watercolor for beginners doesn't have to be scary, it's easy

You can confidently learn how to paint with watercolors!

  • Start with how to use watercolor for beginners.
  • Then paint the step-by-step watercolor tutorial of a Rufous Hummingbird.

Watercolor is a clean, convenient paint we can use to create any picture we can imagine. And it's easy to clean-up with water.

Learn the basics of watercolor for beginners.Learning about watercolors

Introduction to Watercolor for Beginners

Discover the joy and ease of watercolor painting.

All we have to do is dip our brush into clean water and then dip the brush into a color. We do not have to mix or add anything to the watercolors - just water.

Keep a container of water handy for painting and washing the brushes.

We mix our colors on a palette or plate. The more water we add, the lighter the colors will be. If we want intense colors, we use less water with more paint.

paint watercolors from light to dark

Paint the light colors first. Then, as the painting progress paint the darker parts. Why do we do that?

Most watercolor paints are transparent, so a light colors are not able to cover the dark colors. Even if we use opaque colors, when they are mixed with water, they will not cover dark colors sufficiently.

What does Wikipedia say about Watercolor Painting?

Watercolor Supplies and Materials

Equip yourself with the right tools and materials. Start out with a minimum, you can always add more later.

watercolor paints

Watercolor paint comes in two different forms.

Tube watercolors have some glycerin added to keep the paint flexible.

They are my chosen form of watercolor paint because it's easier to get more intense, vibrant colors with tube watercolors.

Pan watercolors are pressed into dry cubes.

When we want to use pan watercolors, rub a wet brush on the selected color cube.

The brushes used on pan watercolors wear out faster from all the rubbing.

Pan watercolors an easy watercolor for beginners.

Also, they are very handy to carry for travel and painting in the field.

Beginner watercolorists can paint butterflies.You can paint watercolor!

what colors do we need?

Start with the three primary colors, red, yellow and blue.

  • Cadmium Red
  • Cadmium Yellow Light
  • Ultramarine Blue

A warm and cool version of each gives us more flexibility for mixing colors.

  • Cadmium Red and Permanent Rose
  • Cad Yellow Light and Lemon Yellow
  • Ultramarine Blue and Phthalo Blue

See my recommended colors of an extended palette of 12 colors.

watercolor paper and surfaces

Watercolor is traditionally painted on 100% cotton paper.

You can learn to paint watercolor.Watercolor on Aquabord

140# paper is good for beginning watercolor.

The paper should be stretched, so it won't buckle from the water. Watercolor paper in a block cannot buckle because the sides are fastened down.

Watercolors on paper must be matted and framed under glass.

Can we paint watercolor on canvas?

Yes, watercolor may be painted on canvas. specifically labeled for watercolor.

The paint tends to slide around unless you first brush the entire canvas with water. Let the water soak away before painting. When the painting is dry, it may be sealed with a fixative.

Watercolor for beginners is much easier, if the painting is done on paper or a prepared panel.

What are watercolor panels?

Hardboard panels made for watercolor are my favorites. Almost all of my watercolor paintings are done on Aquabord made by Ampersand.

When the painting is dry, I spray it with Krylon fixative. The finished painting is framed without a mat or glass.

watercolor brushes

Watercolor painting requires soft brushes made from animal hair or a soft synthetic fiber.

We can do all our watercolor painting with just two or three brushes.

  • #7 or #8 round brush is a good all-around brush
  • 1" flat brush used to wash in large areas
  • Optional a 1/2" angle brush for straight edges and fine lines

The watercolor brushes I have been using for around twenty years have never seen soap. I just swish them around in water, shake them to make them point up. Then blot the excess water away and lay them down flat to dry.

Step-by-Step Watercolor Painting Tutorial

Learn how to paint a stunning Rufous Hummingbird, the vibrant flower and the atmospheric background.

Use a color scheme when learning how to watercolor.Split Compliment painting color scheme

It's great to read about watercolor, but doing is learning.

This demo is on an 8x10 Aquabord panel. It certainly may be painted on watercolor paper.

This painting uses a split compliment color scheme of only 3 colors.

  • Use any blue of your choice.
  • An orange like Quinacridone Sienna or Burnt Sienna
  • Amy yellow like; Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow or New Gamboge

Using a limited number of colors automatically creates color harmony.

Selecting colors for a painting.

keep the colors clean

Keep a container of clean water for painting watercolor.Keep your colors clean!

This is important when learning how to use watercolor.

Use a container of clean water to wash the brushes.

We want the colors in the wells to remain clean and pure. So, we do all the mixing in the center of the palette.

Never put a brush with one color on it into the well of a different color.

Clean the brush with water between colors.

Blot the excess water out of the clean brush on a paper towel, rag or sponge kept next to the water container.

Sketching and Transferring the Design

Sketch out the hummingbird. Then transfer the drawing to your painting surface with graphite paper.

People good at drawing can draw the hummer directly on the painting surface. But be aware that erasures can damage watercolor paper.

