Our philosophy that art has the power to make you feel good means that we try to reach as many people as we can to help boost their wellbeing. While we are closed to the public due to government advice, we're sharing loads of ways to stay creative at home.

"Art for Normals" blogs are aimed at everyone. We want you all to feel good with a bit of art. No artistic knowledge or, dare we say it, talent required!

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Make some all-natural artwork using leaves and wildflowers, or create a lasting memory from a meaningful floral bouquet.

Equipment needed:

To press the flowers:

• Flowers, leaves and plants to press
• Heavy book
• Paper (re-use some, have a rummage through your recycling pile)
• Something heavy (could be a box or more books)

To create your pressed flowers artwork:

• Paper or card
• Pens and pencil
• Glue
• Pressed flowers and plants

First we need to press some flowers. There are loads of different methods but the simplest is just to press your plants inside a big heavy book. A dictionary or thesaurus or an encyclopedia would be perfect for this.

1. Start by selecting your plants or flowers. Smaller flowers work best, although you can press large flowers like our rose.

2. Fold a piece of paper in half and then unfold it. Arrange a couple of the flowers on one half of the paper. Arrange the petals so that you will be able to see the shape of the flower once it is pressed. Carefully fold the other side of the paper over the plants and gently flatten them with your hands.

Do the same with all the rest of your plants in different sheets of paper. 

3. Now tuck each folded piece of paper into the heavy book. Space them out throughout the book.

Place the book with all the plants inside somewhere safe, dry and out the way. Then pile something heavy on top to help flatten the flowers. We used a heavy box! 

Leave the book for at least a week. The longer you leave them the better, but 2 weeks will be perfect!

  

Now you are ready to get creative with your pressed flowers! You could use them on their own, they look beautiful arranged in a frame. Or you could use them to create a collage artwork like we have:

4. Arrange your pressed flowers on the page however you want. You can cut or tear off pieces to shape them. Break off stems and tear up leaves.

5. Once you are happy with the arrangement add dabs of glue to stick it all in place.

There you have it! A beautiful, natural artwork. You could press flowers that have meaning to you, from a gifted bouquet from a loved one or a particularly beautiful flower you've grown in your garden. Wild flowers in particular work very well.

We'd love to see what you come up with, so please do share your creations on social media or in the comments.