Painting patterns has become one of my favourite things to do while watching movies. I find it very calming, similar to those colouring books which were very popular for a while. Its fun and literally the easiest thing to do. If you can hold a paintbrush you can do this.

HOW TO PAINT PATTERNS ON PAPER

SUPPLIES

• Paper. The type of paper you buy will depend on the sort of paint you use. I prefer to use some sort of watercolour paper. But you should also keep in mind what you will be using the paper for. Thick watercolour paper isn’t the best if you’re wanting to use the patterns as wrapping paper.
• Paintbrushes. Any sort of paintbrush will work. You may want to get a finer paintbrush if you have a very intricate pattern.
• Pencils and ruler. These will be really useful if you want to draw your pattern before painting it. Depending on the complexity of the pattern you may want to try different versions in a sketchbook before choosing your favourite.
• Paint. This depends entirely on the sort of look you want your pattern to have. Watercolour is more transparent, gouache is more opaque.

PAINT PATTERNS

• Draw any kind of pattern you want. The one I am doing is based on a duvet cover I saw in IKEA.
• Paint!

And voilà. You made a pattern. Don’t worry about it being perfect. I find the imperfections make the pattern more interesting to look at. You can also use decorative paper punches to make a stencil to trace around. Just like the ones I have done below. If you really wanted to you could transfer these patterns onto large sheets of paper and create your own wrapping paper. If you have the supplies lying around this would be much cheaper than buying your own wrapping paper. It would also make the gift even more special because you make part of it yourself.

EXAMPLES