🍏 From Apples to Rose Petals: Why Supplies (and Structure!) Matter in Watercolor

Join Zarah McIntosh, creator of Watercolor Wizardry, for a heartfelt update on her creative and business journey in this episode of the Watercolor Wizardry Journey podcast. Zarah shares important announcements about her evolving online art community, revealing why she’s cutting back on daily Academy livestreams to focus on producing high-quality watercolor course content and launching new standalone art projects—like the popular Pear Project.

Discover the new Academy live session schedule, including Wednesday and Saturday morning classes, plus evening Watercolor Wizardry livestreams across platforms like YouTube, Twitch, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Kick. Zarah also talks about the Creator Community, an exclusive group for those who’ve signed up for her resources, and teases upcoming releases like the Image-to-Sketch video series for Affinity Photo and GIMP.

This episode dives deep into creative authenticity, prioritizing professional watercolor supplies for hyper-realistic results, and the challenges of balancing artistic vision with practical realities. Zarah opens up about her painting process, including working on projects like the Macintosh apple, rose petal, shiny cherry, and fun masking techniques with BE watercolor paper.

Whether you’re an aspiring or seasoned watercolor artist, you’ll find inspiration and practical advice on building artistic confidence, mastering watercolor techniques, and participating in a supportive online art community. Don’t miss out on updates about the Watercolor Wizardry Academy, Creator Community access, daily progress emails, and exclusive beta tester opportunities!

Keywords: watercolor, Watercolor Wizardry, Zarah McIntosh, hyper-realistic painting, online art courses, watercolor techniques, creator community, Kajabi, art business, live art classes, livestream, professional watercolor supplies, artistic growth, Affinity Photo, GIMP, daily art updates, painting tutorials, creative journey, art workshops, art community, beta testing, personal growth, masking technique, color mixing, online artist resources, creative alignment

Subscribe now to support Zarah’s journey and stay motivated on your own path in watercolor painting and creative business!

Zarah [00:00:01]:
Hey everybody, this is Zara of Watercolor Wizardry. Let's see a couple announcements. I'm gonna actually pull back from the Daily Lives on the Academy because I need time for editing to get the lessons going in the courses. And also packaging that Pear project into its own standalone product. Yeah. So I'm gonna cut down on the daily lives. So what's going to happen is on Wednesdays and Saturdays are going to be my live days. So on Wednesday morning and Saturday morning will be academy, which is 8:30 to 9:30 Pacific time currently.

Zarah [00:00:44]:
And then in the evenings for Wednesdays. I call it Watercolor Wizardry Wednesday. So I go live on the different social media platforms that I can, which would be YouTube, Twitch Kick, LinkedIn. What's the fifth one? Facebook. Facebook page. Watercolor Wizardry on the Facebook page. Okay. And then on Saturdays it'll be with the creator community on the evenings and the evening time it's 3:30 to 4:30 Pacific time for whether it's Wednesday or Saturday.

Zarah [00:01:26]:
So Creator Community, it's a private community of people that have like signed up for anything through me. Not necessarily the supplies list, which I had going for a while. But if you get the. Right now it's image to sketch, it's just a PDF, step by step on how to use Affinity photo to change an image into a pencil sketch. Yeah. So if you down, you know, if you sign up for that, you actually get invited to Creator Community also. Because eventually that product will become a video series and all that. But right now it's a free PDF.

Zarah [00:02:06]:
When it becomes a video, it will be. There will be a cost to it. So don't think that you're just gonna get a video because it's gonna have steps for gimp, which is a free software, and then the steps for affiliate or Affinity photo, but in video, eventually that's all these, all these projects. My brain is very good about like creating projects in my head. It's the. Creating it into reality that the actions, that's the part where it's a little bit rougher, but we're, you know, getting better at that. So. So let's see.

Zarah [00:02:47]:
Right now we're painting the Apple Macintosh Apple. Today I'm gonna tackle the greens. So I think I'm still gonna go live today. It's seven in the morning right now and I go live in an hour and a half. So. Most likely. Yeah, I just say most likely because my honey mentioned fishing and I really want to go fishing. Okay.

Zarah [00:03:12]:
But anyway, most likely I'll be painting. Probably leave Later. Yeah. So after the Macintosh, Apple will be the rose petal that's on the website already. You can see what it looks like. And then after that is the rose, which is also on the website again. Watercolorwizardry.com is the website. You probably knew that.

Zarah [00:03:34]:
So. And then after that, I have a shiny cherry that we're gonna do and then possibly tackle an orange. I kind of don't want to because it's so there's so many dots, but, yeah, I don't know. We're looking at that right now, so. Oh, the other thing I wanted to talk about, the BE watercolor paper. It's. It's a bit too difficult to use for hyper, I think. I feel like I enjoy using arch because arch does what it needs to do.

Zarah [00:04:07]:
And so the. The challenge really comes to my painting skill level versus worrying about what the paper is doing. I mean, you still have to, but arsh is just so good at managing itself. Believe me, the. The reason why these professional supplies cost more is because they make it easier for you to achieve, like, beauty and it. They make it easier. So, yeah, that's why you get the professional paints. The.

Zarah [00:04:40]:
The colors are just more. More vibrant. There's no fillers. Like, all that stuff. They matter when you. When you start getting more detailed. If you're just painting loose things, I guess it's okay. I don't know.

Zarah [00:04:53]:
But when you have to, like, try to be precise, the supplies matter. So. Yeah, so switching on that. But I still want to use the c. The BE watercolor paper for fun projects because I've been wanting to do this masking technique, which is all it is, is you. The shape that you paint. Your. I don't know how to explain it.

Zarah [00:05:16]:
So, like, you can have a bear, right? It's a shape of a bear, and you only paint inside the bear, and then it looks cool because you have this bear shape. And then inside is, like, scenery of mountains and trees. It's kind of cool. So I wanted to do that fun project coming up. I just don't know where to fit it in. And then I'm gonna use it for, obviously for foundation practice stuff. So probably through the color mixing series that I have. Probably use BE watercolor paper for that because, you know, we don't need to be precise necessarily.

Zarah [00:05:52]:
We're just mixing colors. So. Yes. Well, I think that's all I wanted to update you on. So, again, join the academy. It's super cheap right now. And yeah, if you stay as long as you stay active membership, your rate stays forever. And I'm just building it and building it and building it.

Zarah [00:06:16]:
Okay. Yeah, so I just wanted to announce the adjustment. I think that starts after Wednesday, I guess. Yeah. Okay. Talk to you guys later. All right, bye.