Pastels on Watercolor - a Mixed Media Technique

Here is another tutorial for your mixed media technique list.

Also, check out this post with a list of techniques by The Graphics Fairy.

This technique is a super simple one. Just like with most mixed media, it’s a matter of layers.

So today, I’ll be showing you the magic of applying chalk pastels onto wet watercolors.

• Watercolor paper or an art journal with similar paper.

• Chalk pastels

• Watercolors

It’s pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll show you the process.

Start by wetting your watercolors. You’ll be wanting to keep the page pretty wet, so add a lot of water to your paints.

You‘re also going to want to have your chalks nearby.

Start brushing on your watercolors. Be as messy and colorful as you want.

Fill your page quickly, however, because you want it to be wet when you add the pastels.

As soon as you’re done filling the page, grab your chalk pastel and run it slowly and gently over your paper.

You’ll soon notice how your chalk lines will dissolve into the watercolors.

You may want to smooth out some of the colors with your fingers or brush or add some water here or there to get the look you want.

Here’s another one I worked on using several colors:

And so these two pages I’m going to cut up to be artist trading cards:

And here is an art journal spread I’m still working on where I used this technique:

And there you have it. Another technique to add to your mixed media backgrounds list. Please let me know in the comments what you use mixed media backgrounds for mostly; making cards, art journals, atc’s?

Here are a few more of my background tutorials with some of the same supples:

Paper arts background tutorial

Paper arts background tutorial