I think if we did a poll on the most popular bird to paint, and the best-loved visitor to summer gardens, the hummingbird would be a strong contender. Although we don’t have these cute little people in Europe where I live, I do remember them from time spent in the Caribbean and Florida, so it’s always fun to have a go at capturing the liveliness and jewel-like colours of the hummingbird in watercolor.

Materials for Painting a Hummingbird and Hibiscus Flowers

For this painting I have avoided any attempt to depict a particular type of hummingbird, but have focused on the colors. I used a selection of bright pigments for this painting, including cobalt blue, quinacridone gold, dioxazine purple, pthalo green, permanent rose and pthalo blue.

I did a quick loose sketch first, which is available for you to download for free from this website – just go here to get the ones you want. If you want to begin Painting a Hummingbird and Hibiscus Flowers without worrying about doing your own drawing, the downloads are very useful and save a lot of time and trouble.

I used a sheet of watercolor paper which was stretched prior to starting, and you can watch a video about this process on my Youtube channel. Although it isn’t necessary to stretch paper if you don’t use a lot of water, this paper was less thick than my usual 140lb, so I knew if I didn’t stretch it, it would buckle badly and the wet in wet of the flowers wouldn’t work. It’s worth taking the extra time to prepare your paper, and if you think of it as a meditative process, you won’t resent the time you spend doing it.

So, with your stretched piece of paper and your chosen colors, you’re ready to dive in and paint this beautiful hummingbird and hibiscus watercolor with me!

NEW Hummingbird Mugs

New to the site are these gorgeous Signature Hummingbird Mugs which you can order directly through the website by clicking here: They are supplied by Printful and are in two sizes, 11oz and 15oz, and are high quality ceramic with dishwasher proof printing on them.