If you’re looking to get started with watercolour painting or you’re looking for practice ideas, you’ve come to the right place. These easy watercolour painting ideas are perfect for beginners, or if you’ve been out of the game and would like to start practising again.
Watercolour is my favourite medium. I love how the colours can bleed into each other and how you can either create something modern and loose or more refined and realistic.
I visited a variety of resources online to find these easy and inspiring watercolour painting ideas. You’ll find ideas and tutorials of fruits, food, flowers, plants, and more. Watercolour painting is a very relaxing way to unwind and level up your skills at the same time. Have fun!
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Easy Watercolour Painting Ideas
I hope these ideas inspire you!
Watercolor heart painting
These modern watercolour heart paintings can make great Valentine’s Day cards. You can use masking fluid to paint the transparent lines, then once it dries, paint over it with watercolour. Once that dries, you can remove the masking fluid using your fingers or and eraser.
Watercolor Beetles
Did you know what you can paint these cute watercolor beetles by just using basic shapes? See the full tutorial here.
Seasonal Watercolor Trees
Trees are fun and easy to create because you paint it by just creating dots and blobs on the page. This tutorial shows you step-by-step how to paint these beautiful trees. See the tutorial here.
Watercolor coneflower painting
These red watercolour echinacea/coneflowers are simple to create and look pretty.
Watercolor monstera leaf idea
If you’re got your own monstera plant at home, why not paint it? This simple leaf painting can be done with one colour. Before the paint dries, dab a little more paint into the centre to create more depth. It creates a beautiful effect.
Watercolor Mountains
This watercolor mountain painting is a great exercise in painting perspective. See the full tutorial here.
Simple Watercolor Fish
You can paint these colourful fish by using two simple brush strokes. See the full video tutorial here.
Watercolor Jellyfish
Paint a jellyfish in these beautiful purple and pink colors. See the full video tutorial here.
Paint Colorful Feathers using Watercolor Brush Pens
This is a step by step tutorial that shows you to paint vibrant feathers using watercolour brush pens. But you can easily swop it out for watercolour paints too. These illustrations would make great cards or wall art.
Paint 4 loose style small watercolour flowers
If you want to practice watercolour florals, this video is for you. These flowers make great supporting elements in a flower bouquet, or simply on their own. You could create birthday cards or Mother’s Day cards with these beautiful, dainty florals.
Simple Watercolour Autumn Branch
Branches are always fun to paint and they help you practice controlling your brush. This video teaches you how to paint a sweet branch with various Autumn coloured leaves.
Ink and watercolour monstera illustration
This idea combines ink and watercolour to create a pretty monstera plant in a pot. I love the splash of colour on the leaves. Be sure to visit the creator’s Instagram page to see a full tutorial on how to draw this plant.
Teal and gold watercolour branch
I love the combination of teal green and gold on this leaf. The creator used gold watercolour paint to paint the gold details.
Cute Watercolour Watermelon
How cute is this watercolour watermelon on a stick?
Simple watercolour leaf with ink outline
I love the simplicity and the loose style of this watercolour leaf. The ink outlines haven’t been filled in fully with the watercolour paint and it creates such a modern and charming effect. It shows what amazing artwork you can create with just a few supplies!
Easy watercolour cactus
This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint a watercolour cactus. A wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry technique is used here to achieve the final result. See the full tutorial here.
Abstract watercolour and mark making
Kristina creates beautiful abstract watercolour paintings using colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel. The paint blends are beautiful and unique to watercolours. Try out this watercolour project and frame it as wall art!
How to paint a watercolour orange
DearAnnArt has tons of watercolour fruit tutorials on her Instagram.
How to paint a watercolour cherry
This is another image from DearAnnArt’s watercolour fruit tutorials on her Instagram. She shows you step-by-step how to paint these beautiful cherries.
Abstract watercolor painting for beginners by Fox + Hazel
If you love abstract art, you’ll love this tutorial. This is a simple but striking watercolor painting that you can hang up and frame. See the tutorial here.
How to Paint a Watercolor Ice-Cream by DearAnnArt
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to paint this yummy vanilla ice-cream cone. See the full tutorial here.
Watercolor Spring Tree Tutorial with Crumpled Paper by A Piece of Rainbow
You don’t need any art experience to paint these spring trees. It’s amazing to think they were created with crumpled paper! See the tutorial here.
How to Paint Watercolor Agate Slices by Persia Lou
I love the bright blue shades used in this watercolor tutorial. You could use other bright colors too like green, pink or purple! See the full tutorial here.
Watercolor Umbrella by DearAnnArt
Learn how to paint a pink watercolor umbrella step-by-step with this tutorial. You’ll know exactly where to place the highlights and shadows. See the full tutorial here.
Watercolor peaches tutorial
Watercolour is the perfect medium to paint peaches because you can create these beautiful blends. See the full tutorial here.
Easy Step by Step Watercolor Butterflies by Yasmina
Here is a video tutorial by Yasmina Creates where she shows you how to paint these bright, vivid watercolor butterflies using a wet on wet technique.
Watercolor Mushrooms by Shayda Campbell
Shayda always makes her tutorials easy to understand for beginners. Here you’ll learn how to paint these beautiful watercolor mushrooms.
How to Paint Watercolor Moons by Emma Jane
Learning how to paint these gorgeous watercolor moons will not only be relaxing, you can also use your art to hang up on your walls, or make a gift for a space-themed nursery.
How to Paint Watercolor Autumn Leaves by Shayda Campbell
How beautiful are these Autumn leaves in watercolor? The season of Autumn has always been my favorite.
Paint Loose Watercolor Florals by CeeCee
If you want to paint loose watercolor florals, this tutorial is for you. These paintings will make great Mother’s Day cards.
How to paint easy watercolour sunflowers
Watch this video by Emily Wassell to teach you how to paint striking sunflowers with watercolour.
8 Watercolor Techniques for Beginners
These techniques are perfect for beginners, or even if you just want to warm up.
I’m a huge fan of learning to paint using videos because you can see everything in real time, step-by-step. Here are two of my favourite beginner-friendly watercolour painting classes from Skillshare.
More Easy Watercolour Painting Resources
15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces Book
If you love DearAnnArt’s bite-sized watercolour tutorials as much as I do, you’ll LOVE her book, 15-minute Watercolor Masterpieces. I have it and I find it so helpful!
Modern Watercolour for Beginners Class on Skillshare
In this class by Roselyn Carr she teaches how to get started with watercolour painting. She goes over how to setup your colour palette, how much water to use, blending techniques, layering techniques, and much more. Check out the class trailer here.
How to create color palettes with watercolor on Domestika
In this course, Ana Victoria will teach you the knowledge of mixing and color theory so that you develop two color palettes applied to illustrations. See the full course here.
Learn to Paint Botanical Watercolors with a Modern Twist
One of the top teachers on Skillshare, Cat Coquillette, teaches how to paint these modern botanical watercolor art pieces. This class is for beginners and advanced level artists. I love the bright colors used and the whitespace used. See the class here.
5. Vibrant Floral Patterns with Watercolors
In this course by Anna Lau, you will learn how to create a floral pattern composition with watercolors and apply it to a product or stationery. This course on Domestika contains over 2 hours of video content. Once you have purchased it you own it and keep access to it forever! There are no monthly fees. See the course here.
Conclusion
I hope you got inspired browsing through these easy watercolour painting ideas! If this post was helpful to you, please pin the graphic below to Pinterest, or share this post on social media.
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