The first time I saw Dave Brethauer’s book Stamp in Color, I was mesmerized. His use of vibrant colors was unlike anything I had ever seen. Did he really use watercolor paints? I bought the book that day. Unfortunately, I was too intimidated by his amazing samples to try a single project. Two years later, I bought the watercolor paints, selected a project and took the plunge! I followed the instructions to the letter and the results were astonishing. Beautiful and elegant, the sample looked difficult, but the technique was simple. From Dave I learn the secret to success with watercolor paints is learning to go with the flow. Watercolor techniques are not limited to paints. You can create lovely soft images using water-based markers on wet watercolor paper. Colored the stamp with water-based makers and stamp directly on wet watercolor paper. The images will immediately diffused into a shadowy image of the original stamp. Do you need a little more control over the color? Try watercolor crayons. Use watercolor crayons to color directly on the rubber stamp. Dampen the stamp before you apply the crayons and the colors will blend and smear. Spritz the stamp with a little more water and stamp on watercolor paper. Similar to stamping with markers on wet paper, the image will blur and soften. What remains is a lovely haze of color and shape. Wait! What about the fine details? Don’t worry; adding the details is painless. Ink the stamp with dye ink and use a stamp positioner to align the stamp over the watercolor image. When aligned properly, the second impression will add wonderful detail to the image. This is a fun technique that is sure to make your friends ask, “How did you do that?” Are you looking for a simple way to blend colors? Watercolors pencils and a damp paintbrush make blending colors a snap. Layer multiple colors on the image and blend; use two or three different shades of a single color to create shadows and depth. Once you have blended the colors and the paper has dried, you can add additional colors. A local artist shared a wonderful tip with me. When coloring an image with pencils or markers, do not color the image completely; always leave a few spaces with no color. When blending watercolors, allow the paintbrush to pull a little bit of the pigment into the uncolored space. This is another way to create subtle color changes.

Have you ever tried using watercolors on vellum? The water from a waterbrush or paintbrush often distorts the vellum. The Dove Blender pen is the perfect solution to this problem. The Dove Blender pen blends the colors as easily as a paintbrush, but the vellum retains its shape. This allows you to blend multiply layers of color without damaging or warping the vellum.

Whether you are using paints, markers, crayons or pencils, watercolors are a great way to add color to your projects. Take the plunge and get you feet wet with watercolors.