All 26 Floral Alphabet Watercolors

Creating this set of watercolors was a lot of fun. First, I designed them all and traced them onto watercolor paper - but once that part was done, they were quick and relatively easy (especially once I got my preferred procedure down pat). I could just tape down the ones I wanted to finished, do a couple of quick watercolor layers across them all, wait an hour or two for those initial layers to dry, and then go back through with the second pass, darkening the blue-violet backgrounds and adding more layers of color to the pink, yellow, blue, and green floral parts. It was a great way to feel some instant gratification - if I felt rather unaccomplished that week, all I had to do was sit down for two short bursts of creative expression, and then end up with several small, completed watercolor paintings.

My plan all along was to scan these paintings into my computer and print them on blank notecards, one letter per card, so that someone could purchase a set of cards with their initial on them. My next blog post will be all about those notecard sets, but because I was so happy with the way these paintings turned out, I wanted to do one more post about the paintings themselves first.

Here are all 26 completed paintings, from A to Z. It was difficult to get a photograph of all 26 at once (they barely fit on my table at all, and certainly not without covering many of the details underneath other paintings), but I did my best. :) Which one is your favorite letter?

Floral Alphabet Watercolors - Y & Z

My last two paintings in this series were (naturally) the letters Y and Z. As with my earlier paintings, I started with an ink outline of the letters and abstract flowers.

Next, I added a light layer of pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple, letting the color "leak" into the background in a few spots to give it a painterly feel.

I then added pink and yellow paint splatter to each painting.

I darkened the blue-violet areas of the letters next, following up with more pink, yellow, and blue on strategic flowers, and more green on the leaves, to give it a stained glass abstract look.

Because I worked on letters W-Z at the same time, they were all finished and drying together. Here are all four paintings, still taped down while they dry.

And here are the last two letters, finally finished! Once they were dry, I untaped them and signed them.

My plan all along with these was to scan them into my computer and use them as designs for the fronts of blank notecards. I always loved buying things with my initial "A" and I thought others might enjoy picking out their initials as well, and seeing their initial printed on blank stationery.

My next blog post will be photos of all 26 finished paintings; the blog post after that will be about the notecard sets I created with them.

Floral Alphabet Watercolor - W & X

I recently finished up the last four letters of this floral alphabet watercolor set. Scroll down to see more "in progress" pics of letters W & X.

I started with an ink outline of the two letters, which I taped down to keep steady while I painted. Then I added some light pink, yellow, green, blue, and violet for an initial first layer.

Next, I splattered each painting with yellow and pink watercolor paint.

Finally, I darkened the letters (and the flowers inside) by adding more layers of paint. I started with the blue-violet background, then added more green to the leaves and more pink and yellow and blue to the flowers - and then finished with a bit of touching up on the blue-violet background, to make sure I got it as dark as I wanted for that pop of contrast.

Here are the two finished paintings, once they were dry, untaped, and signed.

Only two more letters to go!

Floral Alphabet Watercolors - U & V

I'm reaching the end of the alphabet - which means I'm approaching the end of this watercolor series. Today's post is all about the letters U and V.

As with my earlier paintings, I started with an ink outline of the letters and abstract flowers - and then added a light wash of color to "color block" how the finished pieces would look. I mostly kept the colors inside the ink outlines, but chose strategic areas to let the water and paint blend into the white paper background a bit.

Next, I darkened the non-floral parts of the letters with blue and violet paint. I then splattered pink and yellow across each painting.

Finally, I added more pink, yellow, blue, and green to the floral parts of the letters, as well as further darkened the blue-violet areas.

I was working on letters Q-V at the same time. Here are all six of these letters, finished but not quite dry yet, still taped down.

And here are the letters U and V - finished, dried, untaped, and signed.