In 2016, July was dubbed “World Watercolor Month” by “Charlie O’Shields, the creator of Doodlewash®… His own love of the medium led to the creation of a blog and social artist movement dedicated to promoting and connecting the vast community of watercolor artists all over the world.”

Well, even though I didn’t know July received this designation until last week, I like the sound of it! Any excuse to come together and promote the arts is a good idea in my book.

The creator describes World Watercolor month as

“…a month to inspire people to paint with watercolor (watercolour, aquarelle) while raising awareness for the importance of art and creativity in the world. And anyone can join the celebration from master watercolorists to artists just starting out with watercolor! Simply tag any art that uses watercolors (or gouache) with #WorldWatercolorMonth during the month of July!”

They also encourage people to join their  “31 watercolors in 31 days” challenge, or simply use the # to join in the fun and promote the project when you can during July.

All this boils down to sprouting something good though – beyond the goodness that getting creative brings to our minds. By using the # you also raise awareness about the “Dreaming Zebra Foundation” which is:

“…a charity providing support so that children and young adults are given an equal opportunity to explore and develop their creativity in the arts.

The Dreaming Zebra Foundation is unique in that they provide an art recycling program that is free to the public. Reusable art & music supplies that would otherwise be discarded, along with new or unsold materials, are donated by individuals and businesses and matched to recipients who have requested those materials for arts education purposes in communities around the world.”

That is pretty great! Art is so important for humans and so overlooked and underfunded. Some evolutionary biologists and anthropologists believe art to be what separates humans from our chimpanzee and other animal relatives.* So every bit of promotion the arts can get these days is so important for our species.

I hope you take this as a fun bit of inspiration to carve out time for some watercolor art this month!

Check out these free activities and videos I created to inspire your watercolor journey!

Watercolor Basics for Nature Journaling

Wonder Wednesday 74: Leafy Resist

Wonder Wednesday 66: Petal Painting

Fluorescent Florescence: Painting Flowers that POP!

Wonder Wednesday 49: Rain Painting

And if you want to take your watercoloring further, check out my nature painting classes here!

What would you like to paint in watercolor?

Share in the comments below!

Share pics of your World Watercolor Month art on Instagram #wingswormsandwonder

Seeds to Sprout:

*As cited in the book The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond

Join me at an in-person painting class! Subscribe to my email to get first notice and follow my events page to stay up to date on all my in person events – I have 3 public events coming up this summer!

Check out a video flip of my submission to the Brooklyn Art Library’s Sketchbook project here!

World Watercolor Month home art journaling website