Beginner’s Guide to Watercolor Painting: Choosing Brushes, Mixing Colours, Simple Compositions

Watercolor rewards smart choices and timing. In this guide, you’ll refine your toolkit (especially brushes), learn dependable colour-mixing strategies, and build simple compositions that look intentional—not accidental. Whether you’re returning to watercolor or leveling up from basics, the focus here is control, clarity, and confidence.

Choosing Brushes That Work for You

Brushes are your main interface with watercolor. Pick a small set that covers big washes, controlled shapes, and crisp details, and you’ll paint more decisively.

• Round: The workhorse. A good round has a fine point, a full “belly” to hold water, and natural spring. Sizes 6–10 handle most passages; add a 2 or 3 for tiny details.
• Flat: Ideal for even washes, sharp edges, and quick block-ins. A 1/2" flat is surprisingly versatile.
• Mop/Quill: Holds lots of water for large, soft washes. A small mop (e.g., size 0 or 2) helps with skies and big shapes.
• Rigger/Liner: Ultra-long hairs for lines—branches, rigging, grasses, calligraphic marks.

Hair types:

• Synthetic: Snappy, affordable, great for glazing and crisp edges. Slightly less water-holding, which can increase control for beginners.
• Natural (e.g., kolinsky, squirrel): Holds more water and creates long, fluid strokes. Squirrel mops are superb for skies; kolinsky rounds deliver unmatched points, at a price.
• Blends: A good middle ground—more water capacity than pure synthetic, more control and durability than natural.

Starter brush kit (balanced and budget-conscious):

• Round 8 (synthetic or blend)
• Round 2 or 3 (synthetic)
• Flat 1/2" (synthetic)
• Mop/quill small (blend or squirrel) — optional but helpful

Brush quality checklist:

• Point test: A damp round should snap to a needle tip. If it splays, skip it.
• Belly test: Load with water, paint a line; if it quickly runs dry or feels scratchy, try another.
• Spring: Gently press and release; it should return to shape quickly.

Care and maintenance:

• Rinse in clean water during painting; don’t let pigment dry in the ferrule.
• Use mild brush soap after sessions; reshape and dry horizontally or bristles-up.
• Avoid leaving brushes standing in water—this loosens glue and bends tips.

Mixing Colours with Confidence

Watercolor is water-first, pigment-second. The trick is learning how much water and which pigments to combine for repeatable results.

Build a limited but flexible palette

A split-primary setup gives you warm/cool options for cleaner mixes:

• Yellows: Hansa Yellow Medium (PY97, mid) and Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150, warm/transparent)
• Reds: Quinacridone Rose (PV19, cool) and Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255, warm)
• Blues: Ultramarine Blue (PB29, warm/granulating) and Phthalo Blue GS (PB15:3, cool/staining) Optional earths for speed: Burnt Sienna (PBr7 or PR101) and Raw Umber (PBr7)

Why this works:

• Clean secondaries: Warm + warm or cool + cool yields vibrant oranges, greens, violets.
• Neutrals on demand: Opposites dull each other; try Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna for instant grays.

Understand pigment behavior

• Transparent vs opaque: Transparent paints keep luminosity in glazes; opaque paints can chalk if overused.
• Staining vs lifting: Phthalo Blue and Quinacridone Rose stain; good for layering but hard to lift. Ultramarine and Raw Umber lift more easily.
• Granulation: Ultramarine and some earths settle into paper texture—great for texture in skies, rocks, foliage.

The “tea–milk–cream–honey” consistency guide

• Tea: Very watery, light value washes for underpainting and skies.
• Milk: Mid-value passages and general local colour.
• Cream: Stronger accents, shadows, and shape-defining strokes.
• Honey: Nearly straight pigment for the darkest touches and calligraphic lines.

Test on a scrap before committing—paper affects how these consistencies look.

Practical mixing exercises

1. Swatch and value ladder

• Make a swatch for each colour, then add water in steps to create 5–7 values.
• Note which colours feel “inky” (staining) versus “delicate” (liftable).

1. Secondary colours

• Greens: Hansa Yellow + Phthalo Blue gives bright spring greens; add a touch of Quinacridone Rose to mute. Try Nickel Azo Yellow + Ultramarine for natural olive greens.
• Oranges: Pyrrol Scarlet + Hansa Yellow = vivid orange; add Burnt Sienna to make rusts.
• Violets: Ultramarine + Quinacridone Rose = lively violet; cool it with a touch of Phthalo Blue for deep evening purples.

1. Neutrals and shadow mixes

• Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna: adjust to warm (more sienna) or cool (more ultramarine) grays.
• Triad neutral: Mix small, equal parts of yellow, red, blue to produce a family of quiet grays that harmonize with your palette.

1. Layering vs direct mixes

• Direct mix on palette: Creates predictable hues.
• Charged mixes on paper: Drop a second colour into a wet wash to create lively transitions and subtle variegation.

Technique quick hits

• Wet-on-wet: Pre-wet the area (shiny, not puddled) and float colour in. Good for skies and soft edges.
• Wet-on-dry: Crisp shapes and defined edges; use for architecture or focal edges.
• Glazing: Let a wash dry completely, then layer a transparent wash to shift hue/value. Works best with transparent, non-opaque pigments.
• Lifting: Blot with a damp, clean brush or tissue to reclaim lights. Easier on robust papers and non-staining pigments.

