Free Mother’s Day Watercolor Clip Art

I’m continuing with my watercolor phase and thought I’d paint something sweet for Mother’s Day. Except this wasn’t exactly painted. It was sketched with watercolor pencils and then “painted” with water. It’s a fun way to get a watercolor look without having to know what you’re doing.

I’m good with things that don’t require knowing what I’m doing.

At the bottom of the post you can find the free Mother’s Day Watercolor clip art but I wanted to show you how I made it because I think it’s a project you’d like to try yourself.

Of course, I think that about most of my projects. Just humor me and nod your head.

Since I’m using watercolor pencils a lot I thought you might like to know what kind I’m using. You can find them here on Amazon or at most craft stores. I used to use whatever watercolor paper was on sale. I think you can even find it in the dollar store from time to time. But the more I use paper, the pickier I get and I’ve found that this 140 lb. by Strathmore is good quality without breaking the bank.

Save the cheap stuff for the kids or for practicing your painting.

After I lettered in “thanks Mom” . . . something I’ve said to my mother countless times over the years . . . I drew a floral wreath with different colors of watercolor pencils.

I don’t have a pattern for this . . . yet. However most of my tutorials have patterns so if you like spring flowers there are links to 24 tutorials here.

I will let you in on a little secret – I’ll be opening an Etsy shop soon. Everything in my shop will be a digital download, meaning that shoppers can just print off everything from paintings to clipart to patterns. The patterns will be in collections so you’ll get more than the 2 or 3 I offer here on the blog. I’ll continue doing that, providing free patterns here, but there will be more comprehensive patterns in the shop.

The awesome thing about digital downloads is I can keep the price really affordable since there is no shipping and no printing (on my end). There is, however, a lot – and I mean a LOT – of time involved.

I don’t mind the time it takes to sketch and paint. That part I love. But digitizing everything. Phew! That part is taking forever! Probably because I’m not too sure what I’m doing. Again.

Maybe the shop will stand a chance then. *see above

Anyhoo, back to the Mother’s Day watercolor. After outlining the flowers and leaves, I added a bit more color here and there.

Nothing fancy at all.

After adding some extra color I simply went over everything with a wet paintbrush. At that point I had a nice watercolor.

But I don’t know when to leave things alone, you know.

So I grabbed some colored pens and outlined everything. They aren’t colored Sharpies, like I usually use. Just some pens that came in a set at Michael’s. I can’t find them on their website unfortunately. They were in the Art dept. though. I was looking for some gel pens and grabbed these guys. Anything will work for outlining though, even colored pencils.

I want you to see the close ups and I think the best way to do that is to show you the sketch, ‘painting’ the pencil marks, and finally adding the outlines.

 

 

I didn’t have a colored pen close to the pink shade of the pencil, so the outlining on the peonies are more distinct than, say, the lavender. Something I didn’t take into consideration prior to outlining.

 

I guess it’s just a matter of preference – the watercolor only or with the outlines. I still can’t decide which I like better.

Do you like one more than the other?

Maybe it’d help if you saw a comparison of the entire painting, huh?

Here’s the watercolor only. Click the photo or here to download, without the watermark and caption.

Both printables are approximately 5″ square.

And here’s the one with outlining that you can download here.

And here’s one without writing so you can add your own, either by hand or in PicMonkey. Download the blank watercolor here.

Pick one or all! I only ask that you please only use them for personal use. (A link back to me would be great too!)

Maybe you know a mother or two who wouldn’t mind an expression of gratitude surrounded by watercolor flowers this Mother’s Day? I hope so, even if that mother is YOU!

And I do hope you get some watercolor pencils soon and play around with them. I think you’ll find them as enjoyable as I do, especially if you like to draw and doodle.

Make it a Mother’s Day present to yourself.

Colleen

about Colleen

p.s. Don’t forget to enter the Modern Masters paint giveaway here. If you haven’t tried it already, you will LOVE this paint!