What a year this has been! So many of us have felt so ready for a little bit of cheer, we have thrown the rules out of the window and put up Christmas decorations earlier than usual! We've switched on the Christmas songs to lift our mood and welcomed all things festive into our lives to boost our mood.
Whether you have embraced the season or not just yet, when it comes to decorating, there are two types of people: those who gather together anything Christmasy and bring it together to create an eclectic mix of joy and colour, and there are those who feel that less is more - they choose a palette and stick to it, colour co-ordinating everything in sight.
When it comes to Christmas crafting though, the 'throw it all together' approach doesn't always work out the way we want and painting with loads of colours can turn a project into a busy affair that overwhelms the eye to the point where it no longer knows where to look. So this week, accompanied by a soundtrack of Christmas songs, we took some time to play with different colour palettes to inspire and excite you this month.
For our Christmas palettes we chose:
Classic green and gold - Plantation Pine, Lamp Black (optional), Holly Green and Champagne Gold
Substitutes: Choose a light and dark green and a gold that you like.
Frosty Blues - Ultra Blue Deep, Blue Chiffon, Shimmering Silver
Substitutes: Choose a light and dark blue that work well together or simply add white to a dark blue.
Snow and Sparkles - Dazzling Metallic Shimmering Silver, Ultra Blue Deep, Snow White, Colonial Blue
Substitutes: Again, add white to a dark blue to create a substitute for the Colonial Blue.
Santa's Favourite (Greens and Reds) - Avocado, Tomato Red and Bright Brass (Snow White optional)
Substitutes: Have fun combining your favourite reds, greens and golds!
We chose to use our Black Core Baubles to make our decorations (which we later turned into Christmas cards) because we knew it would work for every colour palette we played with.
Classic Green and Gold:
Following the instructions from our Folk Art Masterclass for Beginners, and using the stipple brush, create the base in your chosen green - we used the beautifully vibrant Holly Green. Add highlights in Champagne Gold (or your chosen gold). Paint the first layer of leaves in Plantation Pine (if you don't have anything similar, add a touch of Lamp Black to your green). Next add the berries in your chosen shade of gold, then add a few dots of gold around the wreath and finish with a dot of Plantation Pine on each berry.
Frosty Blues:
Following the instructions from our Folk Art Masterclass for Beginners, and again using the stipple brush, create the base in Colonial Blue. Next add highlights using Chiffon Blue. Paint the first layer of leaves in Shimmering Silver.
Next add the berries in your chosen dark blue (we used Ultra Blue Deep) and then add a the second layer of leaves and a few swirls in Colonial Blue (we mixed in a little Ultra Blue Deep to make it a little darker than the wreath). Finish with dots of Chiffon blue on the berries and around the wreath itself.
Snow & Sparkles:
Following the instructions from our Folk Art Masterclass for Beginners, and using the stipple brush, create the base in Ultra Blue Deep. Next add highlights using Shimmering Silver. Paint the first layer of leaves in Ultra Blue Deep. Next add the berries in Shimmering Silver and then add a the second layer of leaves (we mixed Colonial Blue with a touch of Ultra Blue Deep). Add a few swirls in Colonial Blue and finish with dots of Snow White around the wreath.
Santa's Favourites:
Following the instructions from our Folk Art Masterclass for Beginners, and using the stipple brush, create the base in Avocado. Paint the first layer of leaves in Avocado (if you would like to make these a little lighter to contrast with the wreath, add a touch of Snow white to the Avocado). Next add the berries in your chosen shade of red and finally, add a few gold leaves to each berry cluster and finish with a few dots of gold around the wreath.
Which colour palette is your favourite? Tag us in your favourite festive creations this month :)
Until next time x