It is almost embarrassing to write a tutorial on this because it’s so easy, but just in case someone hasn’t thought of doing it before, here goes.
The prettiest way to come up with a background in fresh spring colours is to use watercolours because they have such a transparent quality that immediately evokes the good weather and the growing season. But proper watercolour painting is beyond me, so I have come up with this easy method instead.
All you need is a good selection of watercolours in spring colours (I have about six shades of green, six blues and four yellows, but you may not need so many), some watercolour paper and a sponge.
Dip the sponge in water and squeeze out the excess. Use it to apply the lightest colour to the paper, swiping it across in big, liberal strokes. Rinse the sponge, choose another colour and repeat, making sure colours overlap a bit. Sponging will allow the colours to blend sofly and easily even when they are very different.
Continue adding colours until you like the result, then add ephemera, stamping, or whichever else you like to have on your backgrounds.
If you prefer your background to have some texture, gesso the watercolour paper before applying watercolours. It makes for a very unusual result.
One Comment
For someone who rarely paints and draws like myself, I would have never thought of how do this. Thanks for the tutorial.