Floral Wreaths

Have you noticed these artsy floral wreaths popping up everywhere; on Pinterest and Facebook, on stationary and greeting cards!? With only a little bit of creativity and this tutorial, you can learn how to design and create floral wreaths of your own! They are not hard to make but are simply comprised of leaves and flowers. The sky's the limit as to anything else you might want to add to them! They can be as simple or elaborate as you choose! It is popular for a favorite quote or bible verse to be centered in the middle of these wreaths, or maybe you might want to personalize it with a name or an initial, and give it away as a gift! Whether Winter or Spring, these creative wreaths can be sported on greeting cards for any occasion. Just follow a few of these easy steps and guidelines to get you started! I had so much fun preparing this blog entry! Check it out!

What  You'll  need :

Either Colored Pens or Pencils

A Pencil, for sketching

Either colored pens or pencils 

OR paint and paint brushes

I like to have a black pen or fine marker on hand in case of outlining

Paper, the drawing or watercolor kind

extra scrap paper for testing

Something round such as a cup or bowl or CD to trace

I use paints from Reeves Watercolor Paint Set. It has lasted me forever!

My personal favorite set of paint brushes.
I actually don't know very much about all of the different types
paint brushes that there are, but you can educate yourself
HERE if you want to learn about it.

Le Pens are my favorite kinds of pens
for illustrating with their fine nibs
and light weight barrels! I love them!

My mom is never really a fan of when I turn her guest room into my art studio! 😆
Check out this article about what my 8 most essential things are for when I sit down to paint!

The  Steps :

Here's what you'll do as shown in the tutorial photos above:

1. With your pencils,  lightly trace your circular object, making a perfect circle on your paper. You will be erasing this later.

2. Next, I like to preplan and make a rough layout of where the predominate flowers (if any) will be placed, still in pencil and very lightly, keeping symmetry and balance in mind.

3. Next, whether working with pens or paint, I like to practice my flowers, leaves, and berries on another paper before jumping into the main project.

4. Lastly, have at it! Let your creativity run wild! Start designing your wreath on top of your layout and erase the pencil lines as you go, OR if you are using watercolor you can completely erase the pencil after you are done painting and it's all dry, without disturbing the beauty of your masterpiece. Remember to embrace your own style and signature of creativity! No one can create quite like you can and that is the best part!


Below is a time-lapse video of me working on my Christmas floral wreath!

And this was the finished product:

#haveyourselfamerrylittlechristmas #merrychristmas #watercolor #pointsettia

A photo posted by Lillian Marie Ortiz (@oqpiedoptimist) on Dec 24, 2016 at 11:16pm PST

Tips,  Examples, and Variations :

Examples done with pen, markers, and colored pencils.

Examples done with watercolor.

• Check out my article on watercoloring tips for beginners!
• When water coloring a floral wreath I like to paint all the objects of the same color first, before switching to another color, to give my piece time to dry. You then also benefit from not having to wash your brush as frequently.

Flowertopia at Creative Market is a helpful resource for cultivating inspiration and great ideas for wreath making!

• The incomplete circle of this simple pen-designed wreath is a great looking variation to the more common typical wreath. 

This playful wreath extends to the very edges of the paper!

This simple wreath is done with watercolor and then if you will notice, I went back and outlined
some things with pen giving this piece a more illustrated look.

A variation; trace a square to make your design into more of a frame!

Have  Fun  Designing, And  Be  Creative!

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My 8 Must-Have Essentials When Painting

#1 Paint. 

The Good Stuff.

I use paints from Reeves Watercolor Paint Set. It has lasted me forever!

#2 Paper.

The Right Stuff!

#3 A Pallete.

One that I can get messy with!

#4 Pencil and Pens. Always.

#5 Plastic containers. 

For water.

#6 Pinterest.

My source of inspiration!

#7 Pandora.

My favorite music listening to get the creative juices flowing.

#8 Erasers.

...had to ruin the alliteration. 😕

My zone.

Check out my 10 Beginner Tips for Water Coloring. 

Thanks for reading friends,

What is needed to get your creative juices flowing?

comment, follow, subscribe, and don't be shy!

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Watercoloring For Beginners

Hello out there my aspiring artists and paint enthusiasts!  This weekend I've taken another try at painting with watercolor...if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I think I am FINALLY getting the hang of it and I want to share with you a few lessons, tips, and discoveries I have made concerning using watercolor!

#1 The hardest thing for me is balancing the amount of water vs. paint on my brush and on my paper. So #1 is: The more pure paint you have on your brush, the more vivid your color will be.

#2 Adding water to the paint on your brush will lessen the strength of the color.

#3 Unlike using acrylic paint where when you want to lighten up the shade of a color you just add white, with watercolor you can just add water! 

#4 The colors always dry darker than I think they will.

