Last Updated on January 22, 2026 by Dee
Staring at a blank page with your watercolours ready, but your mind completely empty? You’re not alone. Every watercolour artist—whether you’ve been painting for years or just picked up your first brush last week—hits that moment where inspiration simply won’t come.
The good news? There are hundreds of beautiful, beginner-friendly subjects all around you just waiting to be painted. From the fruit in your kitchen to the clouds outside your window, the world is full of things to watercolour.
In this post, I’ve gathered over 75 easy things to watercolour that’ll get your creative juices flowing again. Plus, I’ve created 8 free printable watercolour painting templates with simple outlines you can paint right over—perfect for building your confidence and trying new subjects without the pressure of drawing first.
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Table of Contents
Why Watercolour is Perfect for Beginners
There’s something magical about watercolour that other mediums just can’t replicate. The way pigments bloom and blend on wet paper, creating effects you couldn’t plan if you tried. It’s forgiving in ways that might surprise you—happy accidents are part of the charm.
Watch this video👇🏻 for more watercolor painting inspiration!
Watercolour is also wonderfully portable. A small palette, a water brush, and a pocket sketchbook are all you need to paint anywhere. No solvents, no drying time worries, no complicated setup. Just you, your paints, and whatever catches your eye.
If you’re looking for more watercolour inspiration, my post on 45+ watercolor painting ideas for beginners has loads of easy techniques to try.
Simple Flowers to Watercolour
Flowers are the quintessential watercolour subject for good reason. Their soft petals and organic shapes practically beg for loose, flowing brushwork. You don’t need to paint every detail—in fact, leaving some things to the imagination often creates more beautiful results.
Easy flowers to start with:
Roses are surprisingly forgiving when painted loosely. Start with the centre as a small spiral, then add petals that get larger as you work outward. Let each petal dry slightly before adding the next for lovely soft edges.
Daisies are brilliant for beginners because their simple shape teaches you about negative space. Paint the yellow centre first, then add white petals around it—or leave the paper white and paint the background instead.
Poppies look stunning with wet-on-wet technique. Drop in red pigment and watch it spread, then add darker centres while still damp. The natural bleeding creates that papery poppy texture perfectly.
Lavender stems are wonderful practice for controlled brushstrokes. Use the tip of your brush for tiny individual flower clusters, building up the characteristic cone shape.
Sunflowers, tulips, wildflowers, cherry blossoms, forget-me-nots, and hydrangeas all make gorgeous watercolour subjects too. My 60+ watercolor flowers ideas post has tutorials for many of these if you’d like step-by-step guidance.
Cute Watercolour Ideas: Food and Drinks
There’s something incredibly satisfying about painting food. Maybe it’s all those delicious colours, or perhaps it’s how relatable these everyday subjects are. Either way, food illustrations are having a major moment—and they’re genuinely fun to paint.
Fruit to watercolour:
Lemons are ideal for practising smooth gradients. That shift from bright yellow to greenish shadow teaches you so much about colour mixing. The simple oval shape is confidence-building too.
Apples help you understand how light wraps around a rounded form. Start with your lightest wash, leave a white highlight, and build up the shadow side gradually.
Watermelon slices are absolute joy to paint. That gradient from pale green rind to deep red flesh, speckled with black seeds—so satisfying.
Try oranges, strawberries, cherries, pears, peaches, blueberries, and grapes. Each fruit teaches you something different about colour, shape, and texture.
Drinks and treats:
Coffee cups are cosy and surprisingly easy. Paint the mug shape, add steam wisps with a nearly dry brush, and you’ve got instant hygge.
Cupcakes let you play with all the colours—frosting swirls in any shade you fancy, sprinkles as tiny dots of concentrated pigment.
Tea with lemon, hot chocolate with marshmallows, iced drinks with condensation—these make charming subjects for a watercolour journal.
Watercolour Art Inspiration from Nature
Nature provides endless inspiration for watercolour artists. The colours are already mixed perfectly for you—just look and paint what you see.
Botanical subjects:
Leaves come in so many shapes and colours. Try painting a single monstera leaf in all its tropical glory, or a delicate fern frond with its repeating pattern. Autumn leaves are especially gorgeous with their reds, oranges, and yellows bleeding together.
Succulents have become incredibly popular watercolour subjects. Their geometric rosette shapes and blue-green colours translate beautifully to paint.
Mushrooms offer unexpected variety—from red-capped toadstools to elegant oyster mushrooms. They’re wonderful for practising subtle earth tones.
For more botanical inspiration, check out my 120+ free vintage botanical printables.
Landscapes and skies:
Sunsets are watercolour gold. Wet the paper thoroughly, then drop in bands of colour—yellow at the horizon, through orange and pink, to deep blue at the top. Let them blend naturally for that dreamy sky effect.
Clouds teach you the power of negative painting. Leave the clouds as white paper and paint the blue sky around them.
Mountains in the distance work beautifully with simple layered washes, each range lighter than the one in front.
Rolling hills, ocean waves, misty forests, and moonlit scenes all make wonderful subjects. My 21 simple watercolor paintings guide has easy tutorials for several landscape subjects.
Watercolour Inspo Easy: Animals and Creatures
Animals might seem intimidating, but starting with simple silhouettes or stylised versions makes them completely achievable.
Easy animals to paint:
Birds are brilliant starting points. A simple robin shape—round body, small head, triangular tail—becomes adorable with a pop of orange-red breast colour.
