10 Inspiring Watercolor Journal Prompts For Daily Creative Motivation

Imagine starting your day with a burst of creativity to express your thoughts and emotions through watercolor journal prompts. No need to fret over what to paint as this guide will give you 10 prompts to get you inspired.

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Benefits of Watercolor Journal Prompts

Using watercolor journal prompts will give you many advantages beyond enhancing your painting skills. Let me help you spark your creativity and develop some watercolor techniques.

Creativity Boost

Come out of your comfort zone and experiment with techniques that are either new to you, or you want to “brush” up on. Let the flow of the paint, your brush, and your imagination guide you to not only show your creativity but to express your thoughts and feelings.

Trying out some of the techniques mentioned in the prompts will create a new portfolio of artworks, all showing your unique personality.

Skill Development

being consistent with your watercolors is key to developing your skills and improving your watercolor techniques. Learning and understanding color blending and brush control will give you a deeper understanding of your art.

Incorporating watercolor journal prompts into your daily routine of journaling will only enhance your skill as well and you can track your progress and see where you have opportunities to improve or celebrate those techniques you have mastered.

How to Start Watercolor Journaling

One of the best parts of watercolor is your supply list is not that long and not that expensive – unless you make it expensive. Many watercolor materials can be found at reasonably low cost. With that said, there are very pricey paints, paper, and brushes, but you don’t need to purchase the best there is. I consider that a personal financial issue and one that only you can take care of.

Unless you are a professional watercolor artist and do commission art, there is no need to purchase the expensive stuff!

Essential Supplies

To start your watercolor journaling journey, you’ll need the right supplies to create your beautiful artwork. Here are some essential supplies to consider:

Watercolor Paints: My go-to paints are pan paints or tube paints. If you are a beginner, this is a very common recommendation.
Watercolor Paper: As always, I recommend cold-pressed 140lb. watercolor paper.
Brushes: #2 and #6 round should be on your supply list.
Additional Tools: You may want to add items like a palette for mixing colors, a water cup or two, paper towels for blotting, and masking fluid for creating special effects.

Creating a Watercolor Journal

If you want to make your very own watercolor journal prompts book, I linked two videos below.

There are several ways to create your very own journal, and I have two for you today. The first one is to use a bookbinding adhesive like the one in the video below that I created. The link is below the image.

image of a youtube page with a bottle of bookbinding glue on it — **Watch Here!**

The next video is about using a needle and thread to bind the journal. This video is by Lynn Pratt and she shows you step-by-step on how to create sewn bound journal. The link is below the image.

youtube video image of a bookbinding sewing tutorial — **Watch Here!**

No matter which type you choose to make, if you choose to make one, the size of the watercolor paper is up to you. I make mine small to travel with me.

10 Watercolor Journal Prompts for Daily Inspiration

Now that you have your journal created or purchased, up to you, let’s take a look at those watercolor journal prompts below.

Nature’s Palette

Be inspired by the beauty of nature by painting your favorite natural scene using watercolors. Experiment with color mixing techniques and textures to bring the landscape to life on paper.

Using earthy colors like raw sienna, burnt sienna, raw umber, Indian red, and yellow ochre. You will want to have an ultramarine blue or another type of blue to mix and create the most beautiful greens.

Some great textures to try are using salt or dry brushing. Use masking fluid to create birch trees. Use Bleed Proof White to create snow on the mountains.

image of two watercolor paintings one is of snow covered mountains with a lake in front and the other is of aspen trees in the snow — Mountains used Bleed Proof White for snow; Birch trees were made by using masking fluid to keep the integrity of the white.

Mood in Monochrome

Round up your current mood or emotion in a monochromatic painting. Using a single color and various values of that color can create beautiful mountains, skies, and more.

Great colors to use are Payne’s Grey, sepia, Prussian blue, or purple lake. One of those colors, or any color that matches your mood or emotion of the day will give you a harmonious composition.

image of two watercolor paintings of monochrome mountains and a cityscape — Both images were done in various color values of Payne’s Grey

Captivating Florals

Make your favorite flowers come to life in your watercolor journal. Experiment with different floral shapes and wet-on-wet techniques to create botanicals that burst with color.

An easy way to start is by making five dots in a circle with concentrated pigment. While those dots are still wet, clean your brush and use the water on your brush to sweep away from each dot, creating a beautiful petal one at a time.

Or you can use clean water to make your petal shapes, then dab in your watercolor pigment, and watch it dance and flow to create a beautiful flower.

image of watercolor botanicals — Succulents were done with wet-on-dry and layering; purple flowers wet-on-wet and the others were done with layering

Dreamy Skies

Creating sky scenes can be so ethereal. Let’s look at how you can create gorgeous night and day skies.

