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Best Free Watercolor Courses & YouTube Playlists Online (2025 Guide)
Art
Everyday Watercolor Companion Book Plus Course by Jenna Rainey | Review
Everyday Watercolor Companion Course and Book Review is clubbed together because they complete each other .
But either of them are good to get started with.
I bought the book 2 years back but signed up for the course last July.I subscribed to her Youtube channel during the pandemic. I loved the loose way she painted her watercolour flowers.
Her tutorials were easy to follow,sensory and always taught me something extra.I was already revisiting my watercolour love and her work seemed to be calling me to follow along.
Her way of painting flowers,leaves and nature was exactly what I liked to paint.That was the reason I also bought her other book, Everyday Flowers.
The book is lovely to look at .Beautiful paintings by Jenna with her tips for starting watercolour and painting the composition.
Even if you don’t buy the course,the book is enough to improve your artwork.
The Pros of the Course
It’s easy to follow along and get the work done .Jenna has a very nice voice and explains how it’s done in a simple way ,making this course beginner friendly.The handout pdfs are very helpful too .I wish it went a little bit beyond the beginner level. It could say a word or two about preserving the watercolor painting and selling the artwork.
I wanted to listen and paint along with Jenna as she completed a composition from start to finish.That was done beautifully through 3 paintings .
🎨 Everyday Watercolor Companion
Course & Book Review by Dr. Amrita
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Highly Recommended
👩🎨 About the Creator
I’ve followed Jenna since 2020 through her YouTube channel and love her loose, colorful style. Her approach to watercolor flowers and nature resonates deeply with me.
“I like how she is always trying to listen to her inner artist while giving back to society.”
🌼 My Watercolor Journey
I bought the book 2 years ago but signed up for the course last July. I subscribed to her YouTube channel during the pandemic, drawn to her loose watercolor flower painting style.
Her tutorials were easy to follow, sensory, and always taught me something extra. As I was revisiting my love for watercolor, her work called me to follow along.
Her way of painting flowers, leaves, and nature aligned perfectly with what I enjoy painting. This connection led me to purchase her other book, “Everyday Flowers.”
The book is lovely to look at with beautiful paintings and helpful tips for starting watercolor.
Even without the course, the book alone provides enough guidance to improve your artwork.
My biggest challenge was going through the complete course (I often lose steam midway)and overall I did meet my own personal challenges.
Why this Watercolor course?
I have followed Jenna since 2020 online through her Youtube channel and love her loose colourful style. I also like how she is always trying to listen to her inner artist while giving back to society. I have all of her books and this course was exactly the watercolor course I was looking for.I have 3 completed painting and plenty of inspiration fueled inside …that’s exactly the purpose of taking the course.
Jenna ‘s personal way of relating stories about her journey her was what made the non-painting part of the course relateable.
A special moment
I also wanted to share a small thing that happened.While buying the course, I intended to buy the one year access. However, a glitch caused lifetime access to be selected repeatedly. The credit card showed that it was the lifetime access that was bought.My hubby was looking glacial .I emailed Jenna and she was kind enough to refund the extra.That’s excellent work ethics and I deeply appreciate that.
Before joining I was painting less and less and rarely tried layering two times ,let along multiple times for depth.Before joining I was painting less and less and rarely tried layering two times ,let along multiple times for depth.I was following various books and Youtube teachers .But having a start to finish understanding of a composition was lacking.
I bought another watercolor book Painting Calm but that didn’t have as much details as this one.
How this course changed how I painted :
Now I am more confident about continuing my loose watercolor style.I am also more confident with layering and mixing colors.
I wasn’t sure I would be able to finish it and the cost.But I like how Jenna teaches and really wanted to learn from her.The universe aligned and it’s done
The colour mixing tips ,thinking about perspective and watercolour layering these three were my ah ha moments.
My 2 biggest wins:
I am capable of mixing colours more confidently.
