Have you just picked up your brush and are ready to start your watercolor painting journey?
We are at the same point as you and have recently combed Instagram to find the most inspirational artists to help inspire you.
Watercolor painting is one of the most obtainable and budget-friendly forms of art.
It is effortless to get prepared for such creative activity, as all you need is some paint, a paintbrush, paper and water.
Artist Fernanda Ramírez de la Torre is one of our latest Instagram favorites who creates wonderful watercolor paintings and shares her art pieces to stimulate the artist hidden in you.
She was born and raised in Lima, Peru and, thanks to her artist ancestors, she has been into painting since she was a little kid.
Fernanda studied architecture at university which is very related to arts and continued her career for seven years until she came across watercolor painting by chance.
“Out of curiosity, I took an online course, and since that day I have not stopped painting, learning, and creating. I found my passion, what fills my soul every day and I feel very grateful to be able to do it.” she says on her website.
She generously shares her artistic experimentations, podcasts, and her visual journal of the process she uses.
Fernanda posts beautiful photos of her finished art pieces and organizes online courses for the ones who are interested in watercolor painting.
To get to know more about Fernanda, please visit her website here, and remember to follow her on Instagram to stay tuned with her art journey.
Inspirational Watercolor Painting Ideas By Fernanda Ramírez de la Torre
1. Dahlias Watercolor Painting
With their petal-on-petal form, dahlias might look too expert-level to paint at first sight.
But don’t be scared as there are various techniques you can try and succeed in easily with the help of some encouraging online tutorials.
The easiest one is undoubtedly sketch and paint, which works perfectly for this type of detailed composition.
Just grab your brush and prepare your palette with your favorite colors and let your brush dance on the paper in harmony!
2. Geometric Heart With Flowers Watercolor Painting
Combining flowers with geometric shapes is a smart idea to create amazing watercolor portraits which you’ll be proud of hanging on your wall.
This type of composition is way too extraordinary and outstanding at the same time, reflecting the eccentric interpretation of the artist, don’t you think?
So why not try it by yourself and turn a plain piece of paper into your masterpiece with some skillful strokes and imagination.
3. Floral Bouquet In Watercolor
Watercoloring flowers are something we can’t get enough of.
Experimenting with different flowers helps you a lot in improving your skills.
Each piece needs careful brushing and you need to decide on the composition of your bouquet beforehand, in order to create an aesthetic and harmonious look.
Sketching is a must for such watercolor paintings, which will guide you all along the way and lead you to an ultra-satisfying result.
4. Loose Style Flowers In Watercolor
Sometimes you just don’t want to replicate flowers in detail and just let go of your hand on the paper.
This is one of those times, Fernanda solely plays with her brush without thinking so much.
It relaxes her and the result is something different from what she normally does.
So you can practice your skills in a free manner from time to time, and let the composition surprise you.
5. A Bug & Flowers Watercolor Painting
Bugs feature the best floral watercolor compositions.
Once you get used to painting a range of flowers, you’ll look for other natural elements to try your skills on and with their intricately detailed forms.
Bugs will open a new door to your brush practice. Take a close look at its head, body, and legs.
How would you paint them and which colors would you choose?
6. Cactus Blossom Watercolor Painting
This cactus with flowers watercolor painting is an outstanding example because of its background.
It looks as if it was a dark night as the artist preferred black, blue, and purple and with some white dots like stars.
You can make your composition even more masterful, by trying different backgrounds.
In such dark style settings, your main composition pops out and becomes more eye-catching.
You can start with a similar one like this and move forward with your own unique versions.
7. Cactus With Flowers Painting In Watercolor
This is another cactus watercolor painting but this time Fernanda didn’t make any sketch or use pencil but just let herself go, and the result is impressive, don’t you think?
Such a practice is more open to creativity and allows for a more relaxing time.
You can work freely and focus more on details like light and shadows. You can see clearly what you’ve done on the white background.
8. Watercolor Painting Of A Floral Arrangement
Sometimes you have a purpose for painting, such as celebrating a special day like a birthday of a close friend or an anniversary, a festival, etc.
On such occasions, it is beautiful to make something unique and very special of your own to give as an unforgettable and artistic gift to your beloved ones.
For those times, you may prefer heavier art paper like 300-350gsm rather than 200gsm cotton paper, which is more durable and allows for a different experience.
9. Space Watercolor Painting
Fernanda also makes custom watercolor paintings and this is one of them.
She painted this lovely space-themed painting for a little boy and he hung it on his room’s wall joyfully.
Sometimes we lose ourselves in a specific theme, no matter what we do, and unconsciously get lost in it.
