Dec 122 min read

A Christmas Gift to You!

There's a new tutorial now available and it's free to all members ~ I hope you enjoy it!

Before I tell you all about the new tutorial I just wanted to take the time to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who uses my Online Watercolour School, whether you're an online learner or an in-class learner, I really appreciate your continued support as it allows me to keep on doing what I love ~ painting and teaching! I wish you a heartfelt Happy Christmas and I hope that 2025 brings you good times, good health and lots of happy painting!

In this season of gift giving, why not add a personalised touch by adding your own hand painted gift tag. In this tutorial I will show you some very quick and effective ways to create six different gift tags. All of them can be personalised by changing the colours and composition. You can even combine ideas together or add your own too!

To begin I will show you how to draw up some simple shapes for your tags or you could pop over to the William Morris Tutorial and use the outline drawings for more ornate shapes. All of the mini tutorials are quick to paint so if you only have 15 minutes you can still give them a try.

Once you're ready, just head straight to the tag you want to try and I will guide you through each step. Remember that the colour choices for each tag are completely optional so be as creative as you like!

I think my favourite tags are the ones featuring a wreath design ~ both of these start out with using a small glass jar to create their shape. This is such a quick and easy way to create a design it can be quite addictive! If you love this idea as much as me ~ why not scale up your jar and design to create a matching card?!

All of these tags use the direct brush method so there is no drawing required ~ you can make all of the shapes just with your brush! We will only be using only a few different elements such as leaves and berries, but with a little bit of imagination you can alter the size of the shapes to create a number of different looks. On my tags I have used a combination of both metallic and regular watercolours to give them an even more festive appearance but feel free to add other media such as pen, pencils, gouache, gel pens etc.

To find out more about this tutorial take a look at the short video below:

This is going to be the last tutorial for 2024, so if you find yourself with time on your hands over the Christmas period it's a great opportunity to discover some of the other wintry wonders that are available to paint. Some of my favourites are the Winter Water Tower, Winter Wolf and the Winter Landscape or why not spend some family time with younger ones painting from one of the 'Wee Watercolour' tutorials.