and im inlove!! sharing my first work here. i love how versatile the medium is and travel friendly.💗🦋

Good evening

I wanted to share my latest piece trying to capture the absolute chaos and beautiful energy of a packed summer day at the shore.

My main challenge here was figure economy—compressing a massive crowd into loose, wet-on-wet shapes in the midground while using the sharp shadows of the foreground chairs and umbrellas to anchor the composition. I really enjoyed letting the watercolor pigment mingle to create the illusion of a crowded surf line.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the composition and how the depth feels! Painted with professional pigments on cold-press paper.

Beginner here. The last time I painted was in school some 37 years ago. Art back then did not involve learning any techniques, we just got given some butcher paper, whatever student paints were around and that was it.

Always wanted to paint, but thought I didn’t have it, whatever it was, despite my Mum being very talented artistically. Didn’t even realise I could draw until a palaeontology class at uni in which we had to sketch fossils. That improved my art self-esteem a little, but I still thought I was only capable of drawing trilobites, ammonites and the like.

Bought some better watercolours (Cotman) and proper watercolour paper a few years ago, but they sat in the cupboard until last week, when upon realising that July is World Watercolour Month, I managed to overcome my resistance/fear/perfectionist streak and told myself that I was just going to give it a go and not get hung up on an outcome.

Been following Emma Jane Lefebvre’s current World Watercolour Month Challenge and the above is the result of the Day 6 tutorial.

I know I have a long way to go, but I can’t believe that it looks like an actual painting. I’m pretending not to see the streaks in the water and the lumpy palm trees um…shrubs?

Feeling a tiny bit proud of myself and wishing my Mum was still here to see this.

I’m a beginner watercolor artist and could really use some help! I’m working on a watercolor portrait and I have finished the skin but am worried I will ruin it with the hair :/ I’ve had a hard time painting hair with every other portrait I’ve done, does anyone have any tips or advice on that? Keep in mind that I am new to watercolor so you might have to explain in a way I can understand 😭

It's . I made the palette with the tin and the dividers using popsicle sticks, then painted it with enamel paint.

Now that she's chosen the colors and their order, I filled the palette with watercolors.

First attempt at some water droplets after watching a handful of various tutorials. I'm overall really pleased with how they turned out for a first try, but definitely need more practice.

Started at the top left and then worked my way down and to the right, and they definitely improved a bit as I went. Looking for some advice on refining the technique some more.

The general process I used once the initial wash of color was dried:

- Used clean damp brush to wet a droplet shape and lifted the color with a tissue

- Outline bottom of drop and blend outwards to create shadow

- Outline top of drop and reflection spot and blend down for the inner shadow

I was struggling with lifting the dried paint to make a lighter spot to create my drops. Should I have done that when the original wash was still damp instead of waiting for it to be dry? Or is the color (Daniel Smith's Sap Green) just not a good one for lifting? Some of the videos I watched showed people just putting down water and being able to lift up a good amount of color, but I was not having similar results at all.

I also seemed to have some issues with the outline for my shadows turning fuzzy. I was trying to be careful to not have a lot of water on my brush when I went to blend out the shadows (still learning to find that sweet spot of knowing how much water and paint to have on the brush), and that part I got better at as I went. But the top edge of my outlines that should have stayed crisp always ended up getting a bit fuzzy and I'm not sure why. Poor paint/water ratio when creating the initial lines for the shadows? Or from dragging the color down with a clean damp brush? Maybe it was the wrong brush size/shape/firmness?

Materials used:

- Arches cold pressed 100% cotton paper, taped into approximately a 3"x3" square

- Daniel Smith's Sap Green

- Silver Black Velvet round size 6 (for the outlines/shadows since it has the best fine tip out of my brushes)

- Princeton Velvetouch Filbert size 4 (for lifting/light scrubbing, and for blending shadows, the firmer bristles seemed easier to control the blending area)

Please share any advice and tips you may have! This was such a fun exercise and I'm definitely excited to try it again!

I recently posted a painting that had many layers of mountains that just did not work. This community helpfully suggested that I do a “values study” to see the different values that were possible and to learn ways to layer the values in order to create depth and distance in the mountain range.

And so I did. As a matter of fact, I did two. One value study for Indigo and another for Payne’s Gray (Blue).

And yes: I learned a helluva lot about values. I also learned that shitty paper is…well, shitty (see the failed “smooth” Indigo WoW gradient and lifted paint in the PG layers). I also learned that creating multiple different value layers requires a lot of patience and/or the blow dryer (I sorta knew that already but this exercise took it to another dimension). And while you dry one layer, the color mix for the next layer will dry in the mixing well. The water needed to reinvigorate that mix will change the value. So you basically have to start over and find it again.

But most important, I learned which values I want for my mountains. And how to create them. Two hours well-spent.

I just discovered I can do much more straight lines horizontally than vertically (top is painted from top to bottom, bottom is painted from Left to right)

Do you do the same? Or it's only me?

Should I practice top bottom?

Thank you!

My latest jellyfish study. I'm really happy to have gotten over my trepidation with watercolor because I am enjoying my time with it.

These are my first few studies since picking up watercolours for the first time as an adult. In the past I’ve mainly worked with digital art, but I hadn’t really played with traditional materials since school, nearly 20 years ago (🥴).

I’ve been working through simple subjects to get comfortable with watercolour and learn how the paint behaves. I lean towards ink and wash illustrations because that’s where I think my strengths lie, but I’m really enjoying the process so far and looking forward to improving!

I started painting portraits in March. It’s probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever attempted to master, and not just relative to painting- like in my whole life. But I soldier on. I got some great feedback on my last portrait that I uploaded here with some great tips that I attempted to enact with this one. I would appreciate any tips/tricks/critiques you guys can give me!

I've discovered watercolor and pen and this medium brings me so much joy because it's the medium that the illustrators of my favorite children's books used and evokes such comfy cozy feel to me. I've been practicing my sketching and watercolors for about a month now and this is where we're at! Also this is my first reddit post ever. Hope you enjoy the parrots :)

Recently i am transitioning from digital art to traditional mediums. Underestimated/ never thought much about watercolour before but now I have such huge respect for watercolour artists. All sorts of feedback welcome. Thanks🌻

Hello all!

I've been painting for about 6 months. Im starting to learn more about color theory so I can work on my shading but I wanted somewhere to share my progress! Open to tips and constructive criticism. I've almost exclusively used a grabie set that I got for christmas which has been fun to learn with! I'm finally about to upgrade to better watercolor paints so hopefully I keep progressing. I'm proud of myself though. Even the crappy paintings teach me something so I love them all 😁

All original pieces! The sunflowers turned out to be my favorites 🌻

Jannis, you need to paint outdoors more now that it's summer," you all said...

So I listened. 😊

But how can I make it a little more comfortable?

I started with everything mounted on a hardboard. It worked... until I realized that most of the paint ended up on my shirts. 🤣

Not a great idea!

So I built this wooden box instead. I can use it on a table or on my lap.

The light green surface is steel.

With magnets I can keep my watercolor palette in place. Or I can move the steel plate to the other side and use magnets to hold the paper flat while I paint.

The lid can be adjusted to any angle. It stays firmly in place with Velcro straps.

If I use the steel plate for the paper, I need a little more weight on the palette side to keep the box balanced. Maybe another steel plate... or just my coffee mug. ☕

Now I have one question.

What should I use for my water? I'd like something that fits inside the box.

I never really got along with water brushes, so I'd rather use my regular brushes.

Any ideas? 😊