Here’s a fun project to do on your own, with friends or to keep the kids creatively occupied for a bit:
A watercolor coloring page.
I drew a quick sketch of a sweet bird and simple lettering and you get to fill it in!
Rather than the typical marker or colored pencil coloring pages, I thought it would be fun to try it with watercolor. The printable has very little detail because part of the beauty of watercolor is letting it blend, layer, and puddle to give that pretty watercolor effect we all love.
To get you started, I created a short video showing what supplies you’ll need, how to transfer the print and a few tips for painting.
RECOMMENDED SUPPLIES:
Strathmore Cold Press Paper | Windsor & Newton Tube Set | Prang Professional Watercolor Set | Round Brush Set
Last week Audrey had a friend over to play. After jumping on the trampoline, playing school and eating snacks, they came up to the studio asking if I would turn on the sprinkler. It was sunny, but about 65*. It did not feel like a great choice to run around in hose water in swimsuits :)
So I talked them into doing this watercolor project instead. They were happy to skip out on the freezing water for some creative time.
We transferred the little birds to watercolor paper, I turned on the video and off they went filling in their birds.
The girls did such a good job and had a great time painting.
One fun thing about this project is that you can either leave the bird and words just as they are:
Or add embellishments like a ribbon around the words and flowers and grass along the bottom:
Of course, you can embellish however your brush desires! It would be fun to give her a crown of flowers or reduce her size just a little and create a frame or wreath around her. So many options.
To get your template, click below. You can download it and print directly on watercolor paper, or use the transfer method mentioned in the video. Enjoy!
The download is free and can be found in THE ARCHIVE, my library of freebies. Scroll down to the TEMPLATES section and it will be waiting for you!
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If you paint a little bird, please let me know. I’d love to see what you create …
If you loved this video lesson, come enjoy the whole Simplified Watercolor class! You’ll learn about the supplies to use, watercolor technique, lettering, layering, floral art, scribble art and more.
Hi Emily! My daughter is 15 and just started trying watercolor. I remembered your post and thought I’d ask you how you keep your paper from buckling? Yours looks relatively flat but hers are buckling and we bought a pretty good water color paper from Michaels. Thanks!
Try taping it down around the perimeter first and let it dry completely. Or you could switch to using a watercolor block (you paint, let it dry and then pull the paper off the block to reveal the next piece).
Thanks for showing the process and talking it through, you are an awesome teacher! I will be trying this, as a true beginner…
I think you would really like Cathy Graham’s work. https://www.cathybgraham.com/work/
The video was really helpful. Thank you so much!
Oh I absolutely LOVE this! I hope you’ll create more of these for us :-)
Certainly! It was fun to do!