Simon Says Stamp Friend Like You Release Night!

This post was sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. Thanks, Simon!

Hi friends! It’s release night for Simon Says Stamp, and it’s always an extra fun release when I have a new stamp set included! The new Friend Like You release features all kinds of fun summer-themed products, including my new Dahlia Background stamp. We have a local flower farmer who has the most exquisite dahlia blooms, and I always look forward to seeing her colorful photos on Facebook from which to draw inspiration! I created this 6×6 background stamp with colorists in mind, though as I will show you in future projects, you can easily use this background stamp on it’s own because of the level of detail. For tonight, though, I thought I would share an intricate watercolored piece that I framed to display in it’s entirety. Let’s get started with the details on my project!

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I stamped the entirety of the Dahlia Background image on a panel of Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper using Hero Arts Contour Ink, which is my favorite ink for no-line watercolor and alcohol marker coloring. Because this particular watercolor cardstock has such deep texture, I found it necessary to stamp the pale gray Contour Ink multiple times to achieve a crisp, easily visible impression. The detailed nature of the illustration makes it handy to use a MISTI Stamping Platform with a pressure tool to achieve even pressure on the stamp so as to avoid any bare spots.

Before I began watercoloring, I taped my stamped panel down to my watercolor board. My particular board was built for me by my husband, but you can use a simple cutting board; I have an inexpensive bamboo cutting board that I found at TJ Maxx for only a few dollars that works perfectly! This stiff board allows me to add as much water to my watercolor paper as I need without worrying about the paper warping. I selected three different shades of pink from my Daniel Smith Watercolor palette, as well as a cool evergreen. I wanted to challenge myself to keep this painting simple, using only one color per bloom while still trying to achieve the detailed contrast and shape for which I strive on all of my paintings. I was able to achieve this level of detail by varying the amount of water that I used for dilution on each layer; I began with extremely diluted paint, basically adding a subtle wash of color to each petal and blurring the edges of even that pale wash by cleaning my brush and using the clean, damp paintbrush to fade the color away completely.

With each new layer, I added a bit more concentration of paint to my brush, intensifying the color and keeping it at it’s most intense towards the center of the blooms. To achieve the definition of each petal, I made sure to keep each petal separate while wet, working in sections that were not adjacent to avoid the wet paint blooming into the next petal. Water seeks water when working on watercolor paper, so keeping that distance between each damp petal is key to maintaining that definition and crispness on the edges. After my painting had dried completely, I removed my painter’s tape and trimmed the edges using my guillotine trimmer to make a nice, crisp cut line. I mounted the panel in an 8×8 inch frame, using a white mat around the edges to allow the bold and vibrant florals to pop from the background!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I have a wide variety of inspiration to share with you using these new goodies from the Friend Like You release, but I of course couldn’t wait to share my newest illustration here on my blog. It’s such a thrill to see my designs come to life in stamp form, not to mention seeing what other crafters create with them! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!