Watercolor BLOCK, paintbrush, artist pencils, archival pen, and coffee.





Pencil and ink applied to coffee-stained watercolor paper.





Materials needed:

Coffee, Tea or Wine

Watercolor paper (I prefer 140 lb weight + using a BLOCK)

Watercolor brushes

Artist pencils

Archival pens

Etching tool (optional)

Lint-free cloth for blotting (optional)

Utility knife and rule for trimming paper (optional)

1. Choose a watercolor paper

It is hard to avoid even slight paper warping when working with watercolors, but I've recently discovered watercolor BLOCKs (stacks of papers glued on all four sides) that are a fantastic option and alternative to traditional watercolor paper stretching techniques. To minimize warping, leave your painting on the block until the colorants dry before removing.





Experiment with coffee, tea, or wine. Apply colorants individually or combine to create a unique color.





2. Apply the colorant of your choice . This is my favorite part of the process! I begin by dipping my paintbrush in the colorant, in this case coffee, and outline the area I want to paint. I try very hard not to draw straight lines because I love the look of tattered edges.

Applying the first wash of coffee -- intentionally leaving white borders.

As expected, the watercolor BLOCK with colorant becomes slightly warped.

Blotting:

Leave stained paper on BLOCK until dry to avoid major warping.

3. Begin drawing your picture or pattern

Artist pencils, archival pen and coffee-stained watercolor paper.

I began with a pencil to sketch a pattern.





I used an archival pen to highlight the single shape that's positioned differently.

Etching:

An example of etching on a different drawing: I scraped the same inked leaf design into the paper with an etching scribe.

4. Trimming and framing.

I trimmed away excess paper using a ruler and rotary wheel cutter.









Here is the finished artwork:

Finished paper size is 8"x10"; image size is approximately 6"x8".





Artwork with white borders fits nicely in an 8"x10" frame.





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Mandy lives with her family in Seattle and has an affinity for the old ways. When creating her shop name she immediately thought of her great-grandparents and their parents who homesteaded in the early 1900s on the prairies of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. "weathered silo" pays tribute to her ancestor's resilience and resourceful ways of living off the sometimes unforgiving land and it's untamed beauty. Visit her at Poppytalk Handmde this month Guest art tutorial by Mandy Behrens of weathered silo Mandy lives with her family in Seattle and has an affinity for the old ways. When creating her shop name she immediately thought of her great-grandparents and their parents who homesteaded in the early 1900s on the prairies of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. "weathered silo" pays tribute to her ancestor's resilience and resourceful ways of living off the sometimes unforgiving land and it's untamed beauty. Visit her at Poppytalk Handmde this month here where she sells similar staining technique original drawings or online at the links below:

shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/weatheredsilo website: http://weatheredsilo.blogspot.com/ twitter: http://twitter.com/weatheredsilo .....................................................





. This will depend on the design aesthetic you're going for. I prefer the heavier weighted papers (140 lb. or 300 lb.) because I love the way they feel and they can handle more manipulation (see "Etching" below). I also opt for Cold Press, a slightly textured surface, to trap the colorant in random patterns.Next, I glide my brush across the paper being careful not to overwork the wash of colorant (very easy to do!) Try to resist the urge to apply additional washes of colorant until after the first application has dried because that is when you will see where additional splashes of colorant may or may not enhance your work.I find that some of my best outcomes are those where I've intentionally left some areas drier or lighter in color. You can also achieve this effect by blotting your paper with a lint-free cloth.. My personal choice is to use a combination of pencils and archival inks to create my drawings, but you may prefer to use a combination of acrylics, gouache, oils, pastels, or calligraphy ink to complete your art--the possibilities are limitless!For added dimension, I sometimes scrape patterns onto the dried colorant area of my paper using an etching scribe. You can achieve the same look with a wooden bamboo skewer or other sharp artist's tool on hand. Unless you're going for a look that incorporates holes, I recommend practicing this technique on some scraps of paper first.The watercolor BLOCK paper I used was 9"x12" but I wanted to create a drawing that could be slipped into an 8"x10" frame for quick display. I used a ruler and a rotary wheel to trim the paper to 8"x10".I recommend framing your artwork behind glass and avoiding displaying it in direct sunlight to avoid fading.Thanks for allowing me to share this technique with you. I can't wait to see what you create!