🍏 The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Mess: My Real-Life Art & Biz Diary

Welcome to another behind-the-scenes episode of the Watercolor Wizardry Journey with Zarah! In this candid update, Zarah dives deep into her creative process as she builds the Watercolor Wizardry Academy from the ground up. Discover what it’s like to paint hyper-realistic watercolor art in real time, overcome challenges with different watercolor papers (like BE Watercolor Journal vs. Arches Hot Press), and experiment with primary colors on a Macintosh apple.

Zarah shares her daily routine of going live inside the Academy, broadcast highlights across multiple platforms, and the vibrant energy of her creator community—where artists, business owners, and creative enthusiasts connect and grow. Get the inside scoop on upcoming workshops, including a primary palette color theory session and the exciting release of the standalone Pear Project using Kajabi for group coaching.

If you’re passionate about watercolor painting, eager to master hyper-realism, or searching for authentic advice on building a heart-centered online art business, this episode is packed with value. Follow Zarah’s journey as she prioritizes alignment, honest storytelling, and community transparency in every step—from course creation to sharing daily progress emails and fostering a supportive network of fellow artists.

Don’t miss out on tips for navigating new online teaching platforms, the importance of practicing on challenging materials, and how Watercolor Wizardry Academy members access all the latest resources, workshops, and group sessions. Whether you’re an artist, aspiring instructor, or creative entrepreneur, subscribe and join a community where art, business, and personal growth meet!

Keywords: watercolor painting, Watercolor Wizardry, Zarah McIntosh, watercolor academy, online art class, hyper-realistic watercolor, art community, watercolor workshops, painting techniques, art business, Kajabi course, primary color palette, creative journey, daily art updates, art entrepreneurship, artist growth, behind the scenes, live painting, Arches Hot Press, BE Watercolor Journal, watercolor supplies, creator community, group coaching, art course beta launch

Ready to embark on your own creative transformation? Subscribe, leave a review, and connect with Zarah and the Watercolor Wizardry community today!

Zarah [00:00:01]:
Hey, everybody. I'm Zara with Watercolor Wizardry. And right now we're in the beta launch, which is. Which means that we're building the Watercolor Wizardry Academy from the ground up. So we're live a lot. I'm live a lot every day as I'm building the lessons. So today we started working on the first layer of the Macintosh Apple. And.

Zarah [00:00:26]:
And it's turning out really nicely. I'm happy with how it's going so far. I'm using paper that's not as easy to. To work with as Arches Hot Press. So the paper I'm using is B watercolor. It's the paper in the BE Watercolor Journal. I'm pretty sure all their paper is the same, but so it's a. It's a cold press, more of a cold press paper because it's rough, it's not smooth, and it's not as easy, but we're working through it.

Zarah [00:00:58]:
It's my study paper. So this is where I paint most things when I'm doing it for the first time. So you get to see me struggle and you get to see me, you know, talk about how to handle things and why things are happening. So it's really. It's a great time to join and watch me paint or ask me questions. It's really cool. So to today we did the first layer of the apple, so it's just the red we were working with today. Tomorrow I'm gonna start working with the greens, which will be interesting.

Zarah [00:01:29]:
And if you know why, then good, good. If you don't know why, I'm putting together a workshop with primary colors. So that's just using red, yellow, and blue. Yeah. And you'll know why. I have, you know, not hesitant, but, like, I'm. I'm excited about painting the green with this red that's already down. So if you know, you know, if you don't know again, watch out for that primary workshop.

Zarah [00:02:01]:
Primary color palette workshop. All right. So, yeah, lately my schedule has been working really good. I've been showing up every day in the academy and it's been working out with my schedule really well so far. I don't want to promise every day. That's why I want to say almost daily because, you know, life. But so far it's been going really well. So I don't know, I'm just gonna keep going with it.

Zarah [00:02:29]:
Yeah, I'm actually showing up more live every day versus the my daily podcast, because that's not so daily. But yeah, I've been Really having fun just painting in the Academy. So let's see. Yeah, my schedule's working. Oh, yeah. And I went live for Wednesday, for the whole world, you know, So I broadcasted on different social platforms, which was fun. You know, mistakes were made. I.

Zarah [00:02:59]:
I forgot to turn off YouTube. But, you know, we learn as we go. Yeah. And that. So that was fun. And then yesterday I went live in our curator community, which is a free community. And you get in by. If you've ever, like, purchased anything or accepted a freebie kind of thing, you know, anything that you've signed up for through Watercolor Wizardry, you get invited into the creator community.

Zarah [00:03:29]:
And there I go live every week. I might be working on something. So creator community is the. Is the combination of everybody, which is Watercolor Wizardry, business Wizardry and Creator Vodcast. Yeah. So there's a variety of people in that group. Yeah, it's been going pretty good. I'm very happy with my schedule.

Zarah [00:03:53]:
So what else am I doing? Oh, yeah, the pear. So the pear. I'm finishing up the packaging for that. So right now it's taking me a while because I have to kind of work out in my brain how I want things to be based on the platform I'm using. So I'm on Kajabi. So I'm going to use a group coaching program or product for the pair project and also it'll be in the courses for the Academy. The Academy basically will get everything I'm doing, but I'm going to package it as its own standalone product and I'm going to use a group coaching product for that. And so part of that is learning how that piece works.

Zarah [00:04:40]:
And I'm. I've been building it and it's looking pretty good so far. So now I'm in the editing the videos part, so I'm going to edit them down to lessons and it's going to be eight different videos. But the actual painting part, like this process, is five videos. So instead of it just being paint this with me, you know, you know, get. Get a result of this pair. It's going to be an introduction to hyper. So, yeah, so I'm excited about that.

Zarah [00:05:13]:
And then as I mentioned before, I'm working on that primary palette workshop also. So that's exciting. That's already started in the Academy. So, yeah, the Watercolor Wizardry Academy basically gets everything that is Watercolor Wizardry that, you know, anything watercolor they get. So, yeah, I'm very, very. Oh, thankful for all the members. So, yeah, so, yeah, I think that's it. Yep.

Zarah [00:05:43]:
That's on my list of things to do. And I'm excited. And. And I'm just happy to be painting. And I'm happy to be doing what I've been thinking of doing for a long time. Okay, thank you so much. I will talk to you guys later. All right, bye.