Watercolour. A brook streams by as a deer trots to its edge, dipping her head to it, and lapping up the cool water. Yellow-green leaves with red tinges float down from the trees that overlook it, and then drift away on a soft breeze.

All this in splashes of watercolour that give this scene a serene, calming atmosphere.

It’s not real life, but a gorgeous watercoloured painting that comes alive to all who gaze on the canvas it was painted on. Your canvas. Proudly hung on your wall and framed by demure bronze.

Passions in life

Watercolour paintings have an almost melancholy feel, perhaps even ethereal and other-worldly. They’re great fun to use to capture a scene, a moment in time, a person, a landscape, or create something from your own mind.

Perhaps it is the way painting with them affects the mood, as the brush glides on the canvas surface, that makes it such a satisfying pastime.

We know a great many people who love watercolours, and they particularly love our range of paint products that range from the standard colours you’d expect to special, mood-centric products like Two Seasons, which allow you to unleash the colours of spring and autumn. The former, the hopeful season, and latter, the romantic ending of summer before the coming of the cold.

A watercolour exercise you can do.

Mont Marte has a simple exercise to help you get into watercolour painting. Mont Marte is an arts and crafts company that produces a lot of the stock we sell. They have an excellent video which details how to paint your own watercoloured fox. It’s a good starting point before you move onto more complex types of watercolour painting.

All the painting supplies you need, including canvas, palette, easel, and, of course, brushes, are available at our PNA stores.

There is so much to do.

It isn’t just watercolour painting we want to talk about. We just love that example of how rich a particular hobby can be. All arts and crafts have their own unique depths to explore as you feed the artist within you.

Creativity is a great passion simply because the act of creation means birthing into the world a being of sorts that never existed until you made it. In a way, this connects us to the Universe – we feel part of something greater.

And creativity has been shown to have major health benefits.

A major one is it de-stresses you. Studies have shown that people with hobbies, like arts and crafts, have a lower risk of cardiovascular-related illnesses.

What will you do this year?

Another exercise to do

One doesn’t just need to paint. There are other fun crafts one can indulge in. For instance, modelling clay is a lot of fun. How about a cute turtle?

We love it too.

Here’s a lovely video “turtorial” (see what we did there?) to teach you how to do it. We have modelling clay available to you should you wish to do it. It’ll make a lovely present for a loved one. And because it’s a turtle, you know the figurine will be around for a long time!

What will you take up and what will you bring to life?

For inspiration, visit an art gallery, or follow artists on Instagram. You can even follow us on Instagram at: @pnasouthafrica. We regularly feature talented artists. We also look for interesting and beautiful pieces of art and post it to emphasise our ethos: that we are here to Colour Your World.