(Ignoring the mess surrounding the flower) I’ve never been creative or artsy and this was first time ever playing with paint probably since the age of 5. I struggle to visualise things and thought painting and focusing on details might help.
I was following a poppy flower tutorial video from TikTok but I just could not get the front petal to look like it was folded over. It just looks like there’s a flower with a white spot now. I think the main struggle is to be able to make things 3d. I kind of understand the idea of how to make things 3d, like I understand adding value and shadows to the petals behind the front petal would help the front petal look projected but I’m not sure I know how to apply it. I would love any feedback on the picture and just general advice. Thank you :)

Following along with Lois and Morgaine Davidson on YouTube.

This is another exercise from the book, Painting Calm, by Inga Buividavice. I adjusted the colors in the lesson. I tried to mix Indigo, but it came out very blue, but I like it. The paint is QOR, and for the pink, I used Winsor & Newton Alizarin Crimson mixed with a little white gouache. 9" x 9", Arches Rough. (First time I watermarked a piece, so I'm still experimenting with all of that. Lol).

I spend most of my time on pet portrait commissions so I’ve been trying some practice pieces to give me opportunities to loosen up. I think it turned out decent.

I didn't know how to bring more definition to the background so I fell back on my pens. I even watched a bunch of tutorials on doing trees and practiced some techniques beforehand, but it just wasn't working out for me. Advice welcome! I got impatient, too, and ended up with some mucky shadows.

Didn’t paint for about a week due to busy schedule so it was really nice to just get some paint on paper last night.

Don’t really make landscapes but this seemed simple enough to try. Still learning how to watercolor though.

I am really enjoying painting these galaxy night skies 🌌

I have to cut a magazine picture in half and paint the other half for homework and this is the result (I’m studying architecture)

Another attempts the effort level definitely went down after finishing the head which I regret. Still learning how to watercolor so hopefully the next will be an improvement.

Hi all, new to watercolor, and sometimes I’ve noticed that random spots seem to have a waxy finish? Or at least the paint recedes from the paper. It’s not the entire sheet, just random areas, using Holbein paints, Holbein new resable brush(happened with cheap brushes too) and vif art paper in medium. Is it something I’m doing?? I have to go over the section multiples times and the paint receding makes the edges really patchy, idk what to do. It’s not all sections, just randomly(you can see trees and green leaves no issues but pink flower really shaky edges), circled and pink flower you can see esp shaky edge

Used the sailor fude fountain pen to sketch this then added some watercolor.

Anyone want to guess which Island in the US

I actually painted this on the flight back from the east coast. Using watercolor (Daniel Smith) and a pilot ink pen (water soluble)on Fabriano paper. I almost always paint quick drawings when I normally would be bored!… Doctor/medical waiting rooms, airports or planes or waiting for my wife.

12x16 I need a mat and frame for this one.

We have it at our local Michaels, I picked it up to examine it, and it feels very smooth. Almost too smooth. Too smooth to be actual paper. Has anyone else worked with this paper before? What's everyone's opinion on it? How well does it hold watercolor?

Anyone else have helpers keeping them motivated as they paint?

Pictures are of (out of order): - one cat being disgusted with me for not allowing him to eat my brushes or drink poison (paint water). - my other cat looking down from on high, wishing I’d play with strong (sew or crochet).
- The snail I just finished is from Dana Fox’s “Watercolor with me in the Forest” book - a whale I’m still working on from Fox’s “Watercolor with me in the Ocean” book

I finished this one this morning and I don't love how the color transitions turned out. And the trees look absolutely awful. Can anyone give me some pointers or direct me to some guides for absolute beginners?

I’m still learning how to watercolor but so far I’m sticking to mostly birds :)