Watercolors For Beginners, Learn How to Paint

I’d like to switch gears from my typical posts in painting in oil and focus on watercolor painting.

Before going into the step-by-step process, I want to briefly discuss mindfulness, the most important tool in creating art.

Mindfulness in Watercolor Painting

The term has taken on a trend in the self-help world, but in actuality, it’s just a way of living more fully in the moment. Paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and actions makes you more likely to make better choices for your well-being. If you start by focusing your attention on the breath, you can create space from intrusive thoughts that may inhibit self-expression. 

When mindfulness is used while painting in watercolor, you can turn your focus to letting go. Letting go while painting with watercolor is important because, due to the unforgiving nature of the medium, controlling the paint on the paper is quite difficult. If you can ‘let go’ of the so-called mistakes, then your creative process with watercolor painting is more likely to flow naturally, allowing your own unique style of painting to emerge. 

Stepping Into a Place of Mindfulness

Here are the main points to consider as you begin painting with watercolor:

• To center your energy, meditate at least 3 -5 minutes before starting to paint.

• Wet the paper. This will allow for soft tones and for the watercolors to bleed together. 

• Apply defined lines and harder edges on dry paper.

• Lift the paint with a paper towel to create lighter sections.

• Apply glazes to create more depth in your work.

• Make sure you have your supplies.

Watercolor Supply List - Beginner

• Paints:

  • Winsor & Newton Cotman 8 ml tubes

    • Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, and Viridian

    • Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache White

• Royal Langnickel Folding Palette

• Brush

  • Princeton Snap 10 Round

  • Princeton Snap 4 Round

  • Princeton Snap 1-inch

• Paper

  • Canson XL Watercolor Pad, 140 lb 9" x 12" (30 sheets)

Wetting the Paper

To begin your watercolor painting, I suggest taping a sheet of the 140 lb., 9” x 12” paper to a large, flat board.

Next, using your 1-inch flat brush, wet the paper. Make sure water doesn’t float on the surface of your paper. 

Preparing the Palette

On your Royal Langnickel Folding Palette, apply just the primary colors: cadmium red, ultramarine, blue, and cadmium yellow from Windsor Newton or M. Graham watercolor paint. Next, add a small amount of water to your palette.

Starting to Paint

Wetting your small round #10 brush, dab a little bit of cadmium red, and mix it into the water on your palette. You don’t want the resulting consistency too thick or too diluted. Gently apply the brush to the paper in random directions, and notice how it bleeds into the paper. 

Repeat the Process

Repeat the above process by applying yellow on top of the red, creating swirls of orange. This is called a wet-on-wet effect.

Alternatively, you can create the orange on your palette by mixing the cadmium red and cadmium yellow and applying this mixture to the paper. Try adding a little ultramarine blue as a contrast to the warmer tones. 

Having Fun

The important thing is to have fun! By experimenting with moving the paint on the paper, you’ll discover various techniques with varying results. With more water on your palette, you can thin the colors for softer edges. By letting the paint dry, you will create more defined lines. To lighten your painting, use a paper towel to lift colors in places. This technique is an option while the paint is still wet.

To learn more, consider enrolling in one of my Group Watercolor Classes. Or, for one-on-one learning, try a Private Lesson.

If you have any questions about classes, lessons, or how to paint watercolor, please feel free contact me.

I hope to see you soon!