Rotating through multiple small works
Hi everyone! My name is Katherine Knapik. I’m a professional illustrator, long-time watercolorist, and lover of all things that sparkle! Today I want to go over a quick tip that I find super helpful to remember when I’m working on small pieces of artwork: working on multiple projects at once!
For this project, I’m working on 4 tiny watercolor paintings at the same time. If you’re impatient the way that I am, you probably get the urge to overwork your paintings, or at the very least, not give them enough time to properly dry. This can become a real issue with watercolors specifically, since paint will spread out wherever the paper is wet underneath it. By the time I get to the final stages of a painting where I’m adding my favorite Smiling Hippo glitter watercolors, I’m no longer looking for the paint to spread since I’m into the more meticulous details.
So instead of pulling my hair out waiting for literal paint to dry, I’m cycling through 4 mini paintings. That way, while I work on the other 3, the first one gets a good long chance to dry, and is ready for more paint when I get back to it. All of these minis got two Smiling Hippo colors before they were done. They all got these immaculate white accents with Opal from the Hidden Gems collection, and another color a little more in line with their particular color schemes. The blue I used for one portrait, as well as this gorgeous shimmery taupe in my hamster portrait were both samples that Holly puts in your orders (best thing ever!), and the other two are half-pans of this fabulous pumpkin color and my personal favorite gold paint: Hera.
Working on multiples really helps with both letting my paint dry and giving my paper a chance to breathe, as well as satisfying my need to keep my hands busy the whole time I’m painting.
Here are the finished illustrations with all their gorgeous sparkle!