I am capable of thinking in terms of composition for my artwork. I also focus more on perspective.
What really surprised me about this course with respect to other courses?
That I finished the artwork in one sitting, exceeded my expectations.
What surprised me most was, how relaxing the entire experience was. It helps you get rid of your inhibitions while painting.
Painting is meditation for me.
When you understand why you are doing a certain thing, it’s easier to innovate. If you want to get better at making your watercolor artwork stand out, try this. It’s a must.
Who is this not for?
If you are using other mediums, then this book or course won’t help you.The tips,techniques are all focusing on the watercolor as mediums.
My biggest challenge while painting along with the course
Sharing is good Karma!
Gardening Quotes I love
I wasn’t a gardner. My parents weren’t either.But my paternal Grand father must have been one,though I never had an opportunity to ask him.You may wonder why I say this.Its because he planted the tree which still bears fruits some sixty years later.
The tree is as tall as five storied building and was the reason behind many of my childhood daydreams and adventures plus delicious summers eating the firm juicy Jackfruit from the mighty tree.
I think the tree liked me too.I always felt very protective towards it.Its the reason I made plant friends easily and now have been able to increase my family of trees and plants to a number I can’t count.I love picking fruits fresh from trees and eating them.
The best part is, it gave me the first idea of how even a single tall green tree can help nurture a child.I started gardening in October 2014 the very same time I started blogging and writing online.I am not always writing aiming for SEO and money.
Writing is the cheapest ,easiest,most accessible method for my self therapy.To balance my moods indoors, when I can’t visit gardens,parks or go for fun nature walks.I miss nature even more than coffee or tea and the same amount as books.That’s saying a lot since I am a voracious reader .
But I degress .I published the audio book on How to Walk Write and Garden for the Healthy Life you want free on Youtube.
One reason was because, I wanted it to be available for free for those who want to find wellness in their daily life through going back to nature,words,walking and the simple stuff.Its not rocket science but in this world of sunless rooms ,it’s important to repeat truths ,lest people forget.
On that note sharing my favorite garden quotes-
A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.-Greek proverb by Unknown author
Quotes by Alfred Austin
We come from the earth,go back to earth in between we garden
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature.
To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.
Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are.
There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.
A garden that one makes oneself becomes associated with one’s personal history and that of one’s friends, interwoven with one’s tastes, preferences and character and constitutes a sort of unwritten autobiography.
Exclusiveness in a garden is a mistake as great as it is in society.
No one can rightly call his garden his own unless he himself made it.
There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments.-Janet Kilburn Phillips
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. – Audrey Hepburn
My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.
Claude Monet
I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers.-Claude Monet
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.-Marcus Tullius Cicero
Garden as though you will live forever.-William Kent
Life begins the day you start a garden.
a Chinese proverb
Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.
Emily Bronte
The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.
George Bernard Shaw
The greatest fine art of the future will be the making of a comfortable living from a small piece of land.
Abraham Lincoln
To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.-Mahatma Gandhi
No single sort of garden suits everyone. Shut your eyes and dream of the garden you’d most love then open your eyes and start planting. Loved gardens flourish, boring ones are hard work.
Jackie French
Where flowers bloom, so does hope.
Lady Bird Johnson
Did you know ,Monet had his own garden Givenchy which was the inspiration behind his paintings?
My garden is the inspiration behind my painting.
Sharing is good Karma!
Own Artwork Printed on Table Cloth TexIndiaMart Experience
I am painting since 2020.Before that I painted 25 years ago.The COVID pandemic lockdown helped me find coping skills in stressful situations.
https://dramrita.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wp-17502489093867748677901979694244.jpg
Own Artwork on Tablecloth
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Read My TexIndiamart Experience
Artwork,crochet,writing stories found their way back in my life.I am grateful to the almighty for helping me find great friends online,my artist daughter and Tangi who all taught me to find the Creative human inside the jaded adult.A very special thanks to Thea who is like a Rockstar artist whose work is a beautiful reminder that the best inspiration for art is right there in nature
Sharing my artwork as a custom print on Table cloth!
