DIY Tropical Watercolor Art on Wood

You all know that I’m obsessed with watercolors. I love everything about them. I was especially excited to try out a new product which I used to make this DIY wooden tropical watercolor art!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Plaid®. All opinions are my own.

I recently attended the Plaid Creators Summit at Plaid’s headquarters here in Atlanta, and we had the opportunity to try out a bunch of amazing new products. One of my favorites to play around with was Martha Stewart Watercolor Crafts® Paint. This paint is available in 40 colors exclusively at Michaels, can be used on multiple surfaces (like wood, watercolor paper, fabric, canvas, and more), and is durable on indoor or outdoor porous surfaces. It’s a permanent gel-based acrylic formula, and you can use it “as is” or dilute it with water to get a more authentic-looking watercolor effect. It’s easy to blend and the colors are beautiful.

Now, let me show you how to create your own DIY Wooden Block Tropical Watercolor Art!

Suppy List:

• Martha Stewart Watercolor Crafts® Paints in a variety of colors
• Martha Stewart Crafts® Watercolor Brush Set
• Martha Stewart Crafts® Adhesive Laser-Cut Stencils (the “Pineapple” set)
• 1′ x 6′ wooden board (or pre-cut wooden squares)
• Saw
• Picture Hanging Strips
• Paper Plate (to use as a palette)
• 2 Cups of Water
• Paper Towel

How to Make DIY Wooden Tropical Watercolor Art

Step 1

First, cut your wood and sand the edges. (Or use pre-cut wooden squares or blocks.) I used a 1×6 board and cut it to about 5 1/2″ long (that’s close to the actual width of the board, since a 1×6 isn’t actually 6″ wide. Annoying, I know!)

Step 2

Then, I used a variety of fun colors from the Martha Stewart Watercolor paint line to paint an “ombré” design onto each wooden square. I did this by choosing 3 colors, each from the same color family, and using all 3 to paint each square in 3 sections (top, middle, bottom), and then using water to help wash/fade the colors into each other. When using the paint, I dipped my brush in water first, and then into the paint on my paper plate palette. I also blotted with a paper towel anytime I felt that I had over saturated my wood. I painted the edges with a combo of all of the colors. I varied the colors on each square, and I used two cups of water, one for “warm” colors and one for “cool” colors.

Step 3

After my squares had dried, I applied an adhesive stencil to the center of each square, and painted them with a mixture of colors. I alternated between two stencils, a small pineapple and a small banana leaf. I blotted my brush on a paper towel so it wouldn’t be too saturated in order to prevent bleed-through.

Step 4

I peeled the stencil off and allowed the wooden squares to dry thoroughly. Then, I applied picture hanging strips to the back and hung them in a grid on the wall.

 

 

For more ideas and inspiration, be sure to follow Plaid on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Martha Stewart Watercolor Crafts Paint is available exclusively at any Michaels store or at Michaels.com.

You can also connect with me here:

Thanks for visiting!

-Erin

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