Hey friends, it’s Sarah from @essjay_florals and I’m so excited to share this tutorial to create a shimmery wreath with the Pearlescent watercolour paints from Archer & Olive. When these paints were released, I knew I had to grab them, but I wasn’t sure what I could use them for. I had a think and thought it’d be fun to create one of my fave little leafy wreaths. And boy was I right, the teal and purple worked perfectly together and the gold gave it the perfect pop. Of course I had to turn it into a tutorial to share with you all. And the fun thing about shimmery watercolours is because they are more opaque than other watercolours you can use them with great success on darker paper! So, if you decide to follow this tutorial, consider using darker papers for a fun twist.

Here are the materials I used:

• A&O 3 pan watercolor Set: Pearlescent
• A&O B5 watercolor Notepad
• A&O white gel pen
• Round paintbrushes (size 4 & mini)
• Palette
• Pencil
• Helix circle maker (you can use a compass or round object)

Remember you can use my affiliate code SARAH10 to get a discount on your Watercolours, Watercolour notepads or any other Archer and Olive products!

1. Prepare your paints and pencil your base

First pencil in a circle to use for the base of your wreath. Next place a drop of water on each of your paints to start activating your paints (this is probably best to be the first step and it’s good to let it sit for a minute or so, as the longer you let it sit the more opaque the paint will be).

2. Paint your leaves

First, I lift some of the paint from the Teal and Purple pans onto my palette, I think this is an important step as I want to mix the colours a little but don’t want to mix the paints in the pans (and end up with dirty pans). Now that there is paint on the palette I begin painting the leaves and using a mix of either straight up colours from the pan or a mix of both. You can see how much variation I manage to get during the painting process just from these 2 colours. If the colour isn’t as intense as you’d like feel free to dab in extra colour as you paint the leaves.

Tip: You want to make sure your brush is wet when picking up the colour to ensure good watercolour coverage (but not too wet that it floods the page). To be honest the best way to get the feel of it is trial and error, I still often will go one way or the other, just know that if it’s too dry add some water to your brush, if too wet, dab some water off with a paper towel.

3. Add some accent leaves

Once the first layer of paint is dry (Approx 5-10 minutes or so should be enough) go back with your Gold paint and add golden leaf outlines randomly around the wreath.

Tip: if you want to speed up the drying process carefully use a hairdryer (however be careful as if you have any pools of water, it will push those around and possibly mess it up). Alternatively go grab a tea or coffee and it should be dry by the time you come back.

4. Outline your wreath

When I started creating this tutorial I had no intention of outlining, but whilst painting I thought it might add something extra, and I am glad I did. I randomly outlined leaves, and some I added the central vein. I like the random placement.

Tip: the white gel pen often draws quite light but give it a minute to dry as it should darken up.

To watch the method I used, check out this video:

If you’d like to try this wreath or want some variations to try, download the free printable to help with creating your very own wreath.

I’d love to see your recreations or take on this tutorial, and don’t forget to tag myself at @essjay_florals & @archerandolive if you’d like to share.