Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Today I want to share a recent painting of a very famous place in America. This is Park Avenue in Arches National Park, Utah. It is a stunning spot with huge red rocks that look like skyscrapers in a big city. The light in the desert is always very bright and crisp. I really enjoyed trying to capture that heat and the big shadows on the canyon walls. It is a great subject for watercolor because of the simple shapes and the bold colors.

I started with a very simple pencil sketch to get the heights of the rocks right. For the sky, I used a nice mix of cobalt blue and a little cerulean blue at the bottom. I wanted a clear day with no clouds to make the red rock pop. For those warm orange and red cliffs, I used a lot of burnt sienna and cadmium red. In the darker parts of the rocks, I added some neutral tint and ultramarine blue to create deep shadows. This helps the painting look 3D and shows where the sun is hitting the stone.

The foreground has a lot of dry plants and sand. I used yellow ochre and burnt umber for the ground. To get those dusty green bushes, I used a bit of viridian green mixed with lavender. The lavender helps to make the greens look a bit softer and further away. At the very end, I used a tiny bit of white paint for a few highlights on the edges of the rocks. It was a fun challenge to paint such a warm place while sitting in my studio here in the UK. I hope you like how it turned out and it inspires you to try a desert scene.

15 hours ago | [YT] | 165

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Just out! From my painting critique channel, I showcase attendee paintings from my November 2025 online workshop where we painted a scene from Burano near Venice.

15 hours ago | [YT] | 4

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

My latest watercolour demo and full step by step commentary of me painting a sunny beach scene in St Tropez. Hope you like it!

2 days ago | [YT] | 31

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Hello everyone! I just finished this new watercolor of Brixham Harbour and I wanted to share it with all of you. It was a beautiful day with lovely light hitting the water. I really enjoyed painting the reflections of the boats.

I share my source photo for you as well.




For this piece, I started with a light wash of yellow ochre and cerulean blue for the sky. I used ultramarine blue and a bit of neutral tint for the deeper shadows under the boats. The main boat in the front has some nice cadmium red and burnt sienna to make it stand out. I also used a tiny bit of white paint at the very end to catch those bright highlights on the water and the masts. It is all about keeping the brush strokes loose and letting the colours mix on the paper.



Brixham is such a classic spot for painters. I love the shapes of the buildings and how they look against the harbour walls. I hope this painting gives you some inspiration for your own work this week. Remember to keep your water clean and your washes bold!

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2 days ago | [YT] | 211

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Hello everyone! I just finished this watercolor of the Livorno Canal from Scali Luigi Bettarini in Italy. It was a joy to paint the warm light hitting those old buildings. I used a lot of yellow ochre and burnt sienna to get that sunny Mediterranean feeling. The reflections in the water were a bit tricky but I think the ultramarine blue and neutral tint worked well for the shadows. I added a few small white paint highlights at the very end to make the boats pop. This scene is all about the contrast between the bright walls and the cool water. I hope you like how it turned out. It makes me want to go back to Italy and paint in the sun again. Keep practicing your washes and remember to let the paper do some of the work. Happy painting!

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3 days ago | [YT] | 236

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Sneak Peek: Painting St Tropez – The Power of Simplification

Hi everyone! I am excited to share a sneak peek of the next video coming to my YouTube channel. I am tackling a beautiful scene from St Tropez, France.

If you have ever painted from a photo, you know the problem. The photo is full of too much detail. All those windows, all those roof tiles, all those tiny little things. If we copy everything, our watercolor painting ends up looking stiff and a bit boring. We don't want that.

The main lesson in this new demo is all about simplification. We are artists, and we get to choose what is important. I am going to show you how to take a busy photo and turn it into a loose, expressive watercolor. We will be focusing on seeing and painting the big connected shapes instead of all the little bits.

Look at the painting. The buildings have this wonderful warm terracotta color. But the shadow across the beach. That is what makes the painting work. I will show you how I connect the shadows from the buildings right across the sand. This joins the whole scene together and gives the painting its structure and its feeling of light.

Another thing I will show you is how to change the composition. In the original photo, the people were scattered all over the place. That looks messy in a painting. I decided to move them. I have grouped them together on the beach where the sunlight meets the shadow. This creates a strong focal point that draws your eye right into the scene. Remember, the photograph is just a starting point.

