DIY Watercolor Wall Art

I got a pack of watercolors last year for Christmas and have been slowly been learning the language of this sort of art. Having just completed a couple of furniture projects over the past couple weeks (posts coming soon!), I figured it was time to start adding some personal pieces of decor towards the completion of my space. 

 For this project you will need:

• Watercolors paints, pallet, and brushes (I used Windsor and Newton paints and a #2 and #4 brush)

• 90lb+ Watercolor paper 

• Illustration Pen

• Frames to put your completed art in

1. The first thing you want to do is cut your paper to size. I do this by simply taking the back out of the frame and laying it over the paper to see where I need to cut it. One of my frames has a matte in it, so I needed to be sure to consider this when deciding where to start my picture on the page.

2. Depending on the length of the quote you are adding you can start one of two ways. For the Live Simply piece I blocked out the large flowers first and added in the text after the painting was finished. For the Adventurers piece I sketched out the text first to ensure that I had room and proper spacing and then built the foliage in around it.

3. Begin painting the foliage with the largest flowers and leaves. Experiment with mixing colors that are next to each other on the colour wheel, like pinks and reds, oranges and yellows, or blues and purples. White space is also your friend as it can add interest and dimension to your shapes.

4. As the layers of paint dry continue to fill in with additional foliage. Deepen colors to shade or add accent colors to leaves and flowers as you see fit. 

5. When blocking out text I always begin by writing with pencil (especially since my penmanship is terrible! haha). Make sure that you keep it light so that it can easily be erased after the ink is added.

6. After your paint has had time to dry begin to fill in your text using an illustration pen.

I start by outlining the letters once, and then go back and add additional lines on the curves and edges. 

7. Fill in the lines of your text until you reach the desired thickness

8. Review your piece and make sure that you are happy with the fullness of the foliage and how it frames the text. I found that I had too much white space in some areas and went back to add additional flowers and leaves.

9. Once your text is dry go over it with an eraser to remove any pencil lines that are visible.

There you have it! Beautiful personal wall art that you created yourself! 

Give it a try and let me know how it goes :) 

If you like it please share it ;)