🎨 Easy Monet Water Lilies Painting Tutorial for First-Time Beginners
Easy Monet Water Lilies Painting Tutorial for First-Time Beginners
Free video instruction on YouTube
Permission to change colors and make the painting your own!
If you’ve ever looked at one of Monet’s beautiful water lily paintings and thought it would be far too complicated to paint yourself, this is a wonderful place to start.
This beginner-friendly Water Lilies painting is simplified and broken down step-by-step so you can focus on color, shape, layering, and the overall feeling of the painting rather than trying to make everything perfect.
And that is part of what makes impressionist-inspired painting so much fun. Your water does not have to look exactly like mine. Your flowers can be different colors. Your brushstrokes can be looser, softer, bolder, or completely your own.
If you have never painted before, you are absolutely welcome here.
Watch the Tutorial
Follow along with the full free painting tutorial on YouTube and paint at your own pace:
Pause when you need to, rewind a section, or take a break and come back later. There is no need to keep up with the video in real time.
Supplies Needed
You don’t need fancy art supplies to complete this painting. A basic acrylic painting setup is perfect.
You’ll need:
Canvas — 11x14 or a similar size
Acrylic paint
White
Blue
Green
Yellow
Red
A few brushes — flat and round brushes work well
Water cup
Paper towels
See my recommended painting supplies here:
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/painting-supplies
Need help setting up your painting space?
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/paint-with-lovejoy-blog/setup
Monet Water Lily Traceable
If drawing the initial shapes makes you nervous, you can use the optional Monet Water Lily traceable.
A traceable simply helps you get the basic composition onto your canvas before you start painting. That means you can spend less energy worrying about drawing and more time learning how to mix colors, layer paint, and use your brushes.
Monet Water Lily Traceable:
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/old-master-traceables/p/monet-waterliily-closeup
Prefer to draw it yourself? Absolutely.
Pause the video, look at the basic shapes, and sketch them onto your canvas. Your drawing does not need to be exact.
How to Transfer Your Traceable
Never used a traceable before? It’s easy once you know how.
You can follow my free tutorial here:
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/transfertraceable
Once the basic outline is on your canvas, you are ready to start painting.
You can also explore all of the traceables available for Paint with Lovejoy YouTube tutorials here:
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/traceables
You Don’t Have to Paint Monet’s Exact Water Lilies
One of my favorite things to remind students is that you have permission to change things.
Want pink water lilies? Paint them pink.
Want more flowers? Add them.
Want darker blue water, brighter greens, or a softer background? Go for it.
The tutorial gives you the structure, but you are still the artist.
Use the video as your guide rather than as a set of rules.
A Quick Note for First-Time Painters
If this is one of your first paintings, try not to judge it too early.
Painting is a process of building layers. Some stages will look awkward. Some colors may change as you work. You may have moments when you are not sure where the painting is going.
Keep going.
After years of teaching first-time and beginner painters, I have watched this happen again and again. The people who allow themselves to stay curious and continue through the awkward stages are often surprised by what they create.
You do not need to know how to paint before you begin.
You learn by painting.
Want to Build Your Acrylic Painting Skills?
If you enjoy the free YouTube tutorials but want a stronger understanding of the fundamentals, my Acrylic Painting Crash Course was created specifically for first-time and beginner painters.
It will help you understand brushes, paint, color mixing, layering, blending, and other foundational skills that make future tutorials much easier.
Explore the Acrylic Painting Crash Course:
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/crashcourseacrylicpainting
Or keep exploring the free Paint with Lovejoy tutorials and build your confidence one painting at a time:
Paint with Lovejoy:
https://www.lovejoycreations.com/paintwithlovejoy
I’d Love to See Your Water Lilies
If you paint along with this tutorial, I’d love to see what you create.
Remember, your painting does not need to look exactly like mine—or exactly like Monet’s.
Change the colors. Change the flowers. Follow your instincts.
Take what you learn from the tutorial and make the painting yours.
Most importantly, enjoy the process.
Never painted? No problem. You might just impress yourself.