A Hand-Painted Rustic Wood and Floral Bridal Shower Invite
Category: Portfolio | Published on: Aug 21, 2015
Watercolor and rustic are fantastic bedfellows. The texture of watercolor painting really lets you bring a natural look and feel to anything. In this case, the request was for a bridal shower invitation. The couple were getting married in a family barn, with rustic touches including the omnipresent mason jar.
I went to work painting.
Watercolor Painting Technique
What sets a trained painter apart from a hobbyist is the method. Before I start painting, I sit down and come up with a plan for tackling the design while keeping things flexible and editable at any stage. Typically, I break the design down into its “pieces” and paint them separately, only to combine them later in Photoshop. This means that I can make minute adjustments without picking my paintbrush up again.
In this case, I painted four separate designs: The wood grain, the flower, the mason jar, and the letters.
Woodgrain
I love this woodgrain texture. By painting it separately, that means I can reuse the texture in many other designs. You’ll notice it’s much lighter in the painting than on the print; by painting it with the most contrast, I can recolor the wood grain to almost any color on the computer!
The hydrangea bloom is the most straight-forward piece of this rustic invitation. The pink flower was painted on white and then separated in Photoshop.
Mason Jar
The mason jar and monogram were painted in reverse—dark paint on white paper—and then inverted once I got it on the computer. It’s pretty challenging to paint with white watercolor on dark paper, so this approach is more flexible. And because the monogram is painted separately, the mason jar can be repurposed in other designs later, just like the wood!
And finally, all together now…
I love how these watercolor invites turned out! They were printed on 110# white stock and paired with pastel pink envelopes for a truly endearing look!
© All photos and designs copyright Ashleigh Pritchard for CharmCat
— Ashleigh
See more posts about: blush, bridal shower, custom, design, hydrangea, invitations, invite wording, pink, rustic, watercolor, wood grain
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