How to Start Watercolor Journaling (No Rules, No Pressure, Just Paint)
By Dalton Scolman
A watercolor journal is not a portfolio. Nobody is going to grade it. You're not going to hang it in a gallery. You don't have to show it to anyone at all if you don't want to.
It's just a book. Your book. Where you put color on pages because it feels good and it's yours and it doesn't have to be anything else.
That's the thing about watercolor journaling that takes a little while to really sink in. There's no such thing as a ruined page. There are pages that didn't go the way you planned, which is different, and which often become your favorite pages anyway because something unexpected happened and you just let it.
If that sounds like something you want, you're in the right place. Here's everything you need to know to actually start.
What Watercolor Journaling Even Is
It's exactly what it sounds like. A journal where you use watercolor. But the definition gets loose pretty quickly and that's a feature, not a bug.
Some people use their watercolor journal as a sketchbook, painting little studies of things they see. Some people use it as a travel diary, capturing places and meals and views from train windows. Some people paint abstract washes of color that represent a feeling they're sitting with. Some people combine all of the above, plus pressed flowers and stamps and handwritten text and whatever else feels right on a given day.
The common thread is that a watercolor journal is personal and low-stakes and done for the joy of it. Not for technique practice, not for finished artwork, not to impress anyone. Just to make color happen on paper on a regular basis.
A lot of people find it genuinely therapeutic. There's something about the physical act of loading a brush with color and watching it bloom across paper that's absorbing in a way that's hard to explain. You stop thinking about your to-do list. You stop worrying about whatever you were worrying about. For twenty minutes or an hour, it's just water and color and paper.
That alone is worth starting for.
Picking Your Journal
Here's where most guides start and where most beginners get overwhelmed. So let's simplify this considerably.
The main thing you need in a watercolor journal is paper that can handle water without turning into a warped, buckled mess. Look for watercolor paper, or a mixed media journal that specifies "compatible with wet media." The weight should be at least 90lb (190gsm), though 140lb (300gsm) is better if you like using a lot of water.
Size is really a personal thing. A5 (roughly 5x8 inches) is the most popular for journaling because it's portable enough to bring almost anywhere, but big enough to actually paint something satisfying. If you want something even more grab-and-go, A6 or even postcard-sized inserts can work beautifully for quick daily paintings.
A few well-loved options in the journaling community: the Hahnemuhle watercolor book, the Leuchtturm watercolor notebook, and the Stillman and Birn Alpha series. The Moleskine watercolor album is popular and widely available, though the paper is on the thinner side so you'll want to use slightly less water with it.
One thing worth saying: please don't buy the most beautiful expensive journal you can find for your first one. Buy something you're not afraid of. An intimidating blank journal made of gorgeous cotton paper will sit on your shelf. A slightly humbler one will get painted in. The goal is making marks, not protecting pristine pages.
Paint: The Format Actually Matters Here
For journaling specifically, the way your paint is packaged affects your experience more than people expect.
Tubes are messy for journaling. You need to squeeze paint onto a palette, the palette has to dry before you can travel, and if you want to journal at a coffee shop or in a waiting room, the setup is annoying enough that you probably won't bother.
Pans are more practical but have their own friction. Cheap pans produce chalky, unsatisfying color that can make you think you're doing something wrong when really your paint is just low quality. Good pan paints are better, but they need to be wetted and allowed to rehydrate before the color really sings.
DryColor sheets are genuinely worth knowing about if you haven't encountered them. Nicholson's Peerless Watercolors have been making them since 1885 and they're still one of the best-kept secrets in the watercolor world. They're flat cards coated in highly concentrated color that activates the second a wet brush touches them. No palette needed. No waiting. No mess. You can pop a few sheets into your journal itself, tucked between pages, and your whole paint supply lives in your sketchbook.
For journaling in particular, where the whole point is to make it easy enough to actually do regularly, a format that removes friction is worth a lot. The Peerless Paint Along Palettes are a sweet entry point if you want to try the DryColor format without committing to a full set. Small, flat, totally unpretentious, and the colors are vivid and ready to go immediately.
Brushes: One Is Enough
Please only buy one brush to start. A size 6 or 8 round brush is versatile enough to do essentially everything a journal painter needs. It holds water, it comes to a point for detail, and it covers ground quickly with the side of the bristles.
A waterbrush is also excellent for journaling for the same reason it's great for travel: no water jar. You fill the barrel and carry your water supply with you. It's the reason you can journal on an airplane, at a park bench, in a coffee shop, anywhere without any additional equipment.
You really don't need more than one or two brushes. If you find yourself wanting a specific size later, that's when you add one. For now, one brush is your friend.
The Blank Page Problem
Let's talk about the thing that actually stops people from journaling: staring at a blank page and not knowing what to put on it.
This is so common it has a name. Blank page paralysis. And the solution is to make the page less blank immediately, before you think too much about it.
Here are some approaches that actually work.
Start with a wash. Mix some color, any color, and brush it across the page. You've now committed. The page is no longer blank. It has color on it. Work from there. Add another color while it's wet. See what happens. This is often all it takes to get going.
Paint something in front of you. Your coffee mug. The plant on the windowsill. Your shoe. The view out the window. Something small, something you can see, something you're not going to overthink. You don't have to make it look exactly right. You just have to look at it and put something on paper.