Common mixing pitfalls:

• Muddy colour: Over-mixing complements or scrubbing wet areas. Mix fewer pigments (ideally 2, occasionally 3) and let colours mingle on paper instead of heavy palette stirring.
• Cauliflowers/blooms: Occur when a very wet stroke meets a damp area. Either keep the whole area wet or wait until it’s fully dry before adding more paint.

Simple Compositions that Teach the Fundamentals

Simplicity creates clarity. Use big, readable shapes and a limited palette to practice values, edges, and focal points.

Design with three values: light, mid, dark

• Thumbnail notan: In 60 seconds, sketch three shapes in black/white/gray. Aim for big-medium-small proportions and an interesting silhouette.
• Reserve whites: Plan your paper whites early; it’s your brightest “colour.”

Exercise 1: Three-shape landscape

Goal: Confident washes, soft and hard edges, and a controlled value structure.

• Plan: Three shapes—sky (light), tree line (mid), foreground (dark). Choose a limited triad: Hansa Yellow, Ultramarine, Quinacridone Rose.
• Step 1 (Sky): Pre-wet the sky area. Float a “tea” Ultramarine wash, dropping a hint of Rose near the horizon. Tilt for a gradient. Keep edges soft against distant hills.
• Step 2 (Distant trees): When sky is completely dry, paint a “milk” value green (Ultramarine + Hansa). Vary warmth by tapping in more yellow or cooling with more blue. Keep a few soft “lost” edges by touching a damp brush along the top.
• Step 3 (Foreground): Mix a darker “cream” value neutral (Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna). Paint confidently in one pass to avoid patchiness. Preserve a light path by painting around it (negative painting).
• Step 4 (Accents): Once dry, add “honey” value flicks with a rigger for grasses and twigs. One or two dark accents near the center of interest go a long way.

Exercise 2: Single-object still life (lemon or mug)

Goal: Edge control and clean colour.

• Draw a simple outline. Identify the lightest area and reflected light.
• First wash: Lay a “tea” value local colour over the entire object, leaving the sharpest highlights as paper white.
• Second wash: While the first layer is dry, glaze “milk” value to define form shadows. Keep the shadow edge soft by pre-wetting the shadow side slightly.
• Cast shadow: Mix a neutral from your triad; keep edges crisp closest to the object, softer outward.
• Final accents: A tiny “honey” value stroke at the core shadow and a crisp edge at the focal highlight.

Exercise 3: Small floral cluster

Goal: Negative painting and colour variation.

• Light wash: Soft “tea” warm wash across the area.
• Petal shapes: Paint around petals with a “milk” green (yellow+blue), allowing colour to shift by charging in a warmer or cooler mix.
• Depth: Deepen the background values to push petals forward; keep some edges lost for delicacy.

Tips for composition clarity:

• Big shapes first: Don’t chase details early. Think silhouette, not petals.
• Edge variety: Hard edges for focal points; soft/lost edges for recession and atmosphere.
• Limited palette per painting: 3–5 colours keep harmony. Use your triad plus one accent.

Putting It Together: A 20-Minute Practice Session

• 2 minutes: Quick notan thumbnail (three values).
• 5 minutes: Mix a triad of puddles (tea, milk, cream) for your chosen colours.
• 8 minutes: Block in big shapes, top-down and light-to-dark. Avoid fiddling.
• 5 minutes: Add a second pass for mid/dark shapes and 2–3 decisive accents. End with a short review: Where did edges work, where did blooms appear, which mix felt muddy? Note adjustments for next time.

Best Practices and Common Pitfalls

• Paint quality and paper: 100% cotton paper (e.g., cold press) forgives more, keeps washes even, and allows lifting. Student-grade paper often causes streaks and blossoms.
• Water control: Keep two water containers—one for rinsing, one for clean water. Blot on a towel to control load.
• Drying discipline: If you need a crisp edge or clean glaze, wait until bone dry (cool to the touch). A hair dryer on low/cool is fine; avoid high heat that can set stains.
• Glaze sparingly: Two or three transparent layers beat six chalky ones.
• Don’t over-mix: Let colours mingle on paper. Charge, tilt, and step back.
• Clean edges purposefully: Reserve your sharpest edges and darkest darks for the focal area.
• Brush care: Rinse often, never crush the tip in the palette, and store dry and protected.

Next Steps

• Expand brushes with a dedicated rigger and a better mop; consider a kolinsky round once technique warrants the investment.
• Keep a swatch book: Document mixes, glaze tests, and value ladders for each pigment.
• Try masking fluid judiciously for tiny highlights; remove gently once fully dry.
• Practice series: Paint the same simple subject (mug, leaf, hillside) three times—once wet-on-wet dominant, once glazed, once with charged mixes—to understand how technique changes mood.

With a few reliable brushes, a clear approach to mixing, and simple but well-designed compositions, your paintings will look fresher and more intentional. Keep sessions short and focused, refine one skill at a time, and let the paint’s natural luminosity do more of the work.