Simple Circles for a Creative Afternoon!

Would you like to paint something, but you don’t know what? Are you brand new to painting and don’t know where to start? Or would you like your picture to be simple, easy and full of joy? Then why not simply rely on simple basic shapes – for example circles!

Whenever your creativity falters or you lose a little lightness when painting, it helps to limit yourself to simple shapes that are so easy for you that your inner critic is guaranteed not to complain.

I personally love circles! They are so wonderfully light and easy to put on paper – and at the same time they offer you such a wide variety of design options that new circles, color combinations and patterns are constantly being created. Here I would like to give you a little inspiration on how you can create a happy picture from simple circles.

Just follow me step by step in the video: You will be surprised how easy it is and how much fun it is to build up a picture so simply and play with the colors and lines! And if you use the principles of neurographic art to embellish your circles you will find them even good at banishing the blues altogether!

The first trick is to choose the right colors. You have to love them, and they have to make a statement together. Pick four colors and along with a white gel pen, a gold pen and a waterproof fine liner they will make a pretty picture for sure.

For this painting the paper requirements are very flexible. Any paper will work, and I used a piece of Bockingford 140lb cold press (NOT) paper, about 8 x 10 inches in size. I would also recommend papers such as Strathmore, Baohong, Etchr, Bee and Etival for beginners and in fact for anyone who paints a lot of small works.

Choosing your colors

For this kind of painting you can select whatever color appeals to you most on any particular day! There is no right or wrong in painting whimsy, as it is just a reflection of your imagination and has little to do with reality.

I used paints from Winsor and Newton and Schmincke for this painting.

Watch the video on YouTube here:

You might also like this video as a warmup.

Material Suppliers

I often recommend Jacksons Art for supplies. They are in the UK but their prices are so good it’s worth paying their nominal shipping fee. They also have other interesting features, such as expert-written guides to materials and techniques, an annual competition with a valuable prize, free shipping in the UK for over £75 orders, and very reasonable rates for international orders. Plus they have great discounts. Click on the image below to find out more.

Other materials and equipment from Amazon

I also used a Staedtler pigment liner size 0.01. The link below takes you to sets of 6 pens so the price is not unreasonable. My paper was Bockingford but Strathmore is a good alternative, both very good value and all these are Amazon links. I would go for Cold Press for this particular painting, but it is a matter of taste which you use. Or of course a sketchbook from Etchr or Rubens would be nice too.

Brushes

My brush was a Drawell size 14 Golden Round – a very good synthetic brush from Japan. You can order them here: http://www.drawell.co.jp/english/ by contacting them direct. The prices are very reasonable and they ship worldwide at minimal cost.

I also often use a brush from ZenArt which you can click below to order. They are an ideal starter set for anyone just building up a collection of good watercolor brushes.