Need the best and easiest watercolor painting hacks, tips and ideas that all the professionals use to make amazing paintings? Well, if you’re like me, you’ve been searching far and wide for the only the very best watercolor tutorial.  So, here it is, the watercolor secrets that I use to make award winning paintings that are so straight-forward even beginners can benefit and pros can be inspired!

Congratulations on exploring the wonderful world of watercolor painting, it’s such a gorgeous medium to use! If you’ve been doing all the research to learn the best possible ideas right from the start, your search is over. Being an artist myself, I’m giving you only the easiest of the best watercolor ideas with the most payoff and that I’ve successfully used myself. 

You are going to learn all about the pro but easy watercolor painting ideas, watercolor painting for beginners, watercolor painting flowers, watercolor painting landscape, abstract watercolor painting, simple watercolor painting, salt watercolor painting, convert photo to watercolor painting, watercolor art ideas and more! 

As an artist myself with decades of painting award-winning watercolor paintings, I can tell you first hand the best watercolor painting ideas that are guaranteed to instantly elevate your artwork to pro!

This post is all about the very best watercolor painting ideas that every artist and painter can learn. 

Only The Very Best Watercolor Painting Ideas

1.Watercolor Painting for Beginners 

Here are the basic basics to get you started!

• Paint on a flat surface, you lose control if you use an easel.
• Buy a block of watercolor paper. The pages are adhered on the sides keeping it from warping while you’re painting.  When you’re done you just peel off the page!
• For smooth even paint without harsh lines keep the paper wet, spray bottles to the rescue!
• Try watercolor markers or stamps in addition to your brushes for fun and interesting marks.
• Tilt the page before the paint dries. The organic drips are an easy start to forest trunks, grassy fields or flower stems.
• For specific shapes, block out paint with tape. Pro tip, check your tape before using it to be sure it’s not TOO sticky or loose.
• Mistakes- while you can’t paint over mistakes, you can use white paint or gouache (opaque paint) to cover them. There is also a little sponge I love called magic eraser that can absorb the paint mistake. 

You can get a magic eraser by clicking here 

Watercolor painting for beginners can be overwhelming without tis knowhow. My goal is to give you all the information you need to not only nail watercolor painting but to have fun with it!

2.Watercolor Painting Flowers 

Here are the steps I use for watercolor painting flowers:

Pick three colors that you love or work well together.  I like to choose a mix of complimentary colors (opposite on the color wheel) and analogous colors (next to each other) such as blue, yellow and orange.

Wet a small round brush and barely touch your paint, create a light horizontal oval shape, then pick up a bit more paint with your brush, create an upside down triangle under the oval spreading the paint up to the wet oval letting the colors blend. Repeat this process on the page

For interesting flowers, keep in mind:

• Have one “flower” be larger, dominant
• Keep an odd number of flowers 
• Vary the height and width of the flowers
• Have at least one go off the page
• Don’t “mess with” these flowers once you have the two shapes down, overworking paint is a common rookie mistake!

Then, while the paint is still wet, add gorgeous shapes and interest by blowing air on the flowers use a hair dryer or embossing heat gun.

 

Check out this great embossing heat gun at Amazon  – click here.

 

Time for stems! You can use a thinner brush, or a pen (watercolor, alcohol or just plain ol’ bic – any pen works!).

Start at the bottom of the flower and drag the paint or pen down the page.  Again for interest,  DON’T draw a straight stem or straight down. 

Have fun adding leaves and other elements, be sure and vary the number and shape of these elements.

Fill in the leaves with a variety of greens and yellows.  Let some be darker than others.

These are all the steps you need for creating amazing watercolor painting flowers, so easy right?

3.Watercolor Painting Landscape

It’s very easy to paint a landscape with watercolors!  

To start, you want to mentally divide your paper into horizontal thirds or “layers.” 

• Top third = sky (bright blue or stormy gray)
• Second third = background (mountains, forest, buildings)
• Third third = foreground (lawn, field, garden, street)

 For beginners it’s also best to start with one or two colors. Complimentary colors always work.

[Related post: Killer Guide To Painting For Beginners In Only 9 Steps]

First, I generously wet the top 1/3 of the paper.  Then with a wide brush  pick up some purple paint. Start at the top of the page and work your way down the page until the brush runs out of paint.   I use a rag or paper towel to pick up the wet paint near the bottom to create “clouds.”

While this dries, I do the same in reverse with the bottom third of the page to create the third layer or foreground.  Slightly wet the paper then add a mixture of green and yellow (lime) paint starting at the bottom of the paper and working your way up until the paint runs out and then blot this area with a cloth.

Then, I paint the middle third, the background or mountains (simple elongated triangles) in this case. I make sure to vary the purple color for interest.

Lastly, after it’s all dried, with a mix of green and purple (dark green) paint with no, or very little, water I add trees, fence and shrubs to the foreground. I also mix white, lime and purple (creamy white) and add to the clouds. This is all for contrast and interest.  You could also add a barn, a garden, birds, crops or people.

Watercolor painting landscapes couldn’t be easier! Feel free to send me your pictures.

4.Abstract Watercolor Painting

Watercolor is the most fun medium for abstract painting!  The way the colors bleed together, spread with water, react to the addition of air and salt is magical!  

The key to creating abstract watercolors is to not try too hard.  