1 week ago | [YT] | 357

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

I wanted to share my latest watercolour painting with you. This one is of a street called Rue de la Grande Fontaine in Saint-Émilion, France. It's a beautiful, old town, famous for its wine.

I really enjoyed painting this one. I love the contrast between the sunny parts and the deep shadows, especially in the foreground. The light and shade really help to make the street look like it is going up a hill. You can see I used a lot of strong, dark colour for the shadows, probably using my neutral tint and ultramarine blue mix, which is great for a deep dark colour. For the warm buildings in the sun, I used my burnt sienna and maybe some yellow ochre.

I'm always trying to keep my paintings quite loose and not too detailed. I think it helps to keep the painting fresh and lively.

What do you think of this one? Have you ever tried to paint a scene with lots of parked cars going up or down a hill? Let me know in the comments below!

I have a new demo video coming out soon, so keep an eye out for that. If you want to learn more about my painting process, you can find a lot of tutorials on my Patreon page.

Happy painting!

1 week ago | [YT] | 246

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Watercolour painting from my live demo to my Patreon folks. This month, seems like everyone else, we're painting a snow scene based on one of my member's photos. This is the Stream at Somes Pond, Maine, on Mount Desert Island. I might do an edited video on YouTube for this at a later date. Stay tuned (and subscribed!)

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 284

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Hello everyone! 👋

Here is a watercolour painting I did of the Nea Chora Fishing Harbor in Chania, Crete. I really love painting harbour scenes. They are great fun to do. This painting was all about the strong light and shadows. I wanted to show how the bright sunlight hits the boats and the buildings. It makes a lovely pattern of light and dark areas.

I used some of my favourite colours here. For the blue sky and the water, I probably used Cerulean Blue and a bit of Cobalt Blue. For the dark shadows, I like to mix a deep colour using something like Neutral Tint or Burnt Umber with a blue. It helps make those lights look even brighter! The buildings on the right were painted in a light sandy colour, maybe with some Yellow Ochre or Burnt Sienna.

I always keep my brushstrokes simple and loose. I don't try to paint every single detail. It is better to let the watercolour do the work. It is important to paint quickly before the paint dries.

I hope you like this one! Do you enjoy painting water scenes? Let me know in the comments below.

Happy painting!

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 239

Watercolor with Tim Wilmot

Hello everyone! 👋 I hope you're all having a great week and finding some time to paint.

I wanted to share my plein air painting of the Market Place in Colerne, Wiltshire. "Plein air" just means painting outdoors, right there on the spot. I really love the challenge of painting outside. You have to work fast because the light and the shadows are always moving.

I was drawn to this scene because of the old church tower and those lovely stone buildings. I think it has a wonderful traditional English village feeling.

Let's talk a little about how I painted it.

Getting the Look Right 🎨
When I start a painting like this, the first thing I do is try to decide what the main shapes are. I use a light pencil sketch to get the basic outline of the buildings and the tower. I don't draw every tiny detail. It's just a guide.

The light was quite strong, giving me some lovely dark shadows on the street and on the buildings. Shadows are so important in watercolor! They give the painting its sense of depth and make the sunny parts really pop out.

For the buildings, I used a wash of colours like Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and sometimes a touch of Burnt Umber to get that warm, old stone look. I kept the roof areas a bit cooler with some lighter greys made from my Neutral Tint and maybe some Cobalt Blue.

For the lovely green trees on the left, I mixed Viridian Green with some Cadmium Yellow and a bit of Ultramarine Blue for the darker parts. I try to keep the greens a bit varied so they don't look like a solid block of colour.

Adding the Figures 🚶🚶‍♀️
You can see I've added two figures walking in the bottom right. These small figures are really important! They help to give the painting a sense of scale, meaning they show you how big the buildings are. They also bring a little bit of life to the scene. I didn't fuss over their faces or clothes. I just used simple, dark shapes—mostly Neutral Tint—so your eye sees them but moves quickly back to the main buildings.

The bright yellow road line and those light/dark shapes in the foreground also help to bring your eye into the painting. This whole foreground area is very loose and wet, which I love to do. It keeps the painting feeling fresh.

I hope this gives you an idea of my process. I think this painting captures that moment of sunshine in a classic English village.

What part of the painting do you find most interesting? Let me know in the comments!

Happy painting everyone!

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 232