Welcome to The Marigold Fold.
I know February is a short month, but March really snuck up on me! It wasn’t until I was watching a Plant Based Bride’s (fellow Canadian!) plan with me did I realize March was 2 days away, and I needed to plan too!
March is an odd month in Alberta. The days are getting longer and the weather is getting warmer, but there’s still snow on the ground with temperatures in the negative double digits. I think of March as a month of anticipation: for warmer weather, longer days and more sunlight.
This months theme was inspired by a photo from a french blog post for various methods to upcycle your jeans on the blog Marimerveille .
I loved the whimsical feeling it brought me and was of course obsessed that it was made of fabric. Rather than building myself an upcycled cloud head piece, I decided to integrate this imagery into my March spread.
I‘ve recently become obsessed with the French culinary phrase “mise en place” so let’s gather what we need for this cloud-centric spread!
I used:
- Faber Castell watercolour pencils
- Archer & Olive acrylograph cool fall collection - I used the blues from this set
- inexpensive watercolour brush
- jar of water*
- Stabilo 88 Fineliner in olive green
- Uniball gel ink pen in gold
- bullet journal or other paper - I’m using a custom journal from Maisie Lane here
This was a challenge for me! I planned to use only acrylographs but was really losing patience with a 0.7mm tip. Then a long forgotten set of watercolour pencils presented itself to me as if my magic - they were perfect!
I used 3 techniques with my watercolour pencils:
1. Wet on Dry
wet brush on dry pencil
pros: very simple, light wash of colour, can add a bit of texture
cons: requires a lot of double dipping into water to keep smudging the colour, light wash of colour, takes a lot of layering to build up colour, very little depth
I exemplify this in my video and it’s very easy.
How to:
Draw something with your dry watercolour pencil, then smudge the colour with a wet brush. A pro and a con is this has a very light wash of colour.
2. Wet on Wet
wet brush on wet pencil
pros: higher level of intensity then method 1.
cons: easy to go too much, too soon.
This was a fun way to force myself to build up my colour faster. This is also my top method for adding a lot of pigment with a lot of play area, meaning the colour is intense but there’s lots of water to blend it into submission. You can get some fun depth of colour and beautiful layering with this method.
How to:
Start by dipping your pencil in water. Then either:
a. Load wet brush with colour from the wet pencil and apply to the paper. OR
b. Apply your wet pencil directly to the paper for the most intensity.
3. Dry on Wet
dry brush on wet pencil
pros: very intense, can get more texture
cons: hard to control, less blend-ability than the other two methods.
If you choose to use this method, I’d recommend using a smaller brush and doing detail work only with this method because It very intense colour payoff. This is the closest you will get to working right off of a palette of paint with a dry brush, but in this case your pencil is your palette.
How to:
Dry your brush on some paper towel. If you’re using smaller brushes, this won’t take long. Then dip your pencil into water. Then either: a. Load dry brush with colour from the wet pencil and apply to the paper. OR
b. Apply your wet pencil directly to the paper for the most intensity.
2b and 3b are the same, but if you choose to go in with a wet or dry brush overtop, that’s where youll see the most difference in the techniques.
No matter what technique or combination of techniques you choose, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to play and to remember that everything you do is an opportunity to learn! Happy planning!
*I reuse my watercolour water all the time. The jar you see here is from the last couple of months. I like to do this because it’s lower waste and when I use gold paints, those reflects stay in the water and add a bit of sparkle to whatever I paint with that water.
#marchplanwithme #bujocommunity #miseenplace #clouds #sky #whimsical #watercolorpencils #uniball #stabilo #archerandolive #maisielane