Mixed Media Challenge - ACK!! black?

It's my turn to host the Mix-Ability challenge over at Splitcoaststampers! I love the chance to host, encourage, and teach a few new tricks for working out mixed media in each participant's own style. It's so easy to think that all mixed media work has to be grungy and messy - and then get frustrated when that style doesn't express our normal artistic idiom. I kept my cards clean and simple, just for that reason!

This week I've challenged our participants to use BLACK to shade their colored images. I don't usually go for such deep contrasts, so this stretched me a little too. I put together a little video showing 3 different ways to do this, with a few tips and tricks along the way. I used the same Orchids image from Flourishes on all 3 cards.

My first card was watercolored using black dye ink from Ranger, and a waterbrush... I did darken a few of the deepest shadows with a pencil after making the video.

On the next card I colored the orchids with Touch Twin Markers, then added more shading with a colored pencil. The background is colored with dye and chalk inks. There's a fun tip on the video for adding that texture to the background... I may or may not be addicted to this technique...

These are the Touch Twin Markers that I used:

 
 For the last card, I made a block print using an acrylic block and misted chalk inks. The image was colored in with a Touch marker (120 Black), stamped over the top, then splattered with white acrylic paint.

I put the lower half of the card base into an embossing folder, and parts of it split and cracked - I thought that was sort of cool, so I left it that way!

Here's the video - check it out, then come play along with us!