10 Beautiful Watercolor Paintings of Landscapes, People and more

Watercolor was the first painting medium I’ve been introduced to as a child. I’ve also painted a few watercolors in art school, and can certainly respect the great skill and experimentation needed to master this versatile medium.

I have collected some of the beautiful watercolor paintings showcased by artists from our spotlights.

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Nicola Lautre

“I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and studied art at school and art college. I worked as a graphic designer for twenty years in advertising and packaging for some of the top international companies. I have always loved art and all its mediums, but my true passion is for watercolor. Recently I have used my love of blues/rock music to do a series of portraits of musicians.”
Chana Helen

“I gain much of my inspiration from my observations of Jerusalem life and the Jewish celebrations which I take part in. I work from a combination of my sketches, memory, feelings and imagination. I love to use watercolours, especially for my rainy day paintings, and lino printing in black ink on white paper.”
Bruce Black

“Our lives move so fast and we dance from one thing to the next with little more than a glance around. Painting stops that movement and is an introspective period of meditation. This is true both for the artist and viewer. In my work I paint not with the desire to depict everything of that moment, but to establish its essence.

Watercolor is great at capturing that essence. It celebrates the light and the diffusion of light into space. I enjoy the challenge of watercolors because there is no erasing or scraping out. You must work with what you put on the paper and make it look intentional even if it wasn’t. On the other hand, if you overwork it, the thing becomes dull and rigid. With watercolors I try to find a balance between spontaneity and control. And, of course there are no whites with watercolor. The whites you see are from the paper shining through. Watercolor is an infinitely challenging medium and thus worthy of a lifetime of effort.”
Sylvia Fuller

“My eyes, ears, heart, mind evokes inspiration. It is like a spark that ignites a fire. A poem or human experience for instance, sparks instantly a picture in my imagination..... the process is finding the objects and then applying skill and technique for the outcome.”
Paul Buford

“I've worked in oil, acrylic, ceramics, etc, but I love watercolor above all. The process of staining paper to create the final image is something that just really speaks to me. It's like controlled chaos.”
Ruth McCabe

“I've been painting since 1997 and for the last 5 years, full time. Progressing from acrylics to oils about 6 years ago, this year I've mainly worked in watercolour, painting the local East Suffolk landscape and working towards greater abstraction.”
Gretchen Deahl

“My process tends to be time consuming, mostly because I enjoy creating intense pattern and texture in my work. It begins with pencil sketches, where the ideas exploding in my brain manifest themselves rather messily onto tracing paper. Slowly, they get erased and redrawn multiple times to become an image with some structure and composition. Color and pattern now enter the picture (literally) in the form of watercolor, colored pencil and digitally, via Photoshop.”
Sharon Guy

“I paint in acrylics and watercolors in a loose, impressionistic style with vibrant colors. I work directly from life as much as possible, in order to make the painting look alive. Sometimes I use sketches and my memory to create a scene. My favorite subjects are animals, birds, and seascapes. My goal is to capture the essence of a subject in a way that engages the viewer.”
Katie Hone

“I’ve been splashing paint on paper for as long as I remember! Perhaps my first memory of specific pieces of work was when I used to have still life classes with my Nana, first time I’d ever used watercolour and I really loved it!|
Helga McLeod

“I search for the light in every picture - and how I will try to show that when I paint. Will the light stay white, or will the reflection on a white cup be colored - and so on. I work from the light backwards to the depths of color, mentally - before I start painting. Once I have that process mapped out, I start painting.”