Ideas of What to Paint for Watercolor Month

The entire world is enjoying World Watercolor Month! Which is in the month of July, every year!  What a great way to celebrate such a wonderful art medium. If you would love to take part this year in the artsy celebration, I share how to get started and where to find some great watercolor projects below. 

I love watercolor! If you are just getting into watercolor here is the best tip I can give you. Learning watercolor is learning to work with water. Since the color only goes where water is, you can use that to your advantage! 

The beginner paper I like to use is the brand Strathmore for beginners.   An important thing with watercolor paper is weight. I always use 140lb or heavier. The weight is most always located on the  paper pad cover, or label. The weight keeps the paper from buckling.

If your ready to advance If I'm ready to stop practicing and make some art to sell it is time to paint with Arches. The heavier weight the better. 

You will notice the words cold press or hot press on the paper. Simply cold press has the grooves on the paper, hot press is smooth. You only use hot press if you are wanting to be detailed...otherwise the cold press moves the water better. 

Let's talk about paints. Luckily watercolors can be inexpensive and still make pretty artwork. However, if you want the best supplies you need to buy from the better watercolor brands including my favorite, Winsor and Newton. The difference will be in the ability to lift off the color when you make a mistake and the colorfulness.

Brushes are the only thing left to get and I always use inexpensive ones. However take it up from the brushes in the watercolor sets, those are usually awful. You just need brushes that are soft and bounce back when you push the bristles back. I love this set of watercolor brushes. 

The best way to learn watercolors is to paint with them! Sure you can read a book or watch tutorials, but what will make all the difference is paintings and practicing.

I have an entire page dedicated to watercolor tutorials to inspire you and help you practice!  

Go to Watercolor Projects

Do you have any questions about using watercolors? Ask me in the comments.