{Spotlight Project} Becca Watercolors a Rose

One of the images that's always been the hardest for me to color is a rose,  so I thought I'd do a little tutorial on how to watercolor one. 

Coloring a rose is all about choosing which areas need highlights and which areas would be shaded. Since a rose has so many different layers of petals, it can be hard to pinpoint which areas need the deepest colors.

In order to simplify, I chose to use 3 different colors for my shading.

I smooooooooshed Worn Lipstick (pink tone, lightest shade), Festive Berries (medium tone) and Candied Apple (darkest tone) onto a craft mat.

I stamped the rose from the Blossom Overture stamp set, wet my brush, and picked up the lightest shade.

Cover the whole image with the lightest shade and then add a second layer to the center panel.

Identify which areas of the petals are peeled back and make sure not to add any of the darker colors to those bits of the image. Then use the medium tone to darken the edges of each piece of the image. For the two center panels, the medium tone should extend halfway up from the bottom. Then add the darkest tone along the bottom.

I painted the leaves in two different shades of green, one brighter and one that was an olive tone. 

I added gray to the outside of the image. 

And then I used black soot to add splatters. 

Lastly, I finished the whole thing off with some Wink of Stella and a sentiment from the same set. 

Ready to watercoloring a go? Remember if you try out any of the techniques from our Spotlight posts and hook your project up at our Spotlight Project Showcase  you have a chance to win a $15 gift certificate (random drawing) OR your choice of 5x7 stamp set + a Spotlight Project guest designer spot (randomly drawn from the Top 3 picks).