DIY: Fern watercolor

As you may remember from my post last week, Monika recently turned 30 (and boys can also be jerks). As part of sister Monika's present, I wanted to paint her a little outdoors that she could bring indoors. Cue the ferns!

Grab your watercolors. If you don't have any watercolors, you can pick some up from any craft store or  even Target. The water colors I used aren't special. They're Prang and only $8 online. You'll be using both of the green options and the brown...and some water.

I looked up some pictures of ferns on my iPad for inspiration. You might want to do that, or you can just wing it.

You start by making little curved lines. These are the fern leaves. Don't worry if they're not perfect, it just makes it look whimsical, and who doesn't love nature with a touch of whimsy?

Just keep working up one side, curve the fern slightly, and make the leaves smaller as you get near the top.

Now make another side to match.

I practiced making a bunch of ferns in different color palettes before I went for my final painting.

I decided to add little fronds to the fern. All this means is that you take brown paint (not a lot of water) and dot on little fronds all over the leaves. 

I also wanted to have a little fern cluster to frame, so I gave my first fern a friend.

 Then I realized, who just wants two ferns? Why not have three ferns?

Three ferns for three sisters!

Can't wait to see Monika this weekend when she arrives from Burbank. She'll get to open her goodies, including this fern print!

Now go paint some nature (or cats!) and make sure it's full of whimsy!