watercolor arc

Currently going through a watercolor arc. It happened like this:

In March, the monthly medium for the Habitica art group was watercolors. I decided to try it out and bought a cheap Cotman watercolor set with 12 color “bricks” and a brush. I had no idea what I was doing. Hadn’t done any form of painting since I was like seven years old. My March watercolors were (predictably, in retrospect) child’s coloring book type stuff. I photocopied some drawings from my sketchbook to color in. Then I got a watercolor sketchbook and a waterproof micron pen so I could color my sketches directly. I had fun, but I could tell I wasn’t utilizing the strengths of the medium.

My watercolors sat mostly unused for the next few months. For August, the monthly medium is gouache. Everyone’s been getting supplies, excitedly posting their paintings, etc. But I decided I wasn’t going to buy something new when I never even learned to use my watercolors properly. So I’ve been getting back into watercolors with the help of youtube tutorials, especially the Let’s Make Art channel.

Watercolor is neat because it has a mind of its own, and part of the craft is getting out of the way. It’s the character of the medium: unexpected color diffusion, blending, blooms. In some ways you are just the facilitator. It’s completely out of my usual wheelhouse, because I’m so used to pen sketching, with a high degree of control and an entrenched tendency to view everything in terms of lines rather than color.

So yeah I’ve been having a blast with the Watercolor Renaissance of 2025. I painted some ghostlight jellyfish that I’m incredibly happy with, and also painted a landscape from Ireland (sea cliffs near Giant’s Causeway). That second one was exciting because I was just winging it based on my own photo, rather than following a tutorial.

Pro advice from Sarah Cray, the Let’s Make Art painter: Let’s say you’re looking for inspiration online. You see a picture and think “oh, that would be fun to paint.” Stop scrolling NOW. Go paint it NOW. If you just keep scrolling and looking at more pictures (that one would be fun too. and that one. and that one) the whole hour will go by and you’ll be out of art time.

Supplies to get:

• Round 2 brush for detail work. The standard recommended sizes are 2 (small) and 6 (medium). My kit came with a round 5, which is fine for regular work, but I do feel my details are lacking.
• Masking tape. Gonna start taping/clamping my pages while painting so I don’t drip on later pages when my page curls up.
• edit (8/15): Also gonna buy a cheap round 10, like literally the cheapest I can find, and cut it up to make a foliage brush.