Easy Peasy Autumn Leaf Bookmarks in Watercolor – cute little gift idea – beginners step by step tutorial

If you’re looking for something really quick and easy to paint, with no stress or anxiety, try these little bookmarks. You only need a scrap of paper, one brush and a few odds and ends of paint to while away an hour or two creating something pretty. Why not give it a try today?

Materials for Autumn Leaf Bookmarks

You can use any colors you like for this little project. I selected a few autumnal hues, such as Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Sienna, Vermillion and Olive Green, and mixed and matched as I went along. I also used a gold gel pen to highlight here and there and to draw a border around both designs once they were done. See links below for pens and paints.

I used a sheet of 140lb watercolor paper, in this case it was a piece of 8 x 6 inches Baohong paper. I would recommend however Bockingford or Clairefontaine Etival as they are easier to work with. Cheap 100% cotton papers like the Baohong can be too absorbent for a beginner and the Bockingfor and Etival are cellulose and therefore stronger and better able to resist changes and scrubbing out.

See my blog Autumn Tree for links to more materials and supplies.

In order to paint this project I first selected a piece of watercolor paper that is strong enough to keep its shape if used as a bookmark. In order to make your bookmark more durable you could consider laminating it. If you don’t have a laminating machine, there now exist self laminating pouches that you can use for bookmarks. Take a look at the links below.

I also used a gold gel pen. Here is a link to a Uniball Signo capped gel pen set of gold, silver and white which I use almost every day. It is excellent value and proves itself useful time and time again.

Daniel Smith watercolors are reliable and good value especially in the 15ml tubes which last a very long time indeed.

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3 thoughts on “Easy Peasy Autumn Leaf Bookmarks in Watercolor – cute little gift idea – beginners step by step tutorial”

  1. Pingback: Paint Whimsical Red Squirrels with me

  2. Tell us more about the ink AND pen. It looked so smooth, no skips and no scratching. And no running when watercolor hits it. I think these bookmarks are great gifts for friends in church, clubs, etc..

    1. Hi Linda, thanks for your comment and your wonderful generosity and support for the channel! Very much appreciated! The pen I used for the bookmarks is a glass pen. I unfortunately don’t know where it came from as it was a gift from Tamsin and she has forgotten where she bought it! But there are glass pens on Amazon and elsewhere which I’m sure would be similiar to use. The ink I was using was a good quality but old Sennelier Indian ink. You have to remember to wash the nib clean when you’re finished or else it gets clogged up. I have tried the same pen with some new Sennelier Ink and it doesn’t work as well – the ink seems to be too thin to make a good line. Such a problem with quality these days. So if you buy a glass pen (not expensive) you might need to try a couple of types of ink until you find a good one. Someone recently recommended Watermans ink as being the very best, followed by Pelikan. Hope this helps!

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