Watercolor Do's and Don'ts (AVOID these Common Mistakes!)

Watercolor Do's And Don'ts - Avoid these most common mistakes! In this watercolor tutorial I give you 10 tips for improving your watercolors, suitable for beginners and experienced artists too! Watch this video next to Get Better at Art (FAST!)

0:00 Watercolor Do's and Don'ts

1:14 Secure your paper5:27 Keep your paper clean

7:52 Use two water jars

9:26 Use a large enough brush
12:21 Use enough water on your brush

14:38 Work from light to dark
17:27 Keep your paint application even

18:43 Control water levels with your paint brush
20:59 Let your work dry at intervals
24.28 Finish every painting

26: 30 Bonus tip! Allow yourself to make mistakes

EXTRA RESOURCES:

GRAB Your Free PDF downloads:

SHOW NOTES AND LINKS:

Disclaimer: Some of the product links above may be affiliate links which pay this channel a small commission (at no extra cost to the buyer) which enables me to make more free videos for you to enjoy. Thanks for your support!

[janismarie]

Oh my goodness..I finally found my person😊 my teacher! 😊
Over a year ago, I decided to start a new hobby, watercoloring. I’ve watched so many videos, and what I realized after watching yours, others would be painting a whole picture, but they weren’t thorough enough for me. You sit and speak to all of us. You show examples of what you’re teaching us, but you aren’t painting something we have to follow. Almost everything you said, I have been doing. To small of a brush, not allowing the paper to fully dry and so much more. I’m sure I was so in-tuned with what they were saying and doing, like grabbing the correct amount of paint, water, things like that, it was hard to focus. I absolutely love your style. Michelle, yours is the correct way of teaching. I do remember someone mentioned to never touch the paper and about erasing pencil lines. Forever instilled in my mind 😊 It’s the “finish” topic you mentioned at the end. I’m a perfectionist, and I’ve painted (I think) 4 paintings in a year. Yes it’s true. I never would finish them because in my mind they weren’t good enough and they were completely ruined.
What I did do is, I didn’t throw anything out, I put all unfinished pieces in a folder for a year. Just last week I pulled it out to have a look. They were quite good actually. So please if anyone reads this comment, I hope that you will take with you, my suggestion, to put your paintings up, and have a look at them later. You will definitely be surprised. My motto
Patience, Patience, Patience. That motto took awhile to accept but I finally did💕😊
Happy painting family. 🎨🖌
Blessings from “across the pond” x

[robynfisher]

I have never painted or drawn anything other than stick figures and kiddie cats, so at 73 I decided I want to learn how. I purchased more supplies than I need and decided to check out youtube instruction videos. Big mistake! I found your channel and now I'm worried that I will now spend all my time watching your videos rather than trying to paint.
Your talking and teaching style is wonderfully friendly supportive and encouraging and your natural psychological approach could/should be applied to teaching absolutely anything. 💕
So now I'm worried that I will never be able to stop watching and jump in 🙄

[lindathaxton]

I splurged on a paint bucket w/2 dividers - 3 containers in 1 bucket! I love it!

[marilynbelmont]

Finish the painting tomorrow. All paintings have a hot mess stage . Walking away and coming back later or the next day. Love your videos please keep it up. Stay safe ❤️.

[personalgrowthcourseskmf]

Thanks for all your wonderful and useful. Straight and to the point.

[specialeffectsgraphicsdesi]

Learning a lot from your tutorials and from all the mistakes I make. But, in the following painting, I see to it that the same mistake is not repeated. Thanks a lot for sharing such invaluable knowledge with us.

[milels]

You are a good teacher things and tips you makes me think about

[kathleenalbright]

You are a Wonderful Teacher. I love your Youtube videos.

[MoMaryR]

The tip I found the most useful was "finish it", even if I feel it's a lost cause, because then I shall learn some of the finishing techniques.

[richardlevasseur]

Great tips! To your bonus tip: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." Samuel Beckett

[oldepersonne]

I needed to hear about letting things dry completely before going on, and finishing paintings instead of tossing them away when disappointed with them

[heatherleutscherwarren]

I love all the tips especially the drying one! One thing I have learnt is to have a small watercolour sketch book and practice all tips in that I.e trees, lots of different ones. Not actually making a painting but just practicing so when I need trees in a proper painting I can draw on the examples (and mistakes) in the sketchbook- helps me anyway! Keep up the good work Michele.

[patytrico]

"Let your work dry at intervals" is something that I still struggle to do... Thank you for the list :)

[colleenmcchesney]

I still forget to work from light to dark sometimes and then to let my work dry completely between doing a painting. Theses are some great tips for me to remember. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[chrissie-]

I found the 'finish your painting' and 'allow yourself to make mistakes' tips most useful. As a beginner I often feel despair at how my paintings are turning out! I still (struggle to) continue them and at that point I begin to paint looser because I want to move on to a new painting. That looseness has added to how my paintings have turned out in the end and I end up liking them more than I thought I would, even with mistakes :D Your tips are really helpful, thank you!

[lindathaxton]

Completely & understood ‘Hoovering’ but had not heard that expression before 😃 fun

[kathiecranston]

I'm actually watching your "50k Subscribers!..." video on my TV. 💜 ~Kathie from Lebanon, Tennessee

[Finkeldinken]

Great video and wonderful tips.

It's so difficult to fight through that awkward stage of my paintings. I tend to get overwhelmed and not trust my own ability to pull it together, but I know that the smart thing in SO many ways is to see the project through, so I work hard on that.
I have found out about myself that with my unfinished stuff I only focus on the flaws and problem areas, and it's a failure on top because it's not finished, while if I finish, even if I didn't manage to salvage it, I have a much easier time identifying details and areas where I did well. I still see the flaws, but they are no longer 100% of my experience, and even if it didn't turn out the way I wanted, the act of finishing something has a calming effect on its own.

Sorry, that was a bit long, but I hope this insight may help others than me.

Thank you again for a great list!

[kathiecranston]

Letting you know that you are in my thoughts & prayers Michele❣ I wish you all the best my Dear. As I've said, I appreciate your videos SO very much! You are part of what helps make my terminal cancer bearable. Really.
GOD bless & love to yo❣ 😁 ~Kathie from Lebanon, Tennessee

[thelmajudge]

Thank you Michelle, I was just going to ditch a painting half done, but after watching this video and your 10 mistakes video I have learnt such a lot that I'm going to try and rectify my mistakes. Even if its still not very good, what I've learnt from these 2 videos is instilled in my brain.