Susie Short - Painting Holiday Cards with Watercolors

Susie Short - Painting Holiday Cards with Watercolors

Recently one of our FREE “How To” Art demos at the DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store was Painting Holiday Cards in Watercolor with Susie Short.

 
As always with Susie’s demos, there were a lot of people there to see what “Susie Tips” would be shared to make gorgeous (and easy!) Holiday Cards.  Susie had out on display, two large boards with nearly 50 different Holiday cards that she had painted.  On the right were the winter snow scenes of trees, and on the left were her poinsettia cards plus a few other designs.  Through out the demo Susie asked everyone which card they would like her to show everyone how to do.
 
Susie Short with her Handmade Holiday Cards painted with DANIEL SMITH Watercolors on display at the demo.

Susie Short with her Handmade Holiday Cards painted with DANIEL SMITH Watercolors on display at the demo.

On Susie’s website, you can see many of her card designs there, and wonderful tutorials with her “Susie’s Watercolor Tips“.  While Susie was showing us how to paint watercolor cards of different kind of trees in the snow, she told us to check out her online tips for 

 
While showing us how to paint these Susie shared these other tips:  DANIEL SMITH Cascade Green is wonderful for evergreens because as it dries, you can see color variation which adds depth to your evergreen tress.  Susie likes to use Verditer Blue because it is pure, true blue which makes it perfect for painting snow.  Susie also has a DVD on Painting Snow, her Susie Shorts Hints for Painting Aspects of Snow and Susie Short Painting the Winter Landscape which is great for learning more. 
 
Susie Short's "How To" Paint Winter Scenes in Watercolor DVDs

Susie Short's "How To" Paint Winter Scenes in Watercolor DVDs

For one of the winter landscapes Susie made a water-wash on a diagonal accross the upper 2/3 of the the Strathmore Watercolor Card, then dropped in her Verditer Blue and Cascade Green, she briefly allowed the excess water to evaporate.  Then, using a cut up credit card (roughly shaped like in a long rectangle like a slip of paper) and turning the card at a right angle, she quickly scraped the card accross the surface of the damp card and paint so that she exposed the white of the paper.  Revealing the white of the paper gave the suggestion of white birch tree trunks in the snow.  Susie also uses a stylus or end of her brush to scratch in the branches and twigs for tree.

 
You can find more in Susie’s DANIEL SMITH article from a past catalog: Holiday Watercolor Cards.
 
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