Butterflies teach you about symmetry and let you play with any colour combination you can imagine. Paint one wing, fold the paper while wet, and you’ve got a perfect mirror image.
Fish with their flowing fins and scales are wonderfully suited to wet-on-wet watercolour techniques.
Try cats curled up sleeping (just a curved shape!), fluffy bunnies, hedgehogs, owls, foxes, and flamingos. You’ll find more ideas in my 50+ cute animal drawings post—many work beautifully as watercolour subjects too.
Sea creatures:
Jellyfish are magical to paint. That translucent bell shape with trailing tentacles is perfect for watercolour’s transparent qualities.
Seahorses, starfish, shells, and coral all make gorgeous subjects with lovely shapes and colours.
Cool Watercolour Ideas: Everyday Objects
Some of the most charming watercolour paintings feature ordinary things. There’s beauty in the everyday when you really look.
Cosy subjects:
Teapots and teacups have such lovely shapes. A vintage floral teacup makes a perfect practice subject—paint the basic shape, then add pattern details once dry.
Books stacked or open, reading glasses perched on top, a steaming cup nearby—these create instant atmosphere.
Candles with their warm glow, cosy jumpers, soft blankets, and slippers all evoke that comfortable feeling.
Stationery and art supplies:
Paint your own art supplies! Watercolour palettes with all those little pools of colour, jars of brushes, stacks of sketchbooks—these make wonderful meta-paintings.
Pencils, scissors, washi tape rolls, and vintage letters are all gorgeous subjects.
Around the house:
Potted plants bring life to any painting. A trailing pothos, a spiky cactus, a leafy fiddle leaf fig—each has its own character.
Kitchen items like copper pots, ceramic bowls, and wooden spoons have beautiful shapes and warm colours.
Watercolour Art Ideas Easy: Seasonal Subjects
Painting with the seasons keeps your practice fresh and relevant.
Spring things to watercolour:
Cherry blossoms on branches, spring bulbs poking through soil, baby birds, butterflies, rain boots with flowers, umbrellas, and Easter eggs in pastel colours.
Summer subjects:
Seashells and starfish, ice cream cones, sunglasses, beach umbrellas, tropical cocktails, flip flops, and palm trees.
Autumn inspiration:
Fall leaves in warm tones, pumpkins and gourds, apples and pears, cosy scarves, hot drinks, acorns and pine cones. My 40+ fall watercolor ideas post has loads more autumn subjects.
Winter themes:
Snowflakes (each one unique!), robins on snowy branches, cosy mittens, hot chocolate, evergreen branches, and winter berries.
Best Supplies for Painting These Subjects
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You don’t need expensive supplies to create beautiful watercolours, but having decent materials does make a difference to your experience.
For paints, I recommend the Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Set—it’s a brilliant starter set with a good range of colours. If you’re on a tighter budget, the Arteza Watercolor Paint Set gives you lovely pigments without breaking the bank.
Good paper makes an enormous difference. The Strathmore 400 Series Watercolor Paper is my go-to for practice, while the Canson XL Watercolor Pad is brilliant for trying new techniques.
For brushes that hold water beautifully, the Royal & Langnickel Zen brushes offer fantastic quality for the price.
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Tips for Choosing What to Watercolour
When you’re stuck for ideas, here are some approaches that always help:
Start with what’s in front of you. Look around your room right now. What catches your eye? Your coffee mug, a plant on the windowsill, the fruit bowl in the kitchen—these familiar objects make wonderful practice subjects because you can really study them.
Paint what you love. If you’re obsessed with succulents, paint succulents. Love cats? Paint cats. Your enthusiasm will show in your work, and you’ll naturally spend more time practicing.
Keep a running list. When inspiration strikes randomly—maybe you spot a beautiful flower or see a gorgeous colour combination—jot it down in your phone or sketchbook. You’ll have a ready-made list when you need it.
Use reference photos. There’s no shame in painting from photographs, especially when you’re learning. Pinterest, Unsplash, and your own camera roll are goldmines of inspiration.
Try my free templates below. Sometimes the hardest part is getting started. When you have an outline ready to go, you can focus entirely on colour mixing and brushwork without worrying about drawing.
For more watercolour techniques, my 16+ easy watercolor tutorials will walk you through step-by-step.
What’s Inside the 8 Free Watercolour Painting Templates
Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll get in this free 8-page printable template set. Each page has been designed with simple outlines that beginners can paint right over—no drawing skills required.
The templates include:
- Simple flowers (rose, daisy, tulip)
- Fresh fruit (apple, lemon, pear)
- Botanical leaves (monstera, eucalyptus, fern)
- Cosy coffee mug with steam
- Clouds and rainbow
- Beautiful butterfly
- Simple landscape scene
- Cute cupcake
Grab the Free Printable Watercolour Painting Templates HERE (below)!
Every freebie and tutorial on Artsydee is made with love (and plenty of coffee!)
☕ If you’d like to say thanks, you can buy me a coffee here → ko-fi.com/artsydee
Let’s Get Painting!
I hope this list has sparked some ideas for your next watercolour session. Remember, there’s no wrong place to start—just pick something that appeals to you and give it a go. The printable templates are there whenever you need a confidence boost or want to try a new subject without the pressure of drawing first.
Watercolour rewards practice and experimentation, so don’t be too precious about it. Some of my favourite paintings started as “just messing about.” Let the paint do its thing, embrace those happy accidents, and most importantly—enjoy the process.
I’d love to see what you create! Tag me on Instagram or Pinterest if you use these templates or try any of the ideas from this post.
Happy painting! 🎨
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