Watercolour calligraphy and botanical wreath

Forget adult colouring books; get over to The Postman's Knock and learn some easy watercolour and calligraphy skills to DIY art therapy the heck out of yourself. I recently spotted Lindsey's botanical watercolour wreath tutorial and had to give it a try. I'm using it to surround quotes for some newborn babies, and also to send a message of affirmation to my friend Beck, who is head deep in her university degree at the moment.

Here's how my wreath turned out on a watercolour postcard (I made a little video so you can see it come together). I don't even know if 'studier' is a word meaning 'someone who studies', but it is now! The best part about this process for me was realising a better technique for holding my paint brush (for some reason I have been wielding it like a wand rather than controlling it like a pencil...I think I was scared of the brush, so I was keeping my hands as far from the business end as possible).

Here's one of the watercolour calligraphy quotes for the newborn babe. I didn't really like the colour scheme (it was all I had in my diddy little travel watercolour set), so I headed to my local art store and grabbed a couple of other colours to work with (and what I used in the video for Beck's).

Lindsey has given me lots of ideas of where I could use these lovely motifs, so looking forward to plastering the world in tiny watercolour flora.