Working on different subject-areas means a lot for an artist or a hobbyist, as you get the opportunity for a kind of refreshment, then go back to your specific theme with more motivation.
10. Leaves Watercolor Painting
After sketching the whole composition, she starts with the little red leaves and continues with green ones, then paints the yellow details.
How do we know the process? We’ve watched the reel on Fernanda’s Instagram in which she showcases how she’s accomplished this gorgeous watercolor painting step by step.
She paints as if she just let the paint find its way on the sketch.
You need to try it immediately by yourself!
11. Butterfly And Flowers Watercolor Painting
If you are into nature-themed watercolor paintings, then a butterfly is a must to try.
As they come with many types, shapes, and colors, it is a useful task to fulfill since you can use this functional feature for various other paintings.
You can start with a general sketch of the shape and size of the butterfly, then continue with the selection of color palette and let your creative juices flow to create your very own butterfly.
12. Yellow Iris Flowers And Daisies In Watercolor
An elegant combination of your favorite flowers is another idea that you can opt for for your next art time.
Just choose two or three of your favorite flowers which look in harmony with each other, then decide on the arrangement for the sketching session.
In this example, Fernanda matched up yellow iris with daisies and you can see her palette mainly consists of shades of yellow, green, and white, and a touch of warmth too.
13. Butterfly And Succulent Painting In Watercolor
Succulents never lose their popularity for home decoration and why not portray those little cuties on paper?
In this example made by Fernanda Ramírez, although the butterfly is in the center of the composition, it is the succulents that are the main actors of this lovely watercolor painting.
You can consider such an arrangement for your next brush practice.
14. Boho Spring Flowers Watercolor Painting
How much time do you spend finishing a painting?
Fernanda spends approximately 3-5 hours on each watercolor painting which means 3 or 5 sessions of meditation for her.
When you concentrate on such an artistic activity, no matter it is painting or writing or something else, time stops and you even forget where you are.
The whole process, lets you reconnect with your inner-self and feel extremely peaceful deep inside which means a kind of therapy. Don’t you think?
Now take a look at this highly inspirational boho spring flowers watercolor painting of Fernanda and try to feel the trance that the artist has been through all along the process.
15. Hummingbird Watercolor Painting
Like butterflies, birds are other members of nature, that provide too much inspiration for watercolor painting.
The hummingbird symbolizes joy and happiness which brings positive energy to our lives.
Its colorful appearance is very open to creativity so that you can generate many unique versions reflecting your imagination and artistic skills.
16. Abstract Flowers Watercolor Painting
If you are a beginner or just don’t want to paint realistic flowers, you can put your hands on a watercolor painting of abstract flowers.
You can dream of a fresh bouquet of flowers, and let your creative juices flow with the paint on the paper.
Because of its lightness and transparency, it is hard to predict the color transitions and that’s so charming about watercolor painting.
You can see these features of watercolor while working on abstract flowers.
17. Delicate Flowers Watercolor Composition
I’d sincerely like to hang this gorgeous painting on my living room wall.
The splendid shades of blue, yellow, burgundy, and green match each other perfectly and the forms of the flowers just look beautiful in the composition.
The boldness of leaves enhances the liveliness of the arrangement.
Have you ever painted an abstract flower arrangement like this one?
18. Daffodils And Magnolias In Watercolor
What’s your favorite flower?
You may have more than one favorite and putting your brush on the paper to paint an elegant combination of your best-loved flowers is a never-regret idea.
Just fill your palette with a couple of warm colors and dive into this soothing and artistic activity.
19. Flower Cutout In Watercolor
Painting patterns in watercolor and cutting them out to create one-of-a-kind flower strings or ornaments is always a great idea.
To adorn your place for special occasions is another smart idea that you can try your hand skills and imagination with.
Easter, Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day… No matter what you celebrate, it is free and fun to make your own embellishments to decorate your room.
20. Flora And Fauna Patterns In Watercolor
In the same manner, you can paint your patterns separately on paper, then grab your scissors to cut them out then craft your beautiful home decoration with watercolor paintings.
You can also collect your watercolor experimentations like this, then check back while composing an arrangement.
21. Eucalyptus Flowers Watercolor Painting
The world of flowers is a great source of inspiration no matter what we are talking about, watercolor painting, tattoos or any other type of art.
Whenever you are stuck, go on the balcony, or if you have the chance go for a walk in the woods, just look around to see various flowers and examine them thoroughly or take their photos then transfer them on paper.
Here you can see, Fernanda’s watercolor painting of an amazing eucalyptus flower.
