Learning to Paint with Watercolors

By Suzanne

I retired in December 2021. Where I live—about 30 minutes from Boone, NC—December can be a winter wonderland if one is into that sort of thing, which unfortunately, I am not. So pretty immediately after I sent my last work email, I started looking for something to help keep me busy through the cold, dark winter months. I’m not sure how I happened on painting. I have never been artistic. I come from a musical family, though I didn’t really inherit much of that talent either, and I hadn’t painted anything other than walls since I was in grade school.

Regardless, I got the bug and started doing research on how I could learn to paint with watercolors. There aren’t many art classes where I live, so I was pretty sure that scouring the internet would be my best bet. Sure enough, there is a wealth of information available—much of it for free. Here are some of the best sites and teachers that I’ve come across so far.

Learn to paint with watercolors on YouTube

It probably goes without saying, but you can learn ANYTHING on YouTube. A quick search for how to paint with watercolors will bring up hundreds and hundreds of videos on all kinds of watercolor styles. Here are some of the YouTubers I like.  All provide plenty of follow-along tutorials and subjects that are beginner friendly.

• Emma Jane Lefebvre: mostly florals but is also great at explaining basic watercolor techniques. Gives lots of information about supplies. Her book is also good: Watercolour Lessons: How to Paint and Unwind in 20 Tutorials.
• Jenna Rainey: ditto    
• Diane Antone: beginner techniques, loose florals, cute (not realistic) animals
• Nianiani: florals, landscapes, animals (not hyper-realistic)
• Makoccino: landscapes and more
• This Writing Desk (Kobie Blume): landscapes
• Denise Love: mostly abstracts; also teaches how to turn lemons into lemonade—that is repurposing any paintings you don’t like into other things via collage and other artsy techniques

If none of these floats your boat, just keep looking. You’ll be sure to find someone whose teaching and painting styles suit you.

Other ways to learn

Skill Share is an online learning community with thousands of classes on topics including painting, illustration, art-related software, yarn arts, and more. An annual membership costs $168 (as of April 2024), but there is a month free trial period. I’ve been a member for over year and have not come close to running out of watercolor classes that I’m interested in taking. The instructors that I have gravitated toward spend some time talking about supplies, reviewing techniques, and then doing step-by-step tutorials.  Highly recommended!

Let’s Make Art sells art supplies and painting kits that include the supplies and instructions you need to paint a specific piece of art. Probably 70 percent of the projects are beginner-friendly. In addition to the instruction card that comes in the kit, there are on-line videos you can follow along with. The watercolor instructor, Sarah Cray, is terrific. You can also find her on YouTube, and her books are on Amazon. There has been talk that the site is changing its business model. I’m not sure what that will look like, but I’m hoping it will still be a good resource for painters of all levels.

The John C. Campbell Folk School: If you crave some in-person learning and feel like making a trip to southwestern North Carolina, I can’t say enough good things about the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. The Folk School offers year-round weeklong and weekend classes for adults in craft, art, music, dance, cooking, and more. You can stay on or off campus and buy a meal plan or not. I took a weeklong watercolors class there, purchased a lunch and dinner meal plan, and stayed off site in a nearby VRBO. The instruction was superb, and the class size was small. Students attend from all over the country and, the week I was there, probably 80 percent of them were repeat customers. I, myself, am returning soon to take a weekend class in alcohol inks.

Art Supplies

Yes, you can find a lot of the supplies you’ll need on Amazon. But if you’re just starting out, I recommend shopping from an actual art store—in person if possible, so the professionals can guide you and answer your questions. However, if no good brick-and-mortar art stores are convenient, try one of these:

• Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff – the physical location, lucky for me, is in Boone, NC.
• Jerry’s Artarama
• Blick Art Supplies

I am not an amazing watercolorist, and I don’t really aspire to be. If I happen to get good at it, awesome. But mostly I just enjoy the process of creating and learning, and I hope you do too. Give it a try!

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