5 Watercolour Warm Up Exercises to Loosen Up Before You Paint
- Sep 11, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 17
Before I start almost any painting, I spend ten or fifteen minutes simply playing with water, colour and marks.
These aren't finished paintings. They're warm-ups.
Just as a musician plays scales before a concert, I find a few simple watercolour exercises help me relax, loosen up and reconnect with the joy of painting.
Here are five of my favourites.
wet on wet
charging
adding clean water with spray
adding clean water with brush
lifting out
Equipment needed: 2 water pots, board, paper, masking tape, brushes (round, rigger and flat), palette, apron, water spray, kitchen roll
Paints used (but you could use any three colours you like):
Cotman student watercolour tubes in yellow ochre, ultramarine, burnt sienna
What These Exercises Teach You
Instead of thinking: "I'm practising squares."
You're learning:
how much water is enough
how pigments behave
timing
soft edges
colour mixing
confidence
That's much more motivating.
How to do these techniques
Below are some notes on how to do these exercises. They are great ways to start a painting process, especially for a meditative, mindful approach to painting. I could do some of them all day ...
1. Wet into Wet
Why I use it
This is one of my favourite ways to begin painting. It's a chance to forget about creating a finished picture and simply enjoy watching water and colour interact. Every time you do this exercise you'll get slightly different results, which is part of the joy of watercolour.
How to do it
Tape a piece of watercolour paper to your board and wet a simple shape thoroughly with clean water. Drop in medium-strength mixes of your three colours and watch them spread across the paper. Tilt your board gently if you'd like the colours to travel and blend together.
What to notice
Watch how each pigment behaves. Some colours spread quickly while others stay more where you put them. Notice the beautiful soft edges and the unexpected mixes that happen without any help from you. Try to resist the temptation to keep fiddling!
2. Charging Colour
Why I use it
Charging colour teaches you how pigments interact while they're still wet. It's one of the easiest ways to create rich, luminous colour without over-mixing on the palette.
How to do it
Paint a light square using your first colour. While it's still wet, drop in a stronger mix of your second colour. Next, paint a darker square with your second colour and charge in your first colour. Continue alternating your colours, always adding fresh paint while the surface is still damp.
What to notice
Rather than stirring the colours together, simply place them next to each other and let the water do the work. You'll discover beautiful transitions and subtle blends that are almost impossible to create deliberately.
3. Adding Clean Water
Why I use it
This exercise reminds me that water is just as important as paint. Clean water can create movement, soften edges and produce wonderfully atmospheric effects.
How to do it
While your painted shapes are still wet, lightly mist one with a water spray and tilt the paper to encourage the paint to move. On another shape, use a clean brush to stroke fresh water gently along one edge and watch how the paint responds.
What to notice
Notice how the paint flows towards the clean water. Sometimes you'll create delicate blooms and soft textures; other times you'll simply encourage the paint to move in interesting ways. Every paper, pigment and level of dampness gives a slightly different result.
4. Lifting Out
Why I use it
Lifting out is one of my favourite techniques for creating light. It's perfect for suggesting mist, sunlight, waves, distant hills or soft clouds without reaching for white paint.
How to do it
Allow your wet-into-wet exercise to become almost dry. Dampen a clean flat brush, blot off any excess water, then gently sweep it across the paper where you'd like to lift the colour. Rinse the brush, wipe it clean and repeat if needed.
What to notice
Timing is everything. If the paper is too wet, the paint simply flows back. If it's completely dry, the colour is much harder to lift. Experiment with different stages of drying and you'll soon develop a feel for the perfect moment.
5. Combine Them and Play
Why I use it
This is where everything comes together. Rather than thinking about techniques individually, I begin to combine them naturally. This is often how my own paintings start.
How to do it
Create another simple abstract study using all four techniques together. Begin with wet into wet, charge in fresh colour, add clean water where you want movement and finally lift out a few areas of light. Don't try to paint anything recognisable—just enjoy exploring what happens.
What to notice
These exercises aren't about producing a masterpiece. They're about getting to know your materials, relaxing into the painting process and discovering effects you might want to use in a future landscape. Every warm-up teaches you something new, and often it's these playful beginnings that lead to your most successful paintings.
And there we have it - 5 different techniques. These are my favourites - I usually start a painting with a mix of charging and wet on wet to playing with colour.
Why I Still Do Warm-Ups
Even after years of painting, I still begin many painting sessions with a few simple warm-up exercises like these.
It's partly because I need the practice— every painting teaches me something—but also because they help me make an important shift. They take me from thinking about everything else I should be doing to becoming fully absorbed in colour, water and the simple pleasure of watching paint move across the paper.
There's no pressure to produce a finished painting. No expectation that it has to be good. Just a few minutes of curiosity and play.
I've often found that the painting I thought I was going to create changes completely after these warm-ups. A colour combination surprises me, an unexpected texture appears, or a beautiful bloom gives me a new idea. Sometimes the warm-up itself is more exciting than the painting I'd planned.
When I teach workshops, people are often relieved to discover that we don't start with a perfect drawing or a painting. We begin by experimenting. By playing. By getting to know our materials a little better.
I believe that's one of the reasons watercolour can feel so joyful. It rewards curiosity far more than perfection.
So don't worry about keeping these exercises neat or creating something to frame. Treat them as a conversation with your paints. The more often you play, the more confident you'll become, and that confidence naturally finds its way into every painting you create.
Sometimes it can simply begin with play.
Paint With Me
If you'd like to paint together in person, I run friendly watercolour workshops in North Yorkshire for beginners and improvers throughout the year. You can see all upcoming workshops here.
