36 Watercolor Set
Heather Telford 
I really like how you show different ways to use a stamp.
I love!!! the background mottled blues, and the poppies extending out past the border. So dramatic! My water color backgrounds are so much more interesting since I’ve seen yours, but I don’t get your drama–not yet. Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful creations.
love this card..thanks for sharing your technique..
Wonderful watercolouring! Love the border. I have bought these paints but haven’t been brave enough to try them yet! I must, the colours look awesome! xxx
thanks for pulling out this stamp set and giving us some new ideas, Good job!
More delicious poppies Heather in lovely robust colours and the blue background goes really well. A beautiful card. x
I like this a lot — the poppies look great this way, too. I have heard many good things about the Gansai watercolours, and will be interested to hear what you think as you use them more.
[…] each design. In the first one, Pink Poppies I worked slowly with a fairly small brush, the second, Red Poppies, my brush work was looser but still contained by embossed borders. In this one I stayed mostly […]
[…] colouring challenge. If you haven’t seen my first three, here are the links: Pink Poppies, Red Poppies and Orange Poppies. I don’t think I have ever done blue poppies but Penny Ward has in this […]