My favorite way to create the best abstract painting is the following:

• Use a large sheet of high quality watercolor paper such as Archer’s which you can purchase by clicking here  
• Tape it down to your surface so it doesn’t buckle.  
• Pick a few colors that work well together, again complimentary and analogous colors always work well together. 
• Then, just play.  Add wet and dry paint all over the paper in a random fashion.
• Use a condiment bottle or a hair dryer to blow the paint around. 
• Drip paint, smear paint, blot paint.
• Add various elements such as salt and rubbing alcohol to create amazing effects.  
• Drag pine needles, rags and spatulas through the paint to see what happens. 
• When you’re done, and it’s all dry, use an exacto knife to carve out the areas you like the most and mat them.  
• You can purchase this great exacto knife at Kmart for less than 2 bucks by clicking here!

Here’s an example of an abstract watercolor painting you can create using the steps above and the complementary colors blue and yellow:

[Another post that might interest you: 12 Wowza Ways Markers Can Improve Your Artwork- click here]

5. Simple Watercolor Painting  

Here are some easy go-to ideas for simple watercolor painitng:

Simple grass:

Make vertical lines with white crayon on the bottom of watercolor paper.

Paint over the marks with green paint.

The crayon resists the paint and makes perfect grassy marks.  

Garden:

Load a 1 inch brush with lots of water then dip in in paint and tap it on your hand, or run your finger through the brush, to splatter the paint on the page to create little “flowers.”

Then tap the brush to the page to add larger flowers. 

Paint some blue streaks at the top of the page for a sky.

Wash:

Add large amounts of water to your paper.

Drop in paint and watch it spread.  

Use different colors to simulate a landscape, garden or forest. 

Texture:

You can dab crinkled plastic wrap to wet paint to move the paint in a random fashion or add the plastic to wet paint, paint over it, then remove when dried for a beautiful subtle effect. 

Forget the brushes: 

Use a sponge instead of a brush to create bolder organic shapes that are perfect to simulate leaves, birds, flowers, etc. quickly.

The best watercolor paintings are simple watercolor paintings, so resist the urge to overwork or control it!

6.Salt Watercolor Painting

The most “famous” and fun texture to create with watercolor paint is to add plain ol’ table salt, it’s magic!

All you have to do is sprinkle table salt on wet paint.

Salt absorbs paint and adds a surprisingly wonderful texture. This texture can imply leaves, fireflies, stars or sea coral depending on the context.

Salt watercolor paintings can also make a wonderful background for a more elaborate painting.

7.Watercolor Art Ideas – yes even more!

Looking for ideas beyond landscapes and flowers on paper? Here you go!

Try a new subject: If you’re bored with landscapes and flowers, try painting umbrellas, shoes, pet faces, eyes, food or doors. 

Try a new surface: Paint words over a printed landscape or a landscape over the printed word like newsprint, paint on wood, paint on a printed greeting card or photo, or paint in a journal to create a book.

Try new textures: We talked about salt and some other textures above but here are some more: Block paint with tape or rubber cement. Once removed, it’s an easy way to create buildings, roads, cars or animals in a landscape.  Add pieces of tissue paper to your  watercolors to create unique shapes and texture. Use wax or crayons to block paint and give textural interest.  

Cover part of a wooden or glass surface with watercolor grounds. This gives an almost paper like surface that creates a beautiful effect when painted with watercolors. 

Click here to get Golden’s, one of the best watercolor grounds on the market. 

Watercolor art ideas are limitless- the idea is to think of painting as a fun experiment and not get caught up in a “perfect” outcome.

[This may be another post of interest: 9 Genius Art Party Ideas To Sell Art (& Have A Blast!)]

8.Easy Watercolor Painting Ideas

Check out these other powerful but easy watercolor painting ideas:

Smooshing:

When the paint is wet, take a small plastic bag, like a sandwich baggie, and dab the paint to pick it up.  Then on another part of the painting, smoosh the baggie with the paint onto the surface for a cool effect.  

Watercolor Stamps:

Don’t want to use watercolors but still want the look? If you want a watercolor look without all the supplies, try watercolor markers or stamps like this: 

You can get a huge variety of water color stamps like these by clicking here

In sum, your imagination is the best tool for creating easy watercolor painting ideas! 

9.Convert photo to watercolor painting

If you’re still getting used to watercolors but have a favorite photo you want to turn into a watercolor painting, there’s an app for that! 

Here are my top choices and the pros and cons of each:

Prisma– this was one of the first and is still a solid painting app.  

On the plus side it has many different features that allow you to adjust the painterly effect until you achieve exactly what you want.  

On the negative side, you have to use the paid subscription to get the best features.

Pics art is a free app with loads of features.  

For instance, you can turn a photo into a sketch or many variations of a painting.  

The down side is the options can be overwhelming and it takes up a lot of space on your phone. 

Waterlogue is an app that focuses only on watercolor painting. 

You can even control some of the effects best known to watercolor paint like bleeding and fading.  

The down side is that the effects are relatively limited and it’s not updated frequently.

Portrait Painter is best for people and pets.  

You can choose brushstrokes, brightness, texture, canvas type and more.  You can even order a print of your fave.  

While there’s nothing to stop you from using a landscape photo, it’s not best suited for that. 

These apps that convert a photo to watercolor painting can also give you great ideas for your own paintings!

This post is all about watercolor painting ideas.

Other Posts You May Like:

 

• 12 Wowza Ways Markers Can Improve Your Artwork

• How This Amazing Planner Changed My Art Career And Life