Revisiting My First Attempt at Watercolor Painting

Welcome! Cheers to my first official blog post for Petals by Priya. I hope you’ll join me as I look back through my first watercolor journal that I started practicing on about 2 years ago.

Let me start with this: at the beginning of my watercolor journey I didn’t even know there was a specific type of paper you were supposed to use for watercolor, so I bought a little journal with thin ‘mixed media’ paper that started warping the moment a drop of water hit it… I also created the majority of these paintings with a $5 Crayola kids watercolor set I picked up from Walmart on a whim.

Even with the lowest quality supplies possible, I had a lot of fun experimenting with watercolors and that’s the most important thing, right? 

Here are some photos of my very first watercolor paintings:



And here are some of my more recent pieces:

Fast forward to now - I am still learning and changing as an artist. Sometimes it’s easy to feel demotivated and discouraged, and want to give up (especially when there are so many incredibly talented artists to compare yourself to on Instagram), but looking back at my first paintings helps me realize how far I’ve come in a matter of years, and gives me gratitude for the happiness, peace, and growth my art journey has given me so far. I’m nowhere near where I want to be yet, but that’s the exciting part. Where could I be if I keep practicing for another two years?

If you have been considering learning a new hobby but feel scared, intimidated, or think you’re too old to learn something new, I sincerely encourage you to just go for it! Whatever it might be, buy some cheap supplies (okay, maybe not Crayola kids set cheap…) and just START.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful and restful start to the new year! One more thing… If you want to get free access to some of my downloadable phone wallpapers and art prints, become a subscriber to my newsletter!