The tranquility of the sea makes a lovely watercolor landscape summer painting idea. Use wet-on-wet techniques to capture the transition from darker water in the distance to lighter water up close. Add foam and whitecaps with a bit of thicker white paint.
43 Simple Watercolor Painting Ideas for Beginners for 2023
Looking to get inspired with fun watercolor painting ideas? Maybe you’ve always wanted to paint with watercolors, but you’ve been hesitant to give it a try. It can seem like a challenging medium to work in.
Would it help you to know there are a ton of simple watercolor painting ideas to get you started? And that painting in watercolors is easier than painting in oils or acrylics? It’s true!
Results of a Hofstra University study confirm that “active engagement in specific art media,” including watercolor painting, “reduced state anxiety and perceived stress in the sample population.”
In other words, taking up a new hobby like watercolor can be quite relaxing! There are so many fun and simple watercolor painting ideas to try, no matter your level of creativity. The time is right to see what it’s all about. So, grab a brush and a tray of paints and dive on in. the water(color) is fine!
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- How to Get Started With Watercolor Painting
- Easy Watercolor Painting Ideas for Beginners
- Watercolor Flowers Painting Ideas
- Watercolor Landscape Painting Ideas
- Watercolor Animals Painting Ideas
- Abstract Watercolor Painting Ideas
The best way to get started with watercolor painting to learn the basics. You can get your watercolor exploration underway quickly and easily with painting classes where you’ll learn techniques from skilled artists and top-rated teachers eager to share their skills.
For a fun group activity, try spirited paint and sip in Los Angeles, paint and sip in NYC, paint and sip in Orange County, or paint and sip near you. It’s an exciting way to develop confidence with expert guidance from some dynamite painting teachers.
Or, if in-person sessions aren’t for you, there are plenty of online painting classes available for you to learn and practice your new hobby from home!
If you’re up for making a test run on your own as you venture into watercolor painting for beginners, all you need is some watercolor paper, a tray of paint, a jar of water and some brushes. Here are some great watercolor painting ideas to get your feet wet!
Easy Watercolor Painting Ideas for Beginners
1. Fruit
Fruit is a great watercolor painting idea for using layered colors to practice the smooth contours and complex tones. Change the direction of the light to see how the colors differ and to figure out how you might capture them in watercolors.
2. Wet-on-Wet Freeform
This is one of the best watercolor painting ideas for learning how to control pigment in water. Spread some water on your paper, then pick up some color with your brush and touch it to the surface.
You’ll see the color bleed into the water in a veining pattern. Add other colors and more water to see how it changes.
3. Gradients
Try this wet-on-wet watercolor painting idea by wetting your paper first, then picking up two related colors — blue and teal, for example — and adding them to the paper, dark to light. Add other colors and spread them together to see how they interact.
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4. Geometric Shapes
These are great watercolor painting ideas for testing brush pressure. Create a shape using water first, then add some color and see what happens.
Or try loading your brush with paint and applying color directly to dry paper. You’ll start to see how watercolors work in both modes.
5. Layered Colors
Another easy watercolor painting idea for learning to blend colors is layering. Try the wet-on-wet method with a single color and let it dry. Then, add another color on top in a light wash to see the translucent tones blend.
6. Simple Still Life
Once you have a feel for it, a great watercolor painting idea to get you started are simple still-life arrangements. Try setting a few items on a tabletop in front of you and examine how the light and shadows fall on and around them. Be extra attentive to what colors you’re actually seeing.
7. Color Wheel
The easiest watercolor painting idea to get a sense of how watercolors work is a simple color wheel. Paint the primary colors in a circle or triangle pattern, then mix them together to fill in the secondary colors in between.
8. Natural Patterns
Textures such as wood, stone, marble and slate are very easy watercolor painting ideas. Use wet-on-wet and add colored washes and lines like veins or wood grain while the initial wash is still damp.
9. Insects
Try a watercolor butterfly, ladybug, caterpillar or other insects with interesting color and textural combinations. Play around with different brushes to create fuzz, shells, skin, watercolor butterfly wings and more.
Our Favorite Tutorials For A Paint And Sip Night
Have you always been interested in watercolors, but never got the chance to learn? Then our Intro To Watercolor Illustration online class is perfect for your next paint and sip night! It’s beginner-friendly and will help you tap into both creativity and relaxation.
Add something flirty and fun to your space with this lip + lipstick painting. Candace breaks down the process, making every detail easy to follow. It’s also easy to swap out the colors so that your painting reflects your favorite lipstick shade.