Why I used TexIndia Mart?
It’s easy to use
Great options for fabric.
You can order small amount.
Super easy to make repeat patterns.
It was delivered on time .
Good quality fabric and the colours look exactly how I printed them.
Important:Use a high resolution image with atleast 30 dpi for good print result.
Now here’s two wishes for the Universe-
Make such a Print on Demand option with affordable online shop for creators like me.
Make it easier to sell custom print on Amazon and similar market places. Currently it requires a GST numbers and that makes it complex for small creators.
Sharing is good Karma!
Art Therapy, Nature Therapy living a Creative life
There’s something about art.Be it writing,singing,dancing, doodling,painting,crafting,sculpting sewing,making furniture or anything creating something always puts me in a place of calm happy.
Growing up I heard a lot about mental health and illnesses arising from it on both sides of the family. That was a driving force behind me studying to be a doctor.While eventually surgery being my favourite subject I did my post graduation as an ENT surgeon, taking care of my mental health has always played a very important path.
I never stopped reading and researching with my own head being a laboratory of sorts.I loved reading from a very young age.That has been a constant companion for me since forever.I don’t want to be without a book anywhere.It stops me from making foolhardy decisions,from being bored.
But writing and now painting has absolutely changed the course of my mind.I almost feel there’s been a chemical reaction inside the brain and I do my professional work better because of it.
Doctors need to be healthy. Just like everybody else.But taking care of illnesses can be physically and mentally taxing .That’s why it’s always better not to be too emotionally involved .Because then rational decisions become difficult.
But how much is caring and when does caring too much start?How will we build that border in the brain?How to switch off the doctor mode and get into the mommy mode?That was unchartered territory for me as a mom.
I felt emotionally raw ,uber sensitive and unable to cope. Didn’t feel I was doing what I studied so hard to become. Felt overwhelmed, underappreciated,overworked,sleep deprived and out of control.That was 2012,2013,2014.I was walking on my treadmill almost daily but no other fun exercise or play time.Story books were possible only when the little one slept and we did art stuff together.
In late 2014, something changed.I started balcony gardening.Life looked better.I had help and support,more than many people.I was working ,but not coping well with sleeplessness and night duties.In fact, I was heading for a collapse.In 2018 both of us resigned from our Government jobs at Malda Medical College. It was a clean cut.I realized dreams change and shift perspective as one grows a few wise brain cells.Its not easy making the sudden shifts which appear as crossroads in life,but nothing worthwhile ever is.
In COVID things took another turn. Homebound I started writing stories and doing more watercolour,mithila art,and while trying to cope decided to renovate the village home. Dilapidated and neglected that home and the garden has changed our lives forever.So the pandemic brought art closer to my life and I grew roots in a mango garden.
But what is Art therapy?When you use art(drawing/painting/crafting/sewing/sculpting/dance/music) in any form to calm the mind down and find your flow its art therapy.Kids respond very well to the calming effect of art .My daughter and I have drawn and painted together since she was two years old. I am so glad I did that because it has made her a much calmer and confident young girl than I ever was.
In 2021 with a few friends we invested in small plots of land to plant trees in.We roamed in mango garden, played in the village fields on weekends.Gift of Green is real.
Mango season means we pick carefully.A few unripe ones for the amer tok or aam dal.Perfect for hot summer days.This is fruit from the Garden we planted in 2022 .Imagine a tree only 2-year-old has started to bear fruits.
It looks difficult until you do it.The journey towards nature is a journey towards wellness.Fruits you grow yourself just taste better.Plus the kids have so much fun participating in this ,that I never have to tell them “don’t cut trees”.
