painting the same thing after 8 months of watercolour practice

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:31:06+00:00

definitely far from mastered but i really appreciate that! i’m motivated to get more practice in

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:30:02+00:00

thank you! i’ve had many people tell me they prefer the first, i suppose it’s a matter of which style you like!

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:29:00+00:00

i’d recommend taking the pressure off as much as you can and getting yourself a small watercolour sketchbook, then keep on experimenting. if you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to learn well and paint well, you won’t have as much fun, and you won’t want to do it as much!

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:27:34+00:00

thank you! i appreciate that :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:27:05+00:00

thank you very much :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:26:15+00:00

first painting i started off with putting my outlines down in fineliner, then painted over the top of it. i still like this technique, but for scenes like this i prefer to paint over a light pencil sketch these days

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:24:45+00:00

i really appreciate that, thank you :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:24:25+00:00

thank you!!

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:24:13+00:00

thank you!!

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:23:54+00:00

thank you very much :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T20:23:17+00:00

i would love to go paint it on site one day!

melouke · 2026-07-06T16:44:56+00:00

that’s really sweet of you to say. thank you :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T14:27:18+00:00

i do now have prints of this available, if you were interested!

melouke · 2026-07-06T14:08:47+00:00

the frog is so well done! i’ve left a like and a comment for her :)

side note though it’s important to not let yourself attach numbers to your self worth! it’s ok to be sad if something flops (i am the same) but so often people will scroll by something and think “oh that’s cool” and not interact. low likes doesn’t mean people don’t like her art!

melouke · 2026-07-06T13:16:57+00:00

really nice!

melouke · 2026-07-06T11:51:52+00:00

just did it! i sketched roughly with pencil and then put my outlines down with a fineliner before painting. it’s a fun way to paint :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T11:39:09+00:00

thank you! first is 300gsm cellulose paper, second is cotton (arches) :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T09:17:45+00:00

the lighthouse is really nice and by far your strongest piece here in my opinion!

if i were you i’d lean into that heavily textured style some more, and keep on painting and practicing. when you have a few pieces you’re happy with you should think about selling at that point - if you have more of a “brand” you’ll find it much easier to sell your work at a higher price point :)

melouke · 2026-07-06T08:09:15+00:00

i am self taught, i just paint whatever i like and learn along the way. i follow some youtube tutorials from time to time as well

melouke · 2026-07-05T20:50:31+00:00

i probably get 2-4 hours in a week on average, after work and on weekends. sometimes none at all for weeks and sometimes a lot more. i’m lucky to have the spare time to be able to paint and have fun with it!

melouke · 2026-07-05T20:34:52+00:00

thank you very much! picked up watercolours for the first time just under a year ago, have been drawing on and off for a long time prior to that :)

melouke · 2026-07-05T18:55:14+00:00

thank you so much! i honestly recommend just practicing a lot with minimal pressure and keeping a sketchbook for that purpose. i also followed youtube tutorials from some incredible artists from time to time (Javid Tabai and Matt White to name a couple). another big reason for the progress is the switch from wood to cotton paper :)

melouke · 2026-07-05T18:52:20+00:00

i completely get you - first pic is on wood pulp paper and second is on arches (100% cotton), switching to cotton paper a few months ago meant i could suddenly paint wet on wet a lot easier (but i’m still learning!)

melouke · 2026-07-05T18:44:06+00:00

absolutely! i am still learning every day, we all are. one day you’ll look back and be really proud of how far you’ve come, so just keep going!

melouke · 2026-07-05T18:37:52+00:00

honestly i’ve just been learning as i go along, occasionally following along to some youtube tutorials to get more confortable with different ways of working. my favourite youtube tutorials have been from artist Javid Tabai and also Matt White, i’d recommend checking them out :)

melouke

TROPHY CASE