Bob Ross is one of our favorite painters to follow because of his calm encouragement and fun quips (“There are no mistakes, just happy accidents”). This misty island does such a good job of transporting us that we can almost smell the pine trees!
Our Acrylic Painting: Abstract Landscapes online class will give you all the tips and techniques you need to create a beautiful ocean that’ll make you feel like you’re on a beach vacation. Our part of the class is learning how to mix pastels to create your own unique shade.
Let a single bouquet of flowers take center stage with this tulip tutorial. Sticking to just a few flowers means that you can focus on making the flowers look three-dimensional with different shades of blush pink. The subtle ombré sky provides the perfect background.
Paint And Sip Night Necessities
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint Set
If you could spend the rest of your life on the beach, then this tutorial is for you. The key to making those waves look realistic is to start at the bottom, making your strokes smaller as you get closer to the horizon. Use a light hand when painting the water — you can always add more later.
Looking for floral designs for your paint and sip night? Our Watercolor Painting Class will show you how to design your own painted floral arrangement by breaking down watercolor techniques and color theory. Then you can use those tips for your other watercolor projects!
Our favorite part about this tutorial is using unconventional tools to get a one-of-a-kind look. Use a fork after you’ve painted your background for an unexpected texture, and a cluster of cotton swabs for the dandelions. They’ll give the finished painting a texture that you wouldn’t be able to get with a brush.
This Acrylic Painting Class is exactly what you need to learn about palettes, blending, and how you can prep your canvas before painting. The abstract style is super fun and bright, and happens to be the perfect way to add personality to any room in your home.
The key to this galaxy hair painting is blending, and blending a lot. Take your time building up the base before adding some of the lighter colors on top so that the finish product turns out the way that you want it to. You can blend with both your brush and a paper towel to ensure that the edges of each color fade into one another. For stars, you’ll just want to splatter a watered-down white paint right onto the canvas.
To give your lips that rounded shape, make sure you’re painting curved lines instead of straight ones. Arched strokes will give it that rounded look. For the paint drips, focus a large quantity of paint on a single area. You might need to experiment with different paint:water ratios until you find the one that works best for your art, so feel free to try on a blank canvas before trying it on your painting.
This Watercolor Painting and Digitization online class will help you learn how to turn all of your artwork into digital files — aka you’ll have an unlimited amount of screensavers! You’ll also learn how to paint different fruits, like blood oranges, lemons, and strawberries.
This painting starts with all of the deep purple shades and adds the lighter, warm colors of the sunset right on top. Don’t feel the need to load up your brush with color; using less paint will allow you to blend the shades and create an image that looks realistic.
Don’t worry about perfectly blending the background of this paint and sip artwork — being able to see both the white and the black will add more dimension. The same goes for the cherry blossom tree. Start with dots of the darkest color, then the medium shade, then the lightest pink for the illusion of sunshine.
If you want to take all of your projects to the next level, try out this Watercolor Calligraphy online class. The techniques you’ll learn give a sophisticated edge to all of your cards, notes, and future artwork.
The simple color palette of this piece really lets the artistry of the silhouette and the moon shine through. Plus, pink and blue just looks gorgeous together! If you’d rather have the moon be the focus on the painting, you can minimize or cut out the trees and the grass.
Want a step-by-step breakdown of painting with watercolors? Try out our Watercolor Painting: Plants + Succulents online class to get an inside look at conventional and unconventional techniques that will give you beautiful additions to both your wall art and your houseplant collection.
Have you ever hosted a paint and sip night? Let us know how it went in the comments, and check out our DIY and Creativity page for more artsy inspo.
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.
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Chloe Williams serves as B+C’s Assistant Editor, entertainment lead, and resident Taylor Swift expert. Whether she’s writing a movie review or interviewing the stars of the latest hit show, Chloe loves exploring why stories inspire us. You can see her work published in BuzzFeed, Coastal Review, and North Beach Sun. When she’s not writing, Chloe’s probably watching a Marvel movie with a cherry coke or texting her sister about the latest celebrity news. Say hi at @thechloewilliams on Insta and @popculturechlo on Twitter!
Chloe Williams
Chloe Williams serves as B+C’s Assistant Editor, entertainment lead, and resident Taylor Swift expert. Whether she’s writing a movie review or interviewing the stars of the latest hit show, Chloe loves exploring why stories inspire us. You can see her work published in BuzzFeed, Coastal Review, and North Beach Sun. When she’s not writing, Chloe’s probably watching a Marvel movie with a cherry coke or texting her sister about the latest celebrity news. Say hi at @thechloewilliams on Insta and @popculturechlo on Twitter!
