Watercolor pencil tutorial

I have another My Creative Scrapbook Main Kit project to share. I've been noticing lots of watercolor paper craft projects on Pinterest lately, and it's inspired me to play around with watercolors myself. 

I prepared a quick little tutorial on a basic watercolor technique.  There are several watercolor mediums you can use: watercolor paints, water soluble pigment sticks, watercolor crayons or pencils, and watercolor papers (like the Peerless ones). Watercolor mediums that require water work best with watercolor paper, but you can use regular patterned paper and cardstock as well (just be prepared for a little warping).

I’m going to show you how I used watercolor pencils to create the watercolor background on my  layout. Watercolor pencils look like normal colored pencils, but when water is added to them, they give the beautiful appearance of watercolors. I bought my watercolor pencils individually at my local art store. That way I was able to choose colors that “sang” to me, rather than be limited to the colors that come in watercolor pencil sets.

1. I gathered my paper, watercolor pencils, and a water brush. If you don’t have a water brush, a paintbrush will do.

2. I drew circles with the watercolor pencils.

3. Using the watercolor brush, I added water to the colored circles.

4. Once I finished my first go-around on the circles and let them dry a bit, I went back and added a little more intense color around the edges of the circles. I added a little more water to blend the color. This was the finished result.

5. With all the water added, the paper warped quite a bit. To diminish the warping, I adhered my watercolored paper to a piece of heavy cardstock, then I placed it under something flat and heavy overnight.  And voila . . . vibrant color!