Learning to paint as a new hobby? Here’s a list of ideas on paintings for beginners. Easy enough for first-time painters, yet will yield beautiful results just like a pro.
Whether you’re making a painting for a home decor project or learning this type of art for a hobby, we are here to encourage you to have fun and enjoy the process.
Painting is an excellent way to express emotions. It has no rules and it will allow you to expand your creativity. As we always like to say in this blog, art is not perfection. Paint to your heart’s content and make mistakes as much as you can, and then learn from those mistakes to be better the next time you do it again.

There are many types of paint you can start out. There’s watercolor, gouache, oil paint, and acrylic. Most would agree that basic acrylic paints are the easiest and most forgiving medium for beginners, so we recommend you start with that. But then again, you can choose whatever you want.
To start painting, you’ll need a couple of tools. Painting tools can be quite overwhelming because there are so many, but here are the essentials we recommend you to have.
Materials You Need
- A Set of Brushes
- A Paint Set (Watercolor or Acrylic)
- Primed Canvas or Watercolor Paper
- An Easel (optional)
Easy Paintings for Beginners
Clouds
Clouds can be a bit tricky to paint but no worries here is the perfect tutorial for beginners! With just four colors, you’ll be able to make your own cloud painting. Of course, if you want to experiment, do so. This is the time for experience and learning.
Night Sky
This painting may look complicated at first, but really, all you need to do is some blending and you’ll get the perfect color mixture of the night sky. The main colors used in this painting are blue, black, red, and white. The only pinch of yellow is used for the moon. The video is short enough for you not to get bored watching it and at the same time, easy enough to follow through step-by-step.
Galaxy Painting
Painting galaxies have become increasingly popular over the years and it doesn’t take a genius to make one. Even beginners like you and me can do it! To create a unique texture, use a sponge to dab and spread out the acrylic paint on the canvas. To flick out white paint to resemble stars, you can either use a paintbrush or a toothbrush.
Sunset over a City Skyline
A sunset will always be a pretty picture, and it will be a great subject in a painting as well! Create your own sunset as a background of your favorite city skyline and your painting will be astounding when you’re done with it.
Easy Landscape
With a few acrylic paint colors, brush strokes, and symmetry, you’ll have a work of art that will be something you can be proud of. This video will show you how to do it. Enjoy your art session!
City Skyline
Want to upgrade your once-all-black city skyline? Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to paint a colorful city skyline using watercolors!
Ocean Sunset
Learning how to paint will make you practice how to blend colors smoothly. Creating an ocean sunset is a great exercise for this.
The Beach
The calming scenery of the beach is a great subject to paint. It can be a little bit time-consuming but the end result is worth it.
Ocean Waves
Another way to create a beach-themed painting is having the ocean waves as your subject. And this easy tutorial will teach you just that!
A Watermelon Slice
Depict a mouth-watering slice of watermelon in your canvas. This subject is simple yet very attractive with its bright color combination. We found this easy painting tutorial that will guide you on how to create a realistic slice of watermelon. Have fun!
Dandelion
Need an easy alternative medium to make perfect circles in your dandelion painting, try the q-tip hack! This tutorial is a great one to follow.
Cactus
Cactus and succulents are pretty things you’ll want to have in your room. If that isn’t possible, a painting of one can be a great alternative. Learn how to paint a cactus in this tutorial we found!
Lavender
I promise you, it’s not as complicated as it looks. With this tutorial, you will learn how to make this work of art on your own, and excel at it! And this includes the q-tip hack! Easy-peasy.
Poppies
Another kind of flower you can paint is poppies. Pretty, bright-colored flowers that are easy to make and will add a pop of color to your room should you choose to put this up on display.
Daisies
Learn how to paint a daisy and create your own masterpiece. This can be quite challenging but nothing is impossible for the determined soul. *wink*
A Butterfly
Want to spice up a simple butterfly? This painting tutorial is great. Level up your butterfly painting with this easy guide great for beginners!
A Sunflower
Drying to learn how to paint a sunflower? This here will teach you how to. It’s simple and easy, and the end result is stunning!
An Easy Flower Painting
If you’re not into details, here’s a quick and easy painting tutorial on how to create a pretty flower painting. The ombre background is easy to create though it seems complicated. Enjoy!
A Cherry Blossom Tree
Here’s another painting you can make by using the cotton swab or q-tips technique! Such an easy-peasy painting that you can make in no time!
Cherry Blossoms on a Roadside
Another cherry blossom idea is to have it in a roadside scenery. Q-tips are our best friends here.
Rainbow Tree
The trick here is the brushwork. In this painting exercise, you’ll learn how to control your brush strokes as you tap-tap-tap the colors to your canvas.
Geometric Painting
If you are up for something different, here’s a painting that requires the use of masking tapes to create patterns. For geometric paintings, all you have to do is made a guide first and then fill the gaps with paint. An easy yet stylish work of art!
Quote Arts
One of the simple paintings for beginners you can do is creating a basic background and have your favorite quote written on it.
Bonus!
If you are not confident on how to start a painting, there’s an easy fix for that. Paint by Number kits! You can create artworks as if you’ve already had years of experience and skills just by following the numbers of the kit. You can choose from so many designs and take your time filling it in with the right colors.
For the bonus content, here are two more videos you can watch to get more painting inspiration. The second one is actually a number of painting techniques you can do to create beautiful art the smart way!
There are so many resources over the internet for you to find your next painting inspirations and hopefully, we have helped you with these ideas we laid out. Enjoy learning how to paint and don’t forget that this journey is a process. It takes time and practice to improve your skills. Have fun!
Do visit our guide and tutorial page for more art inspirations.
bookmarked!!, I really like your blog!