Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums. It can be kind of confusing at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really fun to work with.
I recently dug my watercolors out and decided to experiment a bit for a friend’s birthday card. I’ve never made a birthday card, but became inspired by some I found on Pinterest.
I didn’t have high expectations when I began, but the results weren’t too shabby!
When using water color, it’s good to block out parts of the photo that you would like to highlight. I did not have any blocking agent, like Frisket, so I applied Scotch tape and used an Xacto knife to cut around the parts I wanted highlighted.
For this card, I blocked out his whiskers, parts of his ears, his eyes, and some parts around his eyes and neck.
One of biggest things to be aware of is you cannot manipulate watercolor as much as you can with acrylic or oil. Saturate the part of the painting you would like to work with, put a bit of color down , and let it go where it wants to.
I loved working with watercolor again so I kept going with it….
I had bought a few cheap canvases (about $4 each woo!) a few weeks ago and had been dying to use them. Lots of sites said not to use watercolor on canvas, but these weren’t super sealed like most are. These canvases had more of a rough, linen feel that I thought would soak up watercolor in a unique way.
I’ve been an avid birdwatcher / lover since I was little, which I thank my grandfather for. He taught me all the names of the birds that frequented his bird feeder, and it’s something I’ve been interested in ever since. In the process of (still) trying to incorporate meaningful art into my living space, I took a gander (pun intended) at how to place birds into such. In true Portlandia style, I have attempted to use watercolor on the canvases and this is how it turned out!
We all know that wall art can be obnoxiously expensive, and sometimes we don’t want to put chevron stripes on everything. Sorry, but I am soo ready for that trend to end.
Go for something different, you just might surprise yourself!
the yarn identity 
