Out of all the free resources I have provided you with, I’m quite sure you have plenty to go on in improving your watercolor painting skills. However, I understand that to continuously learn and challenge yourself, you must have a pool of watercolor painting ideas for beginners.
You might have been scouring the internet for a while now, looking for watercolor inspiration only to find some of them too difficult to follow.
So, I made this blog to shake your brain bush and inspire you with twenty (20) watercolor painting ideas. I’ve hand-painted these myself, and I posted them on my Instagram.
Watercolor Inspiration/Watercolor Painting Ideas for Beginners
As a testament to my journey (thus far) from beginner to pro and my love for educating people, I wrote the book The Beginner’s Guide to Watercolor, and this painting is on it.
See the fun and playfulness of the beautiful watercolors in this painting. They all project a happy, cloudy day in an open field.
See how I sprinkled some colors on the bottom to loosely imitate a field of flowers? You can try using this technique in drawing your own flower field as well. Perhaps, you should make it more prominent in your painting.
This looks like it came out of a fairytale book, don’t you think?
What I love is how the white space appears like a wall because of the hazy, colorful shadow-like dabs of paint beneath the more defined florals and foliage and the window itself.
Perhaps you can experiment with these colorful shadows as well.
This painting could have easily been imprinted in my subconscious when I watched Tangled. A great watercolor painting ideas for beginners indeed!
Find inspiration in out-of-focus images by translating them into beautiful watercolor paintings.
This is akin to those animations that look magical or heavenly. Hazy backgrounds, defined focal elements, and sparkles.
Try creating bokeh paintings. You might just be a natural at it.
How’s this for drama? This painting is close to being monochromatic, yet it’s as good as a vibrant painting in evoking emotions.
This is how the skies would look when the sun is a few moments away from gracing the earth with its presence. The birds flying towards the slightly lit sky seem to symbolize our chasing the light instead of staying in the glooms.
Try controlling color volumes of the same color and paint how your surroundings would look in the dusk. Or, perhaps you can paint a moment in your life when you refused to stay in the glooms.
You can never go wrong when you draw and paint floral and foliage wreaths. How amazing does this look?
You can create many variations with wreaths. It can be 100% flowers or leaves or a Christmas wreath with candles and ribbons which is perfect for the holidays.
Watercolor wreaths are not only frame-worthy; they also allow you to practice brush positions, directions, and strokes.
Coming of a new day, a symbol of hope and rising— whatever you feel about this image, it’s a great inspiration and watercolor painting idea.
It’s another painting that demonstrates how color volume creates a distance among objects.
Another great watercolor inspiration is a bouquet, but one that is more whimsical than just being made with flowers.
This painting looks like a tiny bunch of nature with all the flowers, leaves, fruits, and blues and browns that could represent the land and the sea.
Perhaps this can joggle your memory and recreate some of the most whimsical paintings you have ever seen.
Challenge yourself in creating paintings that mimic old photographs from the 50s. This is an excellent exercise if you are not yet ready to immerse in color mixing but are very eager to master controlling color and water ratios.
You can create variations of this painting by using other hues depending on your mood or the time of day you want this close-up landscape to be in.
I don’t know about you, but this gorgeous plein air painting gives me the chills almost literally. It looks like it could be a cover of a mystery novel or the view of someone exploring a cold, foggy wood forest just after sunset.
Regardless, this hand-painted picture should give you some ideas on what to paint next; maybe an alternative cover of a book you just finished reading?
Swipe left and see the tutorial for this painting.
Can you feel the sun on your face just by looking at this picture? Bright skies, plain fields, wildflowers- this beautiful, beginner-friendly watercolor painting should shake your brain bush for some summer memories that are worth painting.
Got a trip that you can’t seem to forget? How about recreating your favorite scene from a fun sunny weekend?
The possibilities are endless and the world is your oyster if you are looking for watercolor painting ideas for beginners!
The skies look like fall (or jus), and the ground looks like winter. The contrast of warm and cool colors gives a watercolor painting so much life and vigor that it demands attention from its audience.
Let this watercolor painting inspire your creativity to explore complimentary colors so you can create standout, vibrant paintings.
See how the faint edges make this bouquet look like it’s fading? I love loose painting; it’s so freeing and therapeutic.
When you run out of watercolor painting ideas, you can explore your loose painting skills by creating your own fading bouquet from different perspectives.
Perhaps you can paint this from a top view. Or just paint something that makes you feel so free and in sync with your brushes.
You never run out of subjects if you look to nature for clues. Nature is ever-changing. Its raw, wild beauty will always give you something to paint about.
And while you are at it, paint the harmony you see, like the gorgeous mix of colors in this painting that work so well together.
When you get a close-up shot of the grass during sunrise with the golden sky as the out-of-focus background, this is what you get.
I love the colors of sunset which is why I try to take a photo as much as I can.
When you take plenty of pictures, you will notice how much inspiration can come from your shots and be surprised you have another watercolor painting idea for beginners.
When you encounter creative block, think about the trips you had with your family, or a story of someone else’s family trip that was so detailed you can paint an image in your head. Well, how about you paint that image on watercolor paper this time?
This is an image of sunset by a tropical beach that is pretty much everyone is familiar with.
This painting is not just about the summit but the grandeur of nature. Every time you stand in front of nature in awe, that is always worth painting about.
Think about the times when a raw view of nature left you speechless and try to recreate what you experienced through painting.
Creating variations of your existing paintings or painting them using different techniques should keep you artistically occupied and filled with painting ideas. So, try recreating your paintings using the negative painting technique and see what happens.
Who says rocks are boring? Rocks are an essential part of any landscape painting. In fact, like leaves or trees, they’re almost always a part of it.
So, here’s a painting idea for you: aside from creating this rock painting, practice painting the elements of a landscape so that you can, at some point, put them together and produce a realistic painting.
Try to go outside and paint the first rock you see, you’ll be surprised that even the simplest thing can be a great watercolor painting idea for beginners.
Creating seafoam should be interesting for a beginner like you. Don’t worry if you are not on this skill level yet. You can start by creating seafoam by the shore or putting tiny waves in the sea when you paint beaches.
This painting can also inspire you to paint the ocean as you see it during a boat ride.
Whether Plein air by the beach or just chillin’ on the sand, any body of water is a great way to shake up some watercolor painting ideas for beginners. The key is imagination!
Don’t look over trying to replicate subjects in front of you, just like how students in art school or drawing classes do it.
This way, you will always have subjects wherever you are which means you will never run out of subjects to paint.
Inspiration is around you, you just have to look a little bit closer to find watercolor painting ideas for beginners!
Check out more beginner-friendly paintings on my Instagram page.
I hope this blog gave you some watercolor inspiration, something that you can always look over when you start running out of watercolor painting ideas for the beginner in you!
But believe me, as long as the world doesn’t cease to amaze you, you will always have something to paint about.
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