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I recently had a consultation with a GP as my anxiety and depression has not been great and he suggested that I make time for hobbies etc. I wish I was a creative girlie, but I’m not that creative outside of my imagination, and I struggle trying new things because I won’t automatically be good at them.

I have an A-Level in Art, which I use as a joke quite a lot because I am not good at art. My Secondary School Art department was terrible and thus we didn’t actually learn how to do a lot.

Anyway, why did I start this series with Watercolour? I don’t know, maybe I’m an overachiever and possibly delusional? 😂

However, in this instance, I’m super proud of myself, because Day 1 was shocking and I picked that paint brush back up on Day 2 💞

The lessons/videos I followed were from Skillshare. I am definitely not sponsored, I’m just a woman who subscribed to the service with the best intentions and then forgot I had it for 4 months.

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Day 1

Erm… so these little Gremlin bunnies have actually grown on me. The one on the far left isn’t bad. The one on the far right looks more like a yellow Bartok. And the middle one… he’s a definite Gremlin, but I kind of love him.

I thought this looked a lot simpler when I saw the picture and to be fair to me “easy” is in the title of the lesson. Alas, I went in with too much optimism and faith in my non-existent skill set. The teacher – Jane Davies – was really positive and encouraging though.

_{Spring Bunnies. An Easy All-Level Watercolour Class with Jane Davies}

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Day 2

Now, this is less worse and if I daresay not too bad. For these lessons, it was more about following along as the teacher – Irina Trzaskos – detailed what she doing, which I kind of liked. But, I did a lot of pausing and rewinding because she went so quickly through some parts.

I really liked doing the “crocus” and I think that’s the one that turned out the best. The “clover”… they kept saying it’s such an easy thing to do… I can draw a clover with a pencil, but put a brush in my hand, nope.

I also realised when I googled after, that you shouldn’t wet the paper for these kinds of watercolour paintings. I just assumed as I’d literally been told to drench the page in Day 1 that it would be the same. It’s not.

_{100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit (Paining Herbs – Day 1/100 || Painting a Crocus – Day 2/100 || Painting a Clover – Day4/100 || Painting an Olive Branch – Day 6/100)}

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Day 3

I got new brushes! And instantly I felt like a new woman and artist~

This is one of the ones that I’m most proud of and had a lot of fun doing. It’s simple and was relaxing to do. I enjoyed the different stroke techniques and how it all came together ♥

_{100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit (Painting a Lighthouse – Day 3/100)}

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Day 4

Look at the cute bird! It may look like he’s wearing a cape rather than a wing, but I’m super pleased with how it came out – I like the pops of colour.

I do think I should have experimented with different brush sizes, but these lessons are so quick that I just got stuck in with the one brush size as the teacher didn’t change either.

_{100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit (Paining a Bird – Day 11/100)}

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Day 5

I wanted to do the pumpkin lesson for Halloween… I’m not great at circles (apart form my pomegranate! Love her!). I’m also not great at leaves… That’s definitely something I need to work on, which obviously comes with practise.

I also have no idea what a Nasturtium, but I think it’s not too bad.

_{100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit (Painting a Pomegranate – Day 34/100 || Painting a Pumpkin – Day 57/100 || Painting a Nasturtium – Day 88/100)}

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Day 6

Erm… it’s giving primary school History lesson.

The more I look at it, the less I hate it. But it’s definitely not good. This was such a disappointment as I really loved doing the lighthouse and I thought this would be equally as fun. I think this was a case of me needing to use a different brush size.

_{100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit (Painting a Castle – Day 75/100)}

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Day 7

I think I was in a calmer place while drawing the Cosmos flower and I really love how the petals turned out. Even the little leaves look okay.

The Dandelion is fine. I went back and added more to the flower itself as I lacked the proper brush strokes the first time round. The leaves are questionable 😂

_{100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit (Painting a Dandelion – Day 12/100 || Painting a Cosmos Flower – Day 26/100)}

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Thoughts

Overall, I think the week went well.

I’m by no means good at watercolour painting, but the fact that I sat down each day to do one speaks volumes to me.

It was something to look forward to each day and as I decided to just pick and choose from the 100 Day Watercolour Challenge, it became quite fun to decide what to paint. I also became familiar with the lesson layout and “expectations” (this is just a fun little warm up exercise).

I will admit that near the end of the week, I was feeling a little tired, mostly because I could see that I wasn’t actually progressing as much as I “assumed” I should be. I would like to continue and I think I will try to slot a watercolour in at least once a week (probably on my working from home day).

If you’re also an artist or someone like me, who is trying to use creative outlets to help with mental health, keep at it! We all need art in our lives 💞

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Links

Spring Bunnies. An Easy All-Level Watercolour Class with Jane Davies

100 Day Watercolor Challenge – 5 Minute Paintings – Build a Creative Habit

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Thanks for reading! What crafts do you love doing? Do you have any recommendations?

I hope you’re having a lovely day and staying safe ♥