Watercolour Wash

Hi everyone.  A few weeks ago I got together with some crafty friends and we tried all kinds of watercolour techniques and mediums.  This is one of the projects we did that day, and I finally got it made into a card.  :)

We did watercolour wash with Peerless Watercolors.  I don't know if you're familiar, but they come in several forms, including a small booklet.  They have small sheets (approx 6 1/2" x 2 1/2") of each of fourteen colours.  They are dry, but as soon as you touch them with a wet brush, you brush will be filled with gorgeous watercolour pigments.  They would be great for doing crafts when you are traveling, as you only have to bring along your brushes and the booklet.

Here's what they look like ...

I used two colours (Sky Blue and Dark Blue) for the background wash.  First, I heat embossed the image of two trees and falling snow in white.  Then taped my watercolour paper down to a clip board using painter's tape.  This keeps it from warping.  Used a sponge brush to add lots of water to the paper ... you should be able to see a sheen of wet.  Picked up the first colour with a wet brush and made large gestural strokes.  The second colour was added with a wet brush filling in some of the areas without colour along with overlapping a small amount of the first colour.  Then I tipped my clipboard, letting the colour and water run.  This created the design above.  Also sprinkled kosher salt over top and let it dry completely before brushing away the residue.  The salt pushes the colour away and created small starbursts.  Very cool!

To finish the card, I tore two pieces of white card stock for snow drifts, splattered diluted white acrylic paint over everything and let it dry before stamping my sentiment.

I used snippets for my torn snowdrifts, so I'm heading over for some fun at the Snippets Playground.  Also entering this into the AAA #66 - Watercolour challenge.  I think this is my fourth entry --- can you tell I love to play with watercolours?! :)

Thanks for coming by for a visit!

Edited to Add:  I should have included a link to this wonderful wash tutorial by Gina Kim.  I followed her steps exactly and ended up with the card above.  Thanks to Gina for sharing her expertise on YouTube.

Stamps:  Snowdust (Penny Black); Sentiment - Christmas Bell Medley (dee's artsy impressions)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb.); Watercolour card front (Arches 140 lb. cold press)
Ink:  Versamark; Sky Blue, Dark Blue (Peerless Watercolors)
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder, heat tool, brushes, salt

Challenges:
Snippet Playground - Week 233
AAA Cards #66 - Watercolour