Applying Special Effects to Watercolor

In addition to adding salt, there are several ways you can bling up your watercolors. The Halloween image has several, almost making it gaudy, but then, Halloween often is...maybe that is why I like it, fun and gaudy!

You can see the background was done wet into wet, with colors mixing. While the wash was wet, salt was added so you can see little white spots where the salt absorbed the pigment.

Also used was water embossing, on their candy containers. Then to make them stand out even more, I added the clear shiny dimensional stuff....there are several brands. That makes them really stand out.

Also, on the "vapors" slinking it's way through the trick or treaters, I added glitter glue. I think glitter is such a great addition in small doses. Usually in life, I adhere to the philosophy that more is better but with glitter, I believe less is more. Just like powdered pigments, it can be overdone.

Speaking of powdered pigments (sparkly paints), I have several examples of those, but they are hard to photograph and capture that sparkle. Some people like to paint the entire image in sparkly paints, but I prefer to begin with a base of regular paint and then add the sparkle as an accent.

The owl's eyes were water embossed and then dimensional glaze added. This stuff works great for anything that would reflect light, producing a shine. I had forgotten about that darling little owl punch that also embosses. I am going to have to get him out to go with the new owl stamp I ordered this week from Inkadinkado. You know, EK Success Brands has a new website where you can shop from all the EK Success brands at once. www.eksuccessbrands.com.
The owl is from Martha Stewart Crafts, which is one of the EK Success Brands. They do, by far, make the BEST punches!

The violets above and morning glories below were both done with watercolor crayons. That adds to a softer look than stamping with ink. In the center of the violets, I added a touch of glitter glue for the flower centers. You can also see some more spattering.

You might have to click on the photo of the morning glory to see the drops of dimensional glaze stuff to look like dew drops.

Again, all these images are from Serendipity Stamps. Let me know if you have any questions. I like to have comments and I can always count on my friend, Jan Castle, to leave a comment. She is a wonderful artists and wins enough ribbons at the fair that I tell her that she could wallpaper with them! We have never met in person, but feel like we know each other! Thanks, Jan!