Give yourself a prompt. Color of the day. One thing you saw that was beautiful. How you're feeling right now, translated into a color or a shape. What you wish the weather was doing. These sound a little silly until you try one and end up filling three pages.
Date the page and call it a day study. Write the date at the top, paint something tiny that represents the day, and you're done. Five minutes, one little painting, and you have a record of that day that no photo can quite replicate.
Let it be ugly. Seriously. Give yourself explicit permission to make a terrible page. Just see what happens when you stop trying to make it good. Some of the most interesting journal pages start from "I'm just going to make a mess and see."
What to Actually Paint
If you're looking for ideas to fill your watercolor journal, here are some that real journalers keep coming back to.
Color swatches and mixing experiments. Pick two colors, mix them together, see what they make. Do it in a structured grid or just loosely across the page. It's part practice and part documentation, and it's genuinely satisfying to look back at.
Plants and botanicals. Leaves, flowers, herbs, anything growing. Botanicals are endlessly interesting and forgiving because loose, expressive marks often look more convincing than stiff careful ones. A lavender sprig painted in five minutes with a loose brush is often more charming than one labored over for an hour.
Weather and light. A rainy day has a color. So does an afternoon with that particular golden light. Painting the mood of a moment is one of the most personal and interesting things you can do in a journal.
Food and drink. Your morning coffee. A piece of fruit. What you had for lunch. Food is colorful, it stays still, and documenting it feels like keeping a little record of your life in a way that's much more interesting than a photo.
Travel pages. Even if you're just traveling across town. A view from a window, a building that caught your eye, the colors of a market you walked through. These become genuinely beautiful records of places you've been.
Pure abstraction. Just color and water and marks, with no subject at all. This is the most freeing kind of journaling and sometimes the most satisfying. Let wet colors run into each other. Drop salt into wet paint for texture. Tilt the page and let the paint travel. See what the water does when you let it.
Making It a Habit (Without Making It a Chore)
The journals that get filled are the ones that are easy to pick up. So make it easy.
Keep your journal and your paint somewhere visible, not tucked in a drawer or a bag. If you have to go looking for your supplies every time you want to paint, you won't paint as often. On a desk, on a coffee table, on the kitchen counter, somewhere it catches your eye.
Start small. Even five minutes counts. A tiny color study is a valid journal page. You don't have to make a finished piece every time you open the book.
Let go of the idea that every page needs to be good. Give yourself a "practice page" at the front or back of the journal where nothing counts. Test colors there. Try out a technique there. Let the rest of the journal be the actual record of your creative life, imperfect and real and yours.
And when you make a page you love, notice it. Let yourself feel good about it. This is about finding something that feels joyful and sustaining it, not about forcing productivity or measuring progress.
FAQ: Watercolor Journaling Questions
What is watercolor journaling?
Watercolor journaling is the practice of keeping a personal journal that incorporates watercolor painting. It can be anything from painted studies of everyday subjects to abstract color explorations to travel diaries with painted illustrations. There are no rules about what belongs in a watercolor journal. The point is to paint regularly in a low-stakes, personal space that's just for you.
Do I need to know how to draw to start watercolor journaling?
Not at all. Many watercolor journal pages are purely color-based: washes, gradients, abstract shapes, color swatches. Loose representational work, where your flower doesn't look like a photographic flower but it looks like a flower you painted joyfully, is completely valid and often more charming than careful realistic rendering. The journal format is specifically the space where you're allowed to not be technically perfect.
What supplies do I need to start a watercolor journal?
The bare minimum is a journal with paper that handles water (at least 90lb/190gsm), a watercolor paint in any format, and one brush. A waterbrush makes things even simpler since it eliminates the need for a separate water container. If you want to keep your setup very compact, the Peerless Paint Along Palettes are a lovely, fuss-free paint option that fits flat in your journal bag.
What paper is best for watercolor journaling?
Look for paper that's at least 90lb (190gsm) and ideally 140lb (300gsm). Watercolor journals and mixed media journals with "wet media compatible" paper are your safest bets. Cotton paper handles water most gracefully, but wood pulp paper at the right weight works well for journaling. The most important thing is picking something you're comfortable actually painting in, not something too precious to use.
What should I paint in my watercolor journal?
Anything and everything. Your coffee mug. The weather. A plant. A feeling. Something you saw on your walk. A color combination you love. A place you visited. The view from your window. The journal is specifically a place where the rules about "worthy subjects" don't apply. Whatever you want to look at and paint is a valid watercolor journal subject.
How do I get over the fear of ruining a page?
Remind yourself that there are no ruined pages in a journal, only pages that went somewhere unexpected. Giving yourself a practice page at the front of the journal where nothing counts can take the pressure off the rest. Starting with a wash before you think too much is also a reliable way to bypass blank page anxiety. And keeping in mind that the journal is private and personal unless you choose otherwise helps too.
Ready to Start?
Pick up a journal. Get some paint. Open to the first page. Put color on it before you think about it too much.
That's genuinely all starting requires.
If you want a paint that makes the whole thing feel easy and joyful right from the start, the Peerless Paint Along Palettes are made for exactly this kind of spontaneous, low-pressure creative practice. Small, flat, vivid, and completely ready to go the second your brush is wet.
Pick up a custom Travel Palette here
Your first page doesn't have to be good. It just has to exist. Go make it.