Using Water Colours

I find the day job really satisfying but boy, does it eat into my creative time and sap my creative energy!

And then that old adversary insomnia popped back this week - so that's me wiped out then.

What's a girl to do?  Why - wander the web of course.

I have a week in Italy planned for the beginning of September and I am getting more determined to start creating little travel journals. I dabbled last year, when I was in Spain, but it was just that, a dabble. This year I want to be much more creative while I am away.

Watercolours travel well. They are small and compact and I do like the effect that you can create with them.  So I have been doing a bit more research.

And first up I found this from The Frugal Crafter. Boy can she talk! If you can get over the chitter chatter then it is fascinating to see how she builds up the picture. Little things like "start with wet paper and a big brush and move to dry paper and a smaller brush" - a little gem of a tip! That is something I can remember.

And her use of a sponge and paper towel to help create the texture - another brilliant tip. She dabs away at the wet paper to marvelous effect.

What I love about this is that it is not a masterpiece - I would not want this on my wall, but perfect for a sketchbook.

Next up I found this. Again using watercolour, but a very different approach. Not so useful for a little travel journal - I am not taking stencils and a pot of gesso with me - but nevertheless a usefull technique for a creating backgrounds. One to try for some textured background papers I think.

In the meantime, I have been a bit busy doing a spot of dressmaking. I will share that in my next post.