My mom LOVES flowers and that is probably and understatement. The house I grew up in is like a jungle because of all of the plants.  Anyway, it was her birthday on Thursday so I went home for the weekend to spend some time with her.

I know it’s traditional to buy birthday cards, but I’m really not a fan of picking up some templated card with text that some random person wrote. I wanted to give her a birthday card that was more personal so I decided on a watercolor painting with a happy birthday at the bottom.

The process can take a while, depending on your experience level, but it’s a great starter project for getting into watercolor painting.

There are a few things you should know before you start using watercolor

Watercolor paints are transparent, so if you’re used to using oil or acrylic, this might be a little bit harder to get used to. You have to plan out where you’re white space is going to be. Painting an area white after you’ve painted it a different color is not going to work.

Limit your color palette to 2 or 3 colors. If you get too many colors on the paper, they will start to blend together and get a little muddy.

Use a variety of brushes. Don’t try to use one small brush. Vary the sizes and you’ll get better results.

Things You Will Need:
Water
Paint brushes
Paper towels
Watercolor paints
Thick paper (watercolor paper, Bristol)
Flowers to look at (optional)

Step 1
Draw a very light outline of flowers on your paper with a pencil. These will be your guides. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look fantastic. The best thing about watercolor is that it doesn’t have to be perfect to look nice.

Step 2
Paint your lightest colors first. Make sure your brush is wet (but not soaked).

To get a lighter shade of the color you’re using, get your paint brush wet, swirl it on the paint, dip it back into the water, then lightly dab it onto the towel. When you start painting you’ll get a very light color.

To get a darker shade, just use less water. Go from the paint directly onto the paper.

Step 3
Paint on the darker colors.

Step 4
Wait for everything to dry, then draw a thin black outline around all of the flowers and leaves. The outline helps to pull the whole image together and make it look a little more defined.

When you’re finished, you can add your message at the bottom and you have the perfect, from-the-heart birthday card. Your recipient will appreciate it much more that the card you thought about buying at the store.
If you’ve never used watercolor before, don’t worry! This is a good medium to start with. The colors bleed easily when there’s a good bit of water and can be easily touched up with ink when you’re finished. I would definitely recommend playing around with it. It’s a very nice stress reliever.

Hope you enjoyed my DIY for this week! I’d love to hear your feedback.