22. Flowers On Single Branch Watercolor Painting
Here you can see another floral idea for your next watercolor painting session.
In this one, she designed the composition starting from a single branch and then expanding into tiny branches and many flowers.
We can see the flowers from different perspectives and that’s what makes this painting outstanding.
You may notice it also has a kind of gradient effect starting from purple in the center and turning out into shades of pink to the outer parts of the composition.
23. Tulips Watercolor Painting In Progress
If you are not planning loose style watercolor painting but put your hands on a detailed composition, then you’ll need an underdrawing as a preparatory phase.
This is the very first step of your main painting activity in which you decide on which each element’s place on the paper.
This type of planning can help you structure the perfect piece.
24. Tulips Composition In Watercolor
Sometimes you just need to know exactly the place of everything in the composition, like in this one.
Your focus is then to work on colors, and shades and get a realistic look at every detail.
But sometimes you want to leave more room for your imagination and creativity than only some thumbnails work to define where the things will be rough.
How do you choose to paint?
25. Mastering Flowers With Watercolor
Flowers on flowers leaves on leaves and tiny little details to combine them altogether.
This watercolor painting consists of lots of different elements but they are arranged so perfectly.
After having a detailed look at it, one can agree that everything is placed exactly where it must be, naturally.
This is another artistic feature that you must practice and master in time.
26. Magnolia Watercolor Painting
It is not always about having the most inspirational idea and learning the best techniques to accomplish the painting session successfully and reach the goal.
It is mostly about being dedicated and enjoying the process no matter what you do for your interest area.
Not the end product, but the process is what matters.
27. Hibiscus Flower Watercolor Painting
Fernanda’s creative process begins with inspiration.
Once an idea sparkles in her mind, she starts drawing and she generally finds inspiration from everyday things around her.
From looking at colors in simple things, some pattern in someone’s clothes or even in the supermarket, she may get an idea for her next watercolor painting.
After doing the sketch, she chooses her color palette and prepares them, with all that ready she starts painting and the magic begins!
28. Large-Scale Flower Watercolor Painting
Brushing up only one flower with some accompanying leaves is another good idea that you can work on to enhance your skills.
Take a close look at the veins of the leaves, they look so impressive, and the style she paints the petals.
They express pure elegance, don’t you agree?
29. Gradient Flowers Watercolor Painting
What’s best about playing with colors is what you can do with them is only limited by your imagination.
Brushing up gradients flowers is another idea that leads you to an entertaining activity and helps you enhance your skills.
You can either try painting gradient flowers or a gradient background for different kinds of compositions.
You see when it is watercolor painting, the opportunities are limitless.
30. Lily Watercolor Painting
“Color pencils! I love them, they relax me, and they take me back to my childhood…here is a preview of the tests I do…I don’t always show them, but I do a lot of tests, I feel like I learn a lot from them and myself along the way.”
she tells about this artwork of her.
Do you also have such ideas or tests?
31. Wild Flowers Watercolor Painting
She really loves the final details, those magical touches, after using watercolor and for those details she often uses posca markers, gouache or gel pen.
She believes that those details give the illustration something more, and finds that part of the painting extremely enjoyable.
32. Iris In Large-Scale Watercolor Painting
Iris flowers have a special place in the world of flowers as they have a deep symbolic meaning.
The Iris takes it name from the Ancient Greek goddes Iris who acted as a link between heaven and earth.
The flower was named in her honor and was often planted over graves as they believed to ease the passage to heaven.
Would you like to paint an iris watercolor painting to hang up on your wall?
33. Detailed Leaves Painting In Watercolor
We hadn’t known that it was possible to achieve this kind of perfect-texture with watercolor, but as you can see it can be done flawlessly.
Both the texture of the leaves and how they reflect the sunshine are impressive qualities of this watercolor painting, don’t you think?
34. Vintage Roses Watercolor Painting
Now just relax and let this watercolor painting take you on a trip in time, back to the 1920s.
You know roses are iconic symbols of the vintage era and they represent elegance and nobleness.
Such a composition depicts those features both for the rose and the color and because of the color palette preference of the artist.
You can give it a try if you enjoy vintage appeal in your artwork.
35. Elegant Tulips Watercolor Painting
We’d like to keep this one for the finale.
You can see a bouquet of tulips taken from Fernanda’s sketchbook. Again the colors amaze us and the aesthetic aspect of it is extremely dominant.
“I draw because it is a time just for me, it is a time to connect with myself and it gives me a lot of peace.” she states in one of her interviews.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this amazing selection from such a beautiful, talented artist and we wish that you enjoy your watercolor painting journey and let it bring you loads of happiness in your life.