This year, I’ve really enjoyed watercolour painting. I didn’t have much time to pursue this new hobby, but I still managed to complete simple projects every now and again. Last week, I spent some time on watercolour Halloween themed doodles. I couldn’t not paint anything for the spooky season! I played with different colours and shapes, but mainly stuck to classic Halloween themes. It was fun to paint the pumpkins and spiders, and I’m glad I finally managed to find some time for my watercolour endeavours. Now, I’m already looking forward to Christmas paintings too – they’re coming soon!
In all honesty, I was close to not publishing this post. I’m not entirely happy with these paintings – they’re certainly not my most creative works! I’ve been so busy lately, and even though I managed to find some time to paint, my head wasn’t fully switched on. But, after all, doodles don’t need to be perfect, and I decided to share them anyway.
Classic watercolour pumpkin
My first Halloween painting was a classic, orange pumpkin. You can tell how little creative inspiration I had! I put the pumpkin on a grass patch, painted with green and yellow colours. I tried to give the pumpkin a bit more dimension by using a variety of lighter and darker orange strokes, but the real gamechanger, as always, was the fine black liner pen which I used to outline the pumpkin.
Five watercolour pumpkins
For my next painting… I also chose to paint pumpkins. This time, I painted a row of five pumpkins in different shapes and colours – from yellow to green, from small to pointy and tall. I tried to add interesting texture by dropping colours wet-in-wet – it didn’t turn out too bad! I used a black liner pen again to add more definition, and the painting, rather minimalistic, was complete. It’s a super simple picture, but I actually really like how it turned out. In fact, I’m considering framing it to put it on my kitchen wall. It’s rather small, but it has a nice autumnal vibe!
Watercolour bats postcard
Next, I decided to paint a patterned postcard. This time, instead of pumpkins, I decided to focus on bats.
I sketched the bats with a pencil to make sure I was happy with the composition. Then, I painted the whole postcard with yellow, orange, and red watercolours. I didn’t want to make a smooth background and deliberately kept it uneven.
Then, I used fine black liners and a brush pen to fill the bats, following the pencil sketches. I decided to keep some of the bats empty, to make the composition more varied. And just like that, the postcard was finished. It’s a really simple idea, but I can see it used as an invitation for a Halloween party.
Watercolour haunted house
For the next two paintings, I had great ideas formed in my head, but very little time and patience to execute them well.
First, I wanted to paint a haunted house. I started by painting the background with yellow and orange watercolours to imitate a sunset. I lifted some of the paint in the middle to create a large, round sun.
Then, I used dark purple paint to draw a haunted house on top of a small mountain. I added some bare trees along the path leading to the house, and painted some bats in the sky. I like the idea for the design, but I’m sure you can tell that the execution was pretty rushed and lazy.
Scary forest at night
The second scene I wanted to paint probably took me the longest to complete out of all paintings – and I’m blaming the cheap paper and paints!
I wanted to start by painting a dark background in various shades of purple and blue. I lost count of the number of coats of paint I added to achieve a dark enough background. The colours kept turning pale and washed out. But eventually, I was reasonably happy with it.
To add more variety and texture, I sprinkled some salt at the top of the paper when the paint was still wet – this lifted some of the paint and added the small white patches. I also splattered some dark paint to add some spots.
Next, I decided to lift some of the paint to create a moon… and that didn’t work well, at all. For some reason, the reactivated paint didn’t want to budge. This is where I’m blaming the tools! I kept trying to lift the paint – the paper underneath started to pill, but the paint wasn’t moving. As last resort, I reached for white watercolour paint – one I never use – and painted the moon. It didn’t turn out great, but it concealed the pilling paper.
I also used some purple-black paint to draw some bushes at the bottom of the page.
Then, using dark, highly pigmented purple-black paint, I added some more bushes in the foreground, and painted a few trees. I added some birds sitting on the trees, and more birds in the sky.
The painting was nearly finished, it was only missing one final detail.
I reached for a white acrylic pen and drew a few pairs on eyes in the bushes, to add an illusion of creatures staring at you from the darkness of the forest.
I don’t think my execution of the design was great, but I do like the idea!
Neon spiderweb
A few months ago, I bought a set of round watercolour paper sheets… and since then, I’ve struggled to think of designs that would fit a round piece of paper. Finally, I was able to think of one.
I decided to paint a spiderweb, with a large spider sitting in the middle. I started by sketching the spiderweb itself with a pencil, and then added a spider too. Once the pencil sketch was finished, I started by filling the spider with a black waterproof marker.
Next, I drew the outline of the spiderweb with an ultra thin black liner pen. Then, I filled the cells of the spiderweb with various colours.
I’m not particularly happy with the colour scheme – it was an accident! I approached the colouring without a plan in mind. The colours aren’t particularly Halloweeny, but oh well.
Watercolour Halloween bookmark
And finally, to finish my Halloween watercolour painting, I decided to make a simple bookmark. I painted a few small Jack-o’-lanterns, some green pumpkins, bats, and spiders in different sizes. It’s not my most exciting creation, but I do enjoy making these minimalistic stamp-inspired bookmarks. I made one with my summer doodles too!
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