The holiday season brings with it so much inspiration, from the vibrant greens of winter foliage to the deep reds of berries and the soft whites of snow. I wanted to capture that festive, cozy feeling with hand-painted watercolor motifs that come together in a beautiful botanical pattern.

I started with simple watercolor paintings of holiday botanicals, removed the background in Procreate, and then opened them in Photoshop to create the repeat pattern.

Follow along in this 1 minute video as I work through the process of arranging the motifs. I’m considering color, scale, shape, and flow.

TIP: After I finished the video, I added a slight stippled texture in the ground. Textural backgrounds help watercolor motifs to blend with the ground color rather than appearing to sit on top of a flat ground.

If you struggle to create great watercolor pattern designs, let me know the areas that trip you up. I will try to address them in future posts.

Start by downloading this #freebie, 5 Tips for Watercolor Pattern Design. This PDF download will help you get started making great designs with watercolor motifs.