Using the gradient wash technique is great for making that sunset sky. Using colors like dark blues, purples, reds, and yellows will give you that feeling of the end of a perfect day.

For a daytime, blue skies summer day, you can start with a clean water wash on your paper, and drop in cerulean blue (my favorite for blue skies). Grab a wad of tissue or paper towel, ball it up, and blot it in your sky to create dreamy clouds.

Use a black very fine-tipped micro pen, make little v’s in the sky, and watch your birds come to life flying into the air.

image of 3 watercolor paintings of gradient skies — Painting with the boat on the lake and birds on the wire was done with gradient wet-on-dry; the sunset picture was done with the wet-on-wet technique

Everyday Objects

See that cup of coffee sitting next to you? (Not to be confused with your dirty paint water cup). Transform that morning brew onto your watercolor paper.

Maybe you are not a coffee drinker. Look around at the most ordinary objects in your home. Focus on the details and composition and let your creativity fly!

image of a watercolor painting of a cup of coffee looking down from the top — The coffee mug was made by using a glass rim to trace as well as the coffee rings on the outer parts of the painting. A splatter technique was used to create the droplets.

Abstract Exploration

Abstract watercolor art is so much fun and very relaxing to paint. Play with shapes, lines, and colors to create a unique watercolor. Use a black micro pen to write in words, make new shapes, or whatever your creative imagination can think up.

You can use monotone colors, primary colors, analogous colors, or any color you want. Create a color palette before you start on scrap paper. You’re welcome.

image of abstract watercolors with watercolor shapes and black pen botanicals drawn over top — Wet-on-dry with salt added to the shapes. Finished the piece with micro pen drawings.

Reflections on Water

I love to watercolor water! There is nothing like painting a lake scene and being amazed at the outcome when I can see the reflections and shadows and the movement of the water right before my eyes.

Experiment with shading and light effects. Use the lines in the water to create the movement of the surface.

image of watercolor how to's on how to draw water — Middle image – the sky was done with wet-on-wet as well as the image on the right. The tree trunks/branches on the above painting were made with the corner of a credit card lightly done while the painting was damp. The trees in the background were painted by taking sap green paint and running my paintbrush straight across letting the color bleed on the wet background

Urban Painting or Line and Wash

Urban painting is fun because it does not need to be perfect! You can make wonky houses and no one cares! I like to call them line and wash watercolor.

Sketch out your urban landscape with a line of houses with different rooftops, no straight lines here! Outline them with your micro pen and then do a paint wash either over them or stay in the lines. It’s up to you!

image of 3 watercolor paintings using the line and wash technique — Line and wash is so fun to do. Sketch your drawing first, paint where you need to, and redefine those lines wherever you want them on the painting using a micro pen.

Expressive Portraits

Capture your emotions through a portrait painting. Use color and brushstrokes that tell the depth of your emotions. Again, not looking for perfection. It can be a caricature, a true-to-life, or just let the brush glide to create a portrait that speaks to your soul.

I often sketch facial parts to practice the structure of those areas first. Below are two examples.

image of 2 sketch drawings of eyes and lips — I sketch these better than I paint them, so these are just sketches to give you an idea of what else you can do

Fantasy World

Some days we just need to let our creativity run wild and create a whimsical world with our watercolors. Immerse yourself into the land of wonder and fantasy.

An enchanted forest, a cartoon world, dragons, castles in the sky, a futuristic world… Whatever fantasy your creative mind can think of and run with it! Or paint with it.

image of a watercolor whimsical castle — A fun whimsical castle using the line and wash method.

These watercolor journal prompts should inspire you to get your creativity and watercolors flowing.

Journaling, whether watercolor or written, can provide you with therapeutic results that will leave you with a feeling of accomplishment as well as further your creative journey. You can journal every day, every week, once a month, whenever you feel the need to let it out. There is no right or wrong.

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Remember, your watercolor journal belongs to you, so let it all out. Let your emotions come out strong in your journaling.

In my Facebook Group – Watercolor Tutorials and Inspiration, each weekend, I host a watercolor journal challenge and would love to have you join us and show us what you are comfortable sharing. Click on the link below to join!

Facebook Group page watercolor tutorials and inspiration — I Want To Join!

You can also check out my Patreon page and see what freebies I have to offer and look in at my Coffee Club patron where I only ask for $4 month pledge for monthly watercolor courses and a free watercolor weekly prompt digital journal that covers an entire year.

Image that says Join Me On Patreon — Join Me on Patreon

Stay Colorful, Stay Creative, and HAVE FUN!

~Laurie

10 Inspiring Watercolor Journal Prompts for Daily Creative Motivation