Pink Roses, Pink Tea, Pink Saturday and a P.S.

Happy Pink Saturday, originally uploaded by bluebirdsandteapots.

Today is Pink Saturday, and Bev from How Sweet The Sound is hosting this wonderful event. There are many pink posts to explore, so won't you join Bev in celebrating another Pink Saturday?

I bought a bouquet of lovely pink roses to paint for Pink Saturday. I wanted to show you how to combine lovely handmade paper as the vase and use pink watercolor washes to create roses.



On the way for a drive to the art store to pick up my favorite watercolor paper, I thought about aging the edges of a rose. I was thinking about how so many people use tea to stain fabric and even paper. I thought "Why not paint with tea?"



So, I stopped by a Dunkin Donut and bought a cup of tea and went directly to the park to capture the idea before I lost the inspiration. One of the unwritten rules to capturing magic is that once the Creative Muse has come to inspire you, you must capture the idea immediately before the inspiration vanishes into Neverland.



Painting outside is lovely on a nice day. The Dunkin Donut tea was just the right shade of sepia. Combining watercolor paint and the tea worked very nicely. The tea was perfect, and I thought I might use my sister’s Rose tea when I got home for a pink tint.




I called my sister, Susan and she suggested that I experiment with real tea, black ones etc.



When I got home I set up a bit of atmosphere to recapture the inspiration.



I took my sister's Christmas Morning Blend from the shelf and scooped a generous helping into a glass, then I poured hot water from the tea kettle and let it seep for a bit.



Then I drained the tea leaves to prepare the tea wash. It was a perfect pink wash, I thought I would use a black tea later for the aged edges. I lit a rose blossom candle, set the roses in a vase on the table, and began the rose tea process.



I proceeded to paint with the tea, and add more washes to the rose I had painted earlier with the Dunkin Donut Tea.



Painting with tea washes was more fun and much easier to manage than the watercolor washes.



As I continued to add layers of the wash, the roses began to come to life.



My experiment with the Creative Muse had worked. So, with candle lit, a bit of soft music and roses galore, I painted into the wee hours of the morning.



I am using my painted sketches for reference and have started work on a larger painting using my favorite watercolor paper. It will be ready for you to see next week on Pink Saturday. I will demonstrate how to use hand-made papers with watercolor painting, when creating a mixed-media composition. Oh, I wonder if tea is considered part of mixed-media too?



I hope that you have a lovely Pink Saturday, and that you visit the many lovely posts that you will find links to on Bev's How Sweet The Sound.



I have poured myself a cup of tea to drink this time, and I am off on an adventure in Pink Saturday Land. The music for this post is Finding Neverland. This cutie cup of coffee and pastry was designed by my sister, Susan...she cracks me up!



On Sunday Brenda from The Brenda Blog is hosting an event called Where Bloggers Create. Make sure you stop by Brenda's on Sunday, August 24th for the links to a fun adventure in Blogland.

Here are some of the participants, and if you would like to join in on the fun, just go to Brenda's Blog and send her an e-mail.



Perennial Garden Lover; Crafty Passions; Soliloquy; Alamo North; The Stone Rabbit; The Vintage Nest; Whimsies And Words; Gardening For Beginners; The Greenhouse Diaries; Karla's Cottage; Bird Nest Cottage; Garden Joy 4 Me; Diane's Musings; Georgia Peachez; Pressing On; Linda's Blue Gate; Diary Of A Middle-Aged Gardener; Bailiwick Designs; A Scrapbook Of Inspiration; Rue's Peanut Butter And Jelly Life.

P.S. I just discovered this incredible artist who really inspires me and cracks me up at the same time. She is from one of my favorite cities, Toronto. She also has a fabulous blog called Time With Tascha. Here is her Etsy Shop. I just love this girl!!!