Painting the Hummingbird's Throat

The light source in this painting is coming from the right.

Start painting the watercolor hummingbird on his throat.Paint the throat

We will be painting the hummingbird with a #7 round watercolor brush. The background is done with a flat brush.

Using the round watercolor brush, prewet the throat area.

Paint a pale yellow on the side toward the light.

While the yellow is still wet, put orange on the opposite side.

Allow the two colors to mingle together.

Watching the beautiful colors flowing together is one of the joys of painting watercolor.

Painting the Hummingbird's Body

Wet the body so the paint colors will flow together.Paint the hummingbird's body.

Wet the body with clean water from your brush. The wet area will have a sheen.

Do not wet the white throat area.

The paint will spread into the wet areas. This is a basic technique of watercolor for beginners.

Mix blue and orange to make brown to paint the areas on the shadow side. Add plenty of water to make it a light brown.

As we paint toward the light, keep adding more orange.

Leave the area between the throat and body white. The paint will not flow into this dry area.

Painting the Hummingbird's Wings

Mix blue and orange for a neutral wing color.Painting the wings

Mix a very light grey-brown with the orange and blue.

Use more water to make it a light color.

Paint the forward wing. Just paint over the pencil lines of the individual feathers.

Colors get lighter and cooler, as they go into the distance.

So, the wing behind will be a tiny bit cooler to set it back.

Add a bit more blue to make the color greyer to make the back wing look farther away.

Painting the Hummingbird's Head

Mix a tiny bit of blue with the orange to get an orange-brown.

Stipple the feathers on the top of the hummingbird's head.Paint the head with stippling strokes.

Paint the top of the hummer's head with the brush tip.

This leaves stippling marks to simulate the short feathers.

Leave the eye, around and behind the eye white.

Leaving the white paper is another technique of learning watercolor for beginners.

There is no white watercolor paint, so we use the white of the paper.

Get more information about saving the whites in watercolor.


Painting the Eye, Beak and Feet

Paint the hummingbirds eye and beak with a dark color.Mix a dark color for the eye, beak and feet.

Add more blue to your blue and orange mixture to make a black.

Color mixing is a big part of watercolor for beginners.

Paint the eye leaving a white highlight. Leave the white spot behind the eye.

Paint the beak with one dark line down the center.

Then put a lighter dark on the outside edges that catch the light.

Paint the little dark feet with the same mixture.

More about mixing paint colors.

painting the flower petals

Start painting the daisy flower.Paint the flower petals.

Freely paint the flower petals. Use a variety of oranges and yellow.

I enjoy leaving some white spaces for a little spark.

On some petals, put paint on one end of the petal.

Rinse the brush, then use the damp brush to pull the color toward the other end of the petal.

This makes the petal color go from full color to lighter and lighter.

This is a great watercolor technique for beginners to master that adds more variety to our paintings.

painting the green flower parts

Mix a variety of greens from your blue and yellow.

Mix a variety of greens from blue and yellow.Paint the green sepals and stem.

Add more yellow for the green toward the light.

More blue makes a darker green for the underside of the stem and other areas away from the light.

Paint the yellow-green parts first. Then paint the darker green areas.

Paint the center of the flower with a variety of brown, orange and yellow.

Stipple with the end of the brush to portray the stamens in the center of the daisy.

Contrast some of the yellow petals against a darker yellow or orange petal.

Values are an important aspect of painting.

painting the background

Paint the background of your hummingbird painting.Paint the background.

Paint the background dark or light according to your individual taste.

Using a flat brush, dampen the background area with clean water.

Do one area at a time, so the forward painting edge stays damp to prevent a hard edge.

It seems to work the best to not prewet right up to the edge of the bird or flower.

Paint right next to the bird and flower when you are painting on the background color.

If you prewet right up next to them, it makes the color pool up against their dry edge.

You may make some marks behind the bird to simulate flight movement.

Pull the marks out with a clean, damp brush to take off some of the blue paint.

watercolor is fun!

You have completed a watercolor hummingbird painting.Painting watercolor is fun!

Go over the hummingbird again and darken and brighten any colors where you think it needs it.

You may add a soft color to the wings and add a few lines to indicate separate feathers.

Keep the far wing a subdued color to set it behind.

Do any needed adjustment on the flower petals.

Where a petal is overlapped by a petal next-door, darken the petal behind.

This makes one petal look behind another petal.

Now it's your turn.

turn mistakes into opportunities

Watercolor for beginners is not hard. There are no mistakes that can't be fixed.

Sometimes the highlight on the eye gets accidentally painted. After the paint is dry, you can pick out the highlight with the point of a sharp knife.

We may want to adjust a painted area.

If we make a mistake, use a damp brush to put some water on the mistake. Rub it a bit with a brush and blot the loose color off with a paper towel. Repeat as necessary. It's that easy!

jump in and go for it!

The beauty of watercolor lies in the unique expression it allows. Experiment and let your creativity flow from your heart.

Visit our website to explore more inspiring pages about the art of painting.

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