We have come a long way.I started balcony gardening in 2014 and my Balcony Garden helps me during the week.I tried hydroponics too in 2020, but it’s not sustainable for me. During the weekend ,the village gardens are where we hang out.Walking,playing and dreaming
Nature Therapy is not new.It’s not rocket science either.But simple things and simple solutions means people don’t take it seriously enough. The biggest loser in the fast race to unplanned urbanization are the people.We need to focus on making our villages,small towns self sufficient, so that the green is maintained. Inspired by @blogchatter to share the story.
413 literature were identified. It was seen that a lower connection to nature had significant lower mental health benefits.
Mental health disorders which are affected mainly include
- depression disorders
- anxiety
- cognitive impairment
- dementias
- Alzheimer’s disease
- schizophrenia
- Autism
While pharmacological treatment is the first choice for mental disorders to alleviate the major symptoms, many antipsychotics contribute to poor quality of life and debilitating adverse effects. Therefore, clinicians have turned toward to complementary treatments, such as art therapy in addressing the health needs of patients more than half a century ago.More work is needed but the horizon shows hope.
I am the prettiest of them all
…said no flower ever.Lesson to learn -Humility.
Flowers are absolutely stunning and they have zero airs.Imagine humans being that grounded!
It’s difficult to balance self confidence and self-worth while staying humble.Another thing flowers do with grave.
God give me grace and humility.
Something to add to my bedtime prayer routine.Writing this with #BlogchatterHalfMarathan
#gardenwisdom #healthwealthbridge #gardeningmoments
Art therapy Nature Therapy living a Creative Life
Online Art classes you will love
Jenna Rainey art course
7 Ways an Art Therapy Helps me
References
A lower connection to nature is related to lower mental health benefits from nature contact
Chia-Chen Chang # 1 2, Brenda B Lin # 3, Xiaoqi Feng 4 5 6, Erik Andersson 7 8 9, John Gardner 10, Thomas Astell-Burt 5 11 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38509180/
Nature-Based Therapy in Individuals with Mental Health Disorders, with a Focus on Mental Well-Being and Connectedness to Nature—A Pilot Study
Lilly Joschko,1 Anna María Pálsdóttir,1 Patrik Grahn,1 and Maximilian Hinse2,* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9914984/
The Effects of Nature Exposure Therapies on Stress, Depression, and Anxiety Levels: A Systematic Review
Diana Marcela Paredes-Céspedes,1,* Norida Vélez,1 Alejandra Parada-López,1 Yesith Guillermo Toloza-Pérez,1 Eliana M. Téllez,1 Claudia Portilla,1 Carolina González,2 Leany Blandón,2 Juan Carlos Santacruz,2 and Jeadran Malagón-Rojas1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10969128/
Sharing is good Karma!
7 Ways an Art Practice Helps Me
Art is a part of life .It’s a part of the daily things I do as a part of self care,for feeling better,connecting with my inner self,getting into the flow ,finding the calm within.
This month I finally decided to list my art on a digital art gallery Fizdi .It was something I wanted to do for a very long time ,but was having a self-doubt on a massive scale.
The good news is I overcome that and finally listed my art and that made me very happy.
Sharing 7 Ways an ART practice helps me!
It’s not easy to do this because self doubt is the worst enemy of the artist. But I have tried to overcome it while I practice moving the brush over my paper .
Makes me happy.
Relaxes me.
Boosts positivity.
Boosts creative thinking.
Helps me teach my daughter about daily wellness practice.
Helps me make my right brain stronger.
Helps me find my flow .
July was very busy .It was also very hot and humid.It reminded me about a twitter thread I read which talked about guerilla gardening.This involves stealthily planting trees in barren community places and empty lots .Some people have done it with mixed results.
Similarly talking about Creativity, art,finding the calm within is not going to be easy. It’s going to be even more difficult to inspired people to do the same.
But one of the few things which helped me find a calmer me is my art practice .Go paint something, even if it’s your flower pot!
