A Frosted Christmas With Glitter Watercolors - from guest blogger Katherine Knapik

A Frosted Christmas With Glitter Watercolors - from guest blogger Katherine Knapik

       Hi everybody! My name is Katherine Knapik! I’m a professional illustrator, long-time watercolorist, and lover of all things that sparkle! I can usually be found on instagram @kknapikart, but today I’m here talking about how we can use our fabulous Smiling Hippo watercolors to bring some snowy magic to our painting!

     Here’s the piece I’m starting with today: this beautiful and regal-looking reindeer. He’s got this little holly wreath around his neck, and some snow on his face and antlers, but I’m really looking for something to sparkle here and to bring this to the next level. I’m going to be using three different colors today to give our little reindeer friend that frosted, snowy look.


     First I’m going in with a great little green I got as a sample in a previous order and using it to highlight the sparkly tips of the holly leaves: maybe they have sparkly frost covering them, or perhaps they’re just shiny from some melted snow.


     Then I’m using this absolutely gorgeous red on the holly berries themselves; the sparkle on rounded forms also helps to give them a more three-dimensional appearance- perfect for adding some realism to our painting!

     And then finally, I’m going in with Opal from the Hidden Gems Collection- this absolutely beautiful opalescent white -for the snow on our little reindeer’s nose and face. Because this paint also has deeper pigments of pink and blue, it has this amazing shimmer that is so perfect for the most magical of scenarios: sparkling snow. And the absolute best part of this painting is the very last step. I went back and splatter-painted with the Opal over the whole painting to add some more falling snow as well! Overall, the glitter was such a perfect addition to this piece and was really what this illustration needed to go from pretty to truly magical.

     And as always, here’s the finished piece!

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