No matter how busy you are, artistic expression would do you good. Creating art relieves stress, improves cognitive function and has the same effect on the brain as meditation. So whether you’ve got five minutes a week or twenty minutes a day, consider putting it toward an art project.

This fall, we’re learning to use watercolours. And the best thing we’ve learned about the process so far? You don’t have to be a master to love it. Here are a few ways we’re getting creative with colour.

Creative uses for watercolour paints

• Add salt. Create texture, like snow or leaves, by sprinkling salt onto freshly painted watercolour. Don’t be too heavy-handed; the goal is not for the salt to stick, but to sit on top of your paint. When the paint dries, simply wipe the salt away.

• Dye flowers. This is a fun experiment to undertake with the kids. Add a dime-sized amount of watercolour paint to a vase of white flowers. You can even divide the flowers into several vases, using a different watercolour base for each one. Over several days, watch the flowers take on colour.
• Spray it out. Fill a spray bottle with water and add a few dollops of watercolour paint. (More paint will result in strong colour, and less paint will give you subtle hues.) Create different patterns by spraying from varied distances.