Homework from my online watercolor card class is to FREEHAND watercolor paint a card. Oh, boy! I normally would not choose this subject matter, but I have cactus on my mind because I’m thinking about a baby shower I’m helping with. And the theme is cactus. That should make for a very unique baby shower!

So, I started out freehand painting a prickly pear cactus with some bright pink flowers.

Yes, I think I need a little practice. But I certainly had fun with this one! I wanted to make the sky look like an Arizona sunset, but it really had a mind to be more stormy…surprise!

I’m going to keep working on this freehand watercoloring. I’m finding that I love working with not only watercolor paints, but also distress ink pads. Sometimes I throw in a bit of inktense watercolor pencils. And what I really love is the surprise of seeing how it all looks once it dries.

Well, cactus flowers…let’s give it another go. I’ll share more later!