Holiday Cards in the Making — Using Old Ornaments from the Basement

I’m pulling out holiday decorations to inspire this year’s holiday cards, and my first idea came from a set of small red jingle ornaments I found in a box in the basement. They’re simple, shiny, and cheerful—perfect for a seasonal watercolor.

I start by arranging three of them together. Three objects always make for a balanced composition, but they kept rolling out of place, so I set a paper napkin underneath to keep them from shifting. With the arrangement stable, I sketch them in lightly on drawing paper using a 2H pencil. This helps me refine the layout before moving to watercolor and keeps the final piece cleaner with fewer stray lines.

Next, I test out a few reds. I still have my palette laid out from a recent class, so I experiment with different mixes and settle on a softer red by adding a touch of blue. I didn’t remember to document every step of the painting process, but the finished piece combines watercolor with a few colored pencil details to enhance areas like the cutout shapes in the ornaments.

The final step will be photographing the painting and bringing it into Photoshop to adjust the layout for a small notecard. That will be the next post—stay tuned!