(DIY) MUSHROOM SPECIMEN WATERCOLOR

I made these really simple Mushroom Specimen Watercolor paintings! I love watercolor. They allow for so much freedom, you don't need to be perfect at all. In fact, it looks better if it's not.

All you need is some watercolor paper (I got mine from a local craft store but you can also find sketchpads of this stuff at Walmart and the like), a watercolor set, a sharpie, assorted paintbrushes and picture frames. I used scissors to cut down my large paper. You'll also need a few cups of water and paper towels.

Start off by drawing your mushrooms with your sharpie. You can sketch them with a pencil first if you want, but it doesn't have to look perfect.

Add the specimen titles for the mushrooms. I found pictures of some mushrooms online with their latin names and used those.

Have fun painting them! Work in layers and make sure to wet your paints with a lot of water first. I painted the background because I didn't want them to look bright white. I just mixed light browns and tans to make it look like old paper. Don't worry about staying inside the lines or precise brush strokes. This is a very fluid project. Add grass at the bottom using browns and greens and play around with textures your brush can create. This can also be a good project for kiddos. Draw an image and have them paint it themselves.

Let me know how they turn out!

xo Charlie