If you’ve been reading our posts for a long time, you will know that I have greatly desired to learn to watercolor. The medium of watercolor is fascinating to me. One reason it intrigues me is because when it is done well, it feels like light is coming through the piece. You have to think backwards with watercolor because you have to start with the lightest colors and work your way to the darkest at the end. You can’t cover up darker paint with lighter paint the way you can with oils or acrylics.

A couple months ago I came across a site offering online watercolor classes that looked interesting. Three technique videos were offered for free and I gave it a try. After that I kept receiving emails offering really great deals (for a limited time) on their classes, but with all the family visiting and a trip out of town, I could not take them up on any of their offers. Then I did have a free week and they made an offer I couldn’t refuse. I spent that week watching many of their videos explaining various techniques and also watching artists do complete paintings from start to finish. I really enjoyed listening to each artist explain each step of the process and why they did things a certain way. After watching several different artists, it became obvious there is no right way or wrong way to do things —each had their personal preferences and reasons for what they did.

Before the week came to an end, I needed to stop just watching and start doing. (See previous post.) One of the paintings I did was of lilies. In the image below, the painting done by the artist is shown on my ipad on the left and my finished painting on the right.

After watching an artist explain how to paint roses, I decided not to try imitating her painting, but instead found a photo of a rose online (shown on the left) and used it for reference for my painting (on the right below).

If you are interested in learning more about watercolor painting, check out WatercolorPainting.com. (I am not receiving any compensation from this company. I just am sharing about a site from which I learned a few things I didn’t know before.)