#5 If you have mixed the perfect color on your palette by using a combination of multiple different colors of paint and water, but then find the color to be going onto your paper in too watery of a manner, try picking the color up from the palette with your brush, but then scraping/squeezing out any excess moisture from your brush (by pressing it to the edge of either your cup of water, or edge of your palette without getting it wet) before applying it to your paper. 

#6  Take your wet brush covered in paint to an already wet area of your paper to blend colors (wet on wet).

#7 I used to think it was impossible NOT to blend when working with multiple colors because my colors would bleed all over the place and into each other. That was problematic, but then I discovered you have to let your work COMPLETELY DRY, before going in to add more details if you want to create strong lines that don't bleed into the other colors. Just make sure that your brush isn't too watery.

#8 Perhaps the idea that all detailing and outlines has to be done in black, comes from my sketching/drawing mentality. What I've learned is that with watercoloring, that is not necessarily so. It can look very nice once your painting is dry, to then go back and paint your details in using colors that are only a couple shades darker than the area you are detailing.

#9 The best thing about watercolor is that if you make a mistake and the paint/mistake on your paper is still wet, you can just dab it away with a dry paper towel! You can also use dabbing to create texture and for highlighting purposes as well.

#10 There is an important note to be taken about your brush strokes. No matter what you do, with every stroke you make there will always usually formulate a little pool of watery paint. Usually, it gathers at the end of each stroke. Fear Not! I can be used to your advantage for a number of different things. Guide the pool of water to where you want it within the stroke or shape you have made and then let dry for an added effect of depth and/or texture, or drag the pool of water out to extend your stroke further. You can also use the pool of watery paint for blending techniques as well! 

*BONUS Lastly, be sure to change your cups of water when necessary! Your water can become tainted, and become a water color of it's own! Dirty water can alter the colors of paint put on your brush or pollute your brush when you mean to clean!

To exersize your newfound knowledge and skills, why don't you try out my DIY floral wreath making tutorial HERE! ^_^

Check out My 8 Must-Have Essentials When Painting

I hope you found this blog entry interesting and helpful! Thanks for reading! Happy Painting! Have fun and be creative! Let me know of any blog topic ideas you may have!?  I love to hear your comments and questions, so comment, follow, subscribe, and don't be shy!
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Soaring Forward

Christmas vacation has come to a close. My time in PA has been enjoyable, relaxing, and refreshing but now it is time to go home where oil changes and house bills await me. Today is a travel day for me. I am currently in flight on the second leg of my trip, from Charlotte North Carolina heading towards Jackson Mississippi and as I sit here in unoptional stillness, I find myself reflecting on WHAT WAS and WHAT WILL BE.

WHAT WAS: Right now as I am in limbo in the sky, I come to realize that my Christmas break was also quite productive. Over the past three weeks I started this blog, ^_^ I finished reading the book of Ezekiel, I started up my Spanish language course again, I got to see lots of friends and family, and I got to pull out my paints! It had been so long since I put my hand to the brush, but I am so glad I did. Being creative is really an outlet for me. Everybody needs some sort of outlet or escape from life's responsibilities and for me that is doing crafty things. I used to think dance was that for me, and I do so love dancing, but being that it is now my career, it does not have the same effect anymore. Find what you love doing, and what makes you free, and make sure you find time to do it! It's important! Below is a sneak peak into what all I had been working on all throughout break. Lately I have been really into making greeting cards, check it out!

 I feel like I've gotten a little rusty when it comes to being creative and a little inhibited when it comes to using my imagination, for whatever reason. I would love to actually write a blog entry about that in the future. What do you think causes creative road blocks and the deterioration of the imagination?

That blog entry on uninhibited creativity and imagination can be found HERE!

WHAT WILL BE: Even though things will be starting back up this coming week I hope to preserve whatever creativity and inspiration I've rekindled over break and keep up the crafting in my down time, making it more of a priority because I enjoy it so much. I am sad to be leaving my family behind me, but duties call. AND...I can't wait to go grocery shopping when I get home! It's one of my most favorite things to do (when I have money). I found the perfect recipe to make for dinners this week and hopefully I'll keep you posted with how it turns out later in the week. I have much anticipation in seeing my housemates, ballet friends, and Timothy (the outdoor neighborhood cat). And I'm looking forward to getting back into routine, and dusting off that dance bag!

Last year wasn't a bad year, by any means! But one thing about this coming year 2016; I am determined for my attitude to be even better which will then reshape my circumstances, God willing. That when I reflect on the days of my life or when somebody asks me how I am doing, instead of responding in a burnt out defeated manner, I will be able to respond enthusiastically with a joyful, positive content response because I have renewed hopes and motivations set on what really matters.

With 50 minutes left of my flight, I believe I will now go formulate a to do list and then finish reading my book "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan.

Thanks for reading friends,

comment, follow, subscribe, and don't be shy! 

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