Before I dive into sharing my 9 core color suggestions for a basic watercolor palette, I just have to say that I don’t know if I believe there’s a so-called ‘perfect’ palette.

Whether you’re a beginner or you’re just trying to dust off your supplies and get back into putting something down on paper after a break, I’ve always found ink & wash (also called line & wash) to be a great way to put down watercolor without the pressure of actually painting with watercolor.

I have previously bought and used a few Meeden products, my favorites being a travel palette and more recently, a ceramic palette - which you’ll see mentioned here because (spoiler), I really like it!

Last year, I wasn’t sure if anyone (including myself) would find it fun to create for an entire month using just a few color prompts. And I really wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to keep up with creating every single weekday. But as it turned out, it was fun. Many of us created every single weekday that month!  I decided I would bring it back and possibly make it an annual event.

I find myself using a few different techniques to make looser marks, which in turn make for looser paintings. In the video below, I share 5 of these techniques and examples of those techniques in action as I flip through a week of sketchbook entries inspired by the color sapphire blue.

In July, I took an intentional break from painting. We had family visiting, my son was going through a transition from preschool to public school, there were swim lessons, and you know…all the life things. Great, joy-filled, first-priority type of life-things. Things that make putting painting on hold totally worth it.

I love experimenting with adding other mediums to watercolor. It opens up so many new opportunities and ways to experiment with how to use the different supplies together.

In this post, I’ll take you through the unboxing and initial swatching that I did when I first opened this Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble wax pastels and then I’ll show you the first thing I drew with them!

Painting loose florals feels like I’m “trying on” a style that doesn’t quite fit. That being said, there is something to be learned from all painting attempts. So I’m here to share how not to paint loose florals gleaned from my recent personal painting attempts.

While I can’t say I’ve tested out every single watercolor sketchbook, I have used a few of them enough over the years to have three good watercolor sketchbooks to recommend to you today.

I think it’s interesting that this rainy day scene doesn’t actually involve painting raindrops. It’s about finding a way to capture the effects that all those raindrops have on the environment they are falling on.

Do you need to know how to draw in order to paint? I can see this from both sides, but my answer would be ‘no’.  In my opinion, you don’t need to know how to draw in order to paint. You especially don’t need to draw well in order to paint.