Easy Art Idea: Watercolor and Embossed Feather Art

Create your own beautiful, embossed watercolor feather art. This easy art idea can be displayed in a frame or made into a card or journal cover!

Watercolor is definitely one of my favorite art mediums. I love the soft washes of color and the blendability. I’ve just started dabbling in watercolor myself and while I’m learning, something as intricate as feathers is not in my skill set (yet!) so I found the perfect solution! For this easy art idea I’m using an embossing folder for the feather design.

Watercolor Easy Art Idea Supplies:

Darice Feathers Embossing Folder
Cuttlebug or Other Embossing Machine
Watercolor Paper
Acrylic Paints in the Colors of Your Choice (I used Americana Acrylic paint in Wisteria and Sapphire.)
Darice Paint Palette
Paint Brush
Stencil or Painters Tape
Darice Craft Knife (Optional depending on the size of your art.)

Step 1. Position the embossing folder on a piece of watercolor paper to determine the size you want your feather art to be. Because I wanted more space on the sides of the art, I taped the top of the embossing folder and the cut the side seam so that I could insert the watercolor paper from the bottom. If you choose to do this, make sure you tape the top of the folder to create the new seam before you cut the side seam to ensure that the front and back stay together.

Step 2. Tape the edges of the watercolor paper to secure onto your workspace. This will prevent the paper from bubbling or curling once it’s wet.

Step 3. To prepare for painting, add your paint colors to the palette and fill a couple of the wells with water. Also grab a cup of water for rinsing out the brush. Starting with the darkest color, add water to your paint brush and dip into the paint. Try it on a scrap piece of paper to make sure you like the level of transparency. Paint the middle of the paper with long even brush strokes. Add more water if you’d like a more sheer application or if the paint isn’t blending well. Rinse brush.

Step 4. Pick up the lighter shade with a damp brush (you won’t need as much water for the lighter color since it will already be pretty sheer). Paint the right and left sides of the paper starting from the outsides and blending in toward the darker color. I wanted a more subtle gradient of color so I mixed a little bit of the dark and light paints together with water to create the transition between the 2 colors. Allow the watercolor paper to fully dry (keep taped down during the drying process).

Step 5. Once the paper is dry, carefully remove the tape. Insert the paper into the feather embossing folder and place between 2 embossing plates and onto the spacer plate. Place the plates into the Cuttlebug and turn the handle to run the paper through the machine to emboss it.

Now you’ve created your own embossed watercolor feather art! Display this simple art idea proudly in a frame, or it would make a beautiful card or journal cover as well.