Hello!
Today I am sharing how to make autumn envelope art using watercolors and a leaf. This is a lovely way to decorate an envelope in the fall months to someone you love. I know for a fact that pretty much everyone loves and appreciates receiving a beautiful piece of mail – my sister in law sends some of the most lovely handmade cards, and I get excited every time I open one!
For this tutorial you will need:
- A pencil (these are my faves)
- A Micron Pen (or similar pen that will not bleed)
- Watercolors & Brush
- Water glass
- Palette or plate for mixing colors
- Cotton Envelope (Paper Source has nice ones!)
- A leaf from your yard
Recently I was reintroduced to the blind contour drawing exercise by Brittany of Two If By Sea Studios in her Freeing Creativity Workshop and it inspired this tutorial! You can watch the full You Tube Video on my channel and follow along with the instructions below.
Step 1: Hold your leaf in your non dominant hand and grab your pencil (or jump straight to pen!)
Step 2: Look only at the leaf, and not at your envelope. Slowly draw exactly what you see. Follow the edges of the leaf, the stem, and the veining inside. Try your best not to look at your paper! Not looking at the paper allows you to really notice the intricacies of the leaf.
Step 3: If you used a pencil in Step 2, trace over your drawing in Micron pen.
Step 4: Wet the watercolors you plan to use. I chose a warm palette of orange, yellow and red – but do what ever suits you!
Step 5: Transfer some of each color to your mixing plate and dilute them with water.
Step 6: Apply paint to your envelope! You can wet the envelope with water first if you want more diluted colors that run together, or you can paint directly with color onto the dry envelope.
Step 7: Let Dry
Step 8: Address the envelope with your micron or similar pen! If you have purchased my online class, A Calligrapher’s Guide to Stylish Envelopes, you will have a template you can use to draw lines on the envelope. Otherwise just do it freehand or use a ruler to create even lines.
Let me know in the comments how you like this tutorial or if you have any questions! If you’d like to see the full video, head to my You Tube Channel!
Happy painting!
Warmly,
Meg
P.S. The links above are for products available on Amazon. As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive about 30 cents for purchases you make through my links at no additional cost to you. This buys me a coffee about once a month, but it’s a cup of coffee I drink with a lot of joy 🙂