Watercolor using Zig Clean Color Markers

I think this card makes a big impact, but believe me when I say it was pretty easy to make. I started with a stamped image using a water-safe black ink. I used Strathmore 5x7 watercolor card. Using only a few markers and a water filled brush, I was able to color in these beautiful flowers! Zig Clean Color markers used:070 Orange, 023 Scarlet Red,052 Bright Yellow, 060 Brown, 041 Light Green, 010 Black, 091 Light Gray On the flowers, I used two shades of orange and then added additional depth and shadowing using a bit of the brown marker. 

 

For the leaves, I used just one shade of green. I was able to add some depth to the shade of green by simply mixing in a bit of black ink. I scribbled both the green and black markers on a clear acrylic block and then mixed them with my paint brush.

To add even more depth to the image as a whole, I played with some shadowing using the Light Gray marker around one side of the image. I spread out the ink using the water brush to blend it into the watercolor cardstock.

Finally, for my sentiment, I die cut the word "thankful" from a scrap of watercolor cardstock. I painted the bottom half of the die cut with the black marker and then used the water brush to spread the ink to the tops of the letters.

I adhered my sentiment using a strong adhesive. This step is important because the texture on the watercolor paper needs a strong adhesive to stay in place.

I love how it turned out. I will admit that I experimented with hand-lettering the sentiment. The Clean Color markers with the real brush are great for lettering, but my skills are a bit lacking, so I chickened out. I opted for a die that gave me the look I was going for! Have you jumped on the watercolor trend in your crafting?