Watercolor Gradients For Lettering Backgrounds

Bonnie has my new Kelly Creates Watercolor line in hand…and she has a really fun tutorial for you! Let’s learn how to do blocking, blending and gradients with the new Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks. Throw in some stamps, rub ons and lettering…for an inspirational card or home decor piece.

I’m excited to share some watercolour and lettering ideas with you, using the newest line of Kelly Creates products, but still incorporating many of the other supplies you may already have in your stash…so let’s go!

Kelly Creates Supplies: Deluxe Lettering Kit – pencil, Watercolor Lettering Project Pad – Paper, Watercolor Inks Set 1 Warm, Watercolor Inks Set 2 Cool, Watercolor Inks Set 3-White, Water brush, Watercolor Lettering Brush – #4, Stamp Sets – Floral Wreaths Set 2, Bouncy Inspirational Quotes, Rub Ons, Ink Pad and Block Stamping Kit, Small Black Brush Pen, Black Fineliners, Watercolor Palette

I took one piece of paper from the Kelly Creates Watercolor Lettering Project Pad and cut it into 4 pieces. Of course, you may work with any size you’d like for the project you have in mind.

Select the Kelly Creates Watercolor Inks of choice for the colour scheme you prefer, and place a few drops into the Kelly Creates Watercolor Palette.

I put the two colours I chose into the same well away from each other, but I intend to blend them so this works for me. If you’d rather, you can keep them in separate wells.

I used the pencil from the Deluxe Lettering Kit to lightly draw in some square and rectangle shapes, leaving a border between each of the shapes.

I then took the Watercolor Lettering brush and using clean water, I wet one block at a time.

It might be a good idea to practice on a scrap paper to get an idea of how much water is enough or too much. If you don’t have enough water, the colours wont blend into one another. Too much water, and you may end up with the paper pilling and creating little balls as the paper separates.

It does take a little practice but there is no better way to learn.

The first two watercolor inks I chose were Rose and Deep Yellow. Taking the Rose, I started to paint in the top of the square. You need to work fairly quickly so that you are working with a wet surface for blending.

Next I added the Deep Yellow to the opposite side of the rectangle, and from there I blend them together to create a gradient of colour. You can keep adding more colour if you’d like it to be darker.

Then you just continue with each block, deciding which direction you’d like to blend them. You could keep them all the same or change the direction of the gradient (top-bottom or side to side).

 
The next two colour combinations I did were Emerald and Deep Yellow, and then Cobalt and Teal.

I wanted to show you that you may experience some curling/warping of your paper from the amount of water being used on it. There are a number of ways to flatten your dry paper. Here is what I did: Once it is fully dry, turn it over and very lightly use a damp piece of paper towel and wet it lightly and carefully. As it dries it will curl the opposite way and begin to flatten out.

Another option would be to lightly mist the back of the paper with water and let dry. You can also place it between some heavy books for a bit. Repeat if needed.

Now here are my suggestions on how you can embellish these blocks in different ways.

The first is using Kelly Creates Rubs Ons. I chose the ones appropriate in size for the shapes I had. Cut the rub ons out (with the white backing paper) and place them where you want them. Remove the backing, and then use the stick provided to transfer them onto the paper.

For the next lettering blocks, I used the Kelly Creates Bouncy Lettering and Floral Icons Stamp Sets with the Ink Pad and Block Stamping Kit.

I also hand lettered a few words of my own and some random illustrations using Kelly Creates Black Fineliners to fill in some of the spaces.

For the last piece, I used the Kelly Creates Small Brush Pen and Black Fineliners to write in the quotes/words I wanted.

For a little extra touch, I pencilled in some waves and using the Kelly Creates White Ink, I painted in the wave shape using the Kelly Creates #4 paint brush. Plus I added a little shadowing on the underside of the white with a bit more Cobalt ink. NOTE: Dilute the white ink, which is a gouache, in your palette until you have the appropriate liquid thickness. It is quite thick in the bottle.

   There you have it! My hope for you once again is that you experiment with the Kelly Creates new and older products and see how you can use both to create something fresh and exciting.

For more artistic and lettering inspiration, follow Bonnie on Instagram @diamondandwillow and on Facebook “Diamond and Willow Artworks.”

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