Holiday Watercolor Painting: Stress Relief for Busy Creatives
The holidays are truly my favorite time of year. I still feel like a kid in this regard, seeing the magic at every holiday-decorated corner. In fact, decorating is one of my favorite things to do during winter holidays. The other is gift wrapping. I even considered starting a gift wrapping business at one point! I also love all the holiday fanfare; the tree, the lights, the concerts, ballets, movies, the dinner, and especially the extra time with family.
The issue is that the holidays come with extra tasks. These days, who has time for extra anything? It's a paradox of mass proportion when the most special holidays of the year become the most stressful times. What a shame!
As an artist having less time to paint is a deal breaker. Watercolor painting is one of my main methods of stress relief!
When I recognized this situation, I set out to see what I could do to relieve my own seasonal stress. I went to my family and we collectively agreed to do less at the end of the year. This is a time when everyone feels exhausted, and finishing one year to begin another is no small feat. Especially when you factor in all the disappointment of the list of things you never did this year, the goals you didn’t accomplish as planned, and all the New Year's resolutions for the following year. That’s just a lot to ask of anyone!
So we spent less time prepping and cooking holiday food, but still kept the meal special. We did less shopping, but made it more fun by only going to our favorite shops. We decorated only when there was energy to do it. We gifted only where there was a need. And it worked! We felt less stressed and got to enjoy more of the holiday magic that we were craving.
Each year we think of new ways to make the holidays a better experience than the year before. Once we did very little for Thanksgiving, but took a family trip instead. That was the most memorable trip because we exchanged the routine for a new experience. It was so refreshing!
A big part of making this concept work for me was to make more time to paint during the holiday season. As I mentioned, not having time to paint just doesn’t work for me over the long term. So I had to figure out how to work it in. When I started making watercolors a part of my winter holiday process, I felt the stress start to fade away. Like having my cake and eating it too!
The secret was to make watercolors a part of my winter holiday process.
This took some planning and strategizing, but just a few simple and easy watercolor projects were all I needed to prime the pump. The important thing was making sure that these projects were filling a gap in my holiday experience. For example, last year we ran out of gift tags. So I painted a sheet of watercolor paper with some pretty holiday colored abstracts and cut them into gift tag shapes. Just like that, we had plenty of gift tags, but they were even more unique and fun to use. The satisfaction of creating something beautiful AND useful is hard to beat.
For me, it’s become addictive and I look for ways to incorporate painting into my holiday experience every year. Another of my favorite projects is handmade wrapping paper. Making some quick and easy brushstrokes with some festive colors is all you need to make a beautiful gift-wrapping presentation. Add some corresponding ribbon colors and you have yourself a lovely gift! Greeting cards can be almost as easy too. Splashing some fun colors on some watercolor card stock, and adding a touch of lettering can be easier than you might think. A gold metallic sharpie can work wonders over watercolor paints!
However, if you are just not able to create enough to satisfy the army of gifts you need to wrap or greeting cards you need to send, there’s another alternative. Printing your artwork to get more reach for the same amount of work is a wonderful solution. If you're really short on time, one piece of artwork to print multiple times is enough to do the trick.
Your local print shops are usually located in shopping centers you may already be visiting for your holiday shopping. They carry economy to premium paper thicknesses, and they can cut down any sized wrapping papers, ornament designs, or greeting cards you need. And you can pick up envelopes while you’re there too!
Don’t have time to visit the print shop? Order your printing online. With POD sites, or Print On Demand sites, you can use your watercolor art to cross off your gifts list too. That’s because POD sites will print your artwork on fabrics, tech accessories, wall art, t-shirts, notebooks, and more. POD sites print on so many different types of products that there is something for just about everyone. Socks, shoes, clothing, home goods, ornaments, and the list goes on.
You can stick to the handmade versions for each gift idea mentioned here too. Space out your painting projects so you don’t have to do them all in one sitting, and turn on some relaxing music. If you have kids or grandkids around, have them painting their own gifts alongside you. They will love being included!
I’m so excited to share some of my winter holiday projects with you, and they wouldn’t be complete without using my favorite Viviva Colors watercolor paints. They feature beautiful vivid colors, metallic color options, and they are handmade with natural dyes from the earth, vegan materials, and they are 100% sustainable! So I can feel environmentally responsible while getting my painting time in.
If you have all your gifting ideas taken care of and you just want to use watercolors for relaxation, sometimes it's hard to come up with painting ideas. That’s why I love to join holiday challenges, Not to mention a great way to meet new arty friends. Just be mindful of using their timelines and prompts as a requirement. Instead do whatever prompts you can, and don't sweat the rest. Remember this is for relaxation not to create more stress!
My favorite holiday challenge is Jenane’s 12 Days on Instagram from December 1st to the 24th with twelve prompts total. I love that she allows a day in between each prompt for some space. However, there are many more holiday challenges that you can explore and have fun with.
Still looking for that holiday watercolor inspiration? Here are some additional resources for you:
Skillshare classes Watercolor Collections: Scroll-Stopping Color Themed Art and Watercolor and Ink: From Small Illustrations to Beautiful Themed Artwork both have holiday Bonus Lessons that are designed to spur ideas. Don't have a Skillshare membership? Click either of these links and sign up to get one month free!
I have an ornament watercolor painting tutorial on YouTube that is both fun and easy to execute.
This isn’t an actual project idea, but I love to use Viviva Colors metallic watercolors for some sparkle, especially this time of year.
Below is an idea of some very simple and easy but beautiful holiday watercolor wrapping designs.
I hope that these ideas have brought you some inspiration and new strategies for fitting in some much-needed relaxing painting time during the busiest season of the year. Even with a full-time job, when you schedule in the time, and make watercolor painting part of your holiday process, this practice should leave you feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and even inspired.
Have you done this before, or are you trying it out this year? I’d love to hear your experiences, project ideas, and strategies of your own below in the comments!