Easy diy Watercolor

I have a love/hate relationship with watercolor. I love it because I think its beauuuuutiful, you can work with multiple colors at once, and it can be very forgiving. I hate it because I find it's very easy for me to over-do (the case with most mediums, actually), and it has a mind of its own, which can be fun and surprising or make the control-freak in me start to twitch.

I decided I wanted to experiment with my frenemy and work on some easy, not overdone, "modern" art. I love minimalism these days and find that I'm attracted to colorful, simple patterns and prints. While I can say a couple didn't turn out exactly as I pictured in my head, I'm overall pleased with the results and think they could be easily replicated by anyone!

To start, you'll need watercolor (obviously), paint brushes, a sketching pencil, watercolor paper, a cup of water to clean your brushes, and paper towels. Basically the same set-up we had in kindergarten!

I love patterns that involve fruits so I did a quick sketch of the vision in my head (i.e. strawberries and triangles) and went crazy with pinks and oranges. I didn't stress that I went outside the lines or that it wasn't perfectly even.  I just did what I felt like, and I kind of like that it's a little messy! (Be sure to erase the pencil marks once dry!) One thing I'm finding to be helpful when creating, whether with baking or art, is to just have fun no matter what it ends up looking like. I can find 100,000 things wrong with anything I make, but creating isn't about being perfect. Perfect is boring. I'm beginning to embrace the quirks and messiness of some of my work as a reflection of who I am. Not polished or perfect, a work in progress, but always colorful and interesting. What were we talking about?

This one is pretty straight forward. I really like simple patterns with soft colors and the juxtaposition of harsh blacks. I'm basically an art connoisseur.

This one is my faaaaaave. A soft washed background with pinks and yellows and an aloe plant that was WAY easier to make that it looks. After a quick sketch, I slowly layered different greens until they made a beautiful baby and then added white dots.

This is about as simple as they come, people. BUT I think it will look good as an accent next to some stronger artwork or pretty pics of the family. Can you tell what colors I'm attracted to?

That's it! These were quick, easy and I think will look really cute in different areas of the house. What's your favorite thing to paint?

xo Jessica