September Watercolour Challenge

Daily Painting Exercises

Watercolour painting exercises for beginners and intermediates to aid in getting a daily routine.

September Week 1

01 SEP
02 SEP
03 SEP
04 SEP
05 SEP
06 SEP
07 SEP

Paint a Bicycle

This week we will be creating some simple stylised illustrations of Parisian subjects. Today we begin with a typical bicycle we see in the French regions and its famous baguette bread.

Parisian Street Lamp

A simple but effective illustration of a typical Parisian street lamp.

Wine & Cheese

France is nothing without its cheese and wine. When I lived for half a year in France at the age of seventeen, I learned that the French have a two hour break in the middle of the day and often go to a close restaurant for a lunch that is more dinner size. Then one talks and after a while the cheese platter comes out and finishes the lunch break nicely. Mind you, this was over 30 years ago. I hope they have kept this routine up until today.

Bicycle & Flower Basket

Another bike, this time with a flower basket. Again just a simple illustration to warm up for the week.

Paint a Drum Set

Once more image using the simple stylised illustrative technique.

Whale & Anker

It can't get more simple than this, but sometimes we even the smallest of paintings do us good because we are practicing.

Catch Up Day

Today you can either rest, or try to finish some of the uncompleted work due for this week.

September Week 2

08 SEP
09 SEP
10 SEP
11 SEP
12 SEP
13 SEP
14 SEP

Paint Walnuts

This week we are literally going nuts. We will paint one kind of nuts per day in a simple and rather illustrative way. We are starting off by painting first the lightest colour and wait for each layer to dry until the next slightly darker layer can be applied until we have finished the painting.

Painting Peanuts

When drawing any still life, it is essential to add some interest to the painting by using just one item you want to paint. First, you paint the subject in its complete state, then you open it and maybe draw one half of the open nut and then again when it has been taken out of its shell and decorate it with some green leaves.

The Cashew Nut

Today we are painting a few cashew nuts with some leaves.

The Hazelnut

As in the last days, paint the Hazelnut as a whole, one half with shell and one half without the shell and include a leaf.

Almonds

Today it is the almond nut we are painting in the same style as in the last few days.

The Pistachio Nut

The exotic and softer Pistachio nut is the last of our series of nuts for painting.

Catch Up Day

Today you can either rest, or try to finish some of the uncompleted work due for this week.

September Week 3

15 SEP
16 SEP
17 SEP
18 SEP
19 SEP
20 SEP
21 SEP

Paint a Leopard

Today we are painting a leopard. When drawing or painting fur, we have several options to achieve this. We can almost paint every single hair, or we can simplify fur by creating flat, simple shapes of different colour.

Most beginners draw fur or hair with far too many single lines in both drawing or painting, so to learn to paint indicative is useful if you are after a much quicker result.

Paint Rust

The options for painting rusty old objects is endless. For this type of work a slightly rougher paper is very useful, as well as using a rather dry brush at times.

You can also use a bit of masking fluid for clear white spots and lines. When painting the door, look first for the underlying base colour.

The Sea

First use masking fluid for all the highlights and the sea gull in this picture.

Then wet the full paper with a hake brush and add the first light washes. Add more details with increasingly using darker colour.

Paint Flamingos

Flamingos are actually rather white birds, that receive their bright pink colour from an organisms that is rich in alpha and beta carotenoid in their diet.

An example of colour changes in animals would be shrimps that change their colour during cooking. So flamingos need particular food to preserve their colour.

Fish Collage

Today we are trying something very different. With both watercolour and black ink we create patterns and then cut or tear the paper and glue it onto a larger sheet of strong paper of a minimum of 200gsm.

Try to create an image and use the colours and patterns that would suit your subject matter.

Paint a Kolibri

Yesterday we created a collage. Today you can use the scraps from yesterday to create the background for this picture of a kolibri or otherwise called hummingbird.

Glue a few layers of thinner paper on your main page, squirt some modelling paste onto it and paint your background colours in acrylic or watercolour. Then draw the bird and complete your painting with details of the bird.

Catch Up Day

Today you can either rest, or try to finish some of the uncompleted work due for this week.

September Week 4

22 SEP
23 SEP
24 SEP
25 SEP
26 SEP
27 SEP
28 SEP

Watercolour and Ink

Begin with a pencil drawing of any subject matter and then fill in the whole form with a graduated wash with two colours of your choice.

Finish the piece by adding contour lines with a black ink pen.

Watercolour Ink Portrait

Like yesterday we will be first drawing our subject then adding a watercolour wash from top to bottom inside of the form and then add ink to create some cross hatching and contour lines.

To see how the finished product could like go to yesterdays exercise.

Mixed bunch of Flowers

Draw your subject in pencil, then wet the paper and add a soft coloured background avoiding the lighter areas of the image. While still a little wet apply some splatter. Let it dry and Paint further details.

Be reminded that there is no need to finish the whole painting. Artists have the freedom to go as much or as little into detail or content as they wish to. So don't ever feel pressured.