26 Simple Painting Ideas for Beginners

Last Updated on June 11, 2022

If you’re a beginner painter, seeing complex paintings all over social media can be a bit intimidating. When you’re just starting out painting, it’s nice to focus on simpler paintings to start out.

But just because a painting is simple, doesn’t mean it can’t be gorgeous!

If you’re wondering what painting to try next, you’re in the right place.

I’ve compiled a list of 26 simple painting ideas for beginners to try out.

1. Simple Monsterra Painting

Plants, like this Monsterra, make great subjects for beginner painting since they can be still recognizable when broken down into their most basic shapes. Additionally, this artist used a color-blocked backround which is beginner friendly.

2. Shifted Perspective Sky Painting

This is one of those paintings that looks more complex than it actually is. It would be a good opportunity to practice a stippling technique for the clouds. As for the tree, layer your paints from dark to light to create depth.

3. Sunset over the mountains

Nature landscapes like this are the perfect painting idea for beginners. This allows you to focus on practicing blending while still resulting in a beautiful painting!

4. Simple Plant Painting with Circle Background

It can be intimidating to take on a painting that includes many different scenes or elements. Especially when you’re just learning and painting take a bit longer. One idea for beginners is to focus on painting just one or two items on a page, like this simple plant painting.

5. Streetlights at Night Painting

This is one of my favorite simple paintings on this list. If you’ve never painted a night-time scene before, this would be a great painting to start you off.

6. Simple Car Painting

It might seem too difficult to paint something like a car at first, but it can be simplified a lot if you just break it up into the most basic shapes. This artist has done a great job at doing just that, making it a good painting for beginners to replicate.

7. Flowers in a Field

Even when you’re just learning, painting can be relaxing. Consider trying a painting like this field with flowers that has lots of repetitive elements so you can have a relaxing painting session.

8. Green Fields & Blue Skies

Learning how to paint a sky with clouds is a must for beginner painters. Consider starting out with a simple landscape like this one to practice.

9. Simple Flowers on a Black Background

I think this painting might be one of the most beautiful on this list, and one of the simplest! As a beginner, your paintings don’t have to be realistic landscapes of portraits. Rather, you can try different styles of paintings like this one.

10. Sunset over wheat fields

The colors in this sunset painting are so beautiful, and beginner friendly!

11. Abstract Geometric Flower Painting

As a beginner, you could easily recreate this painting and use it as wall art in your space.

12. Delicate Florals Watercolor

Colorsbysue is an expert watercolorist, but has plenty of gorgeous paintings for beginners to practice. This would be the perfect painting to focus in and practice watercolor techniques.

13. Cotton Candy Skies Simple Painting

This simple sky painting is a great opportunity for beginners to practice choosing a color palate. While I love the cotton candy sky effect the blue and pink create, you could easily try this same painting with colors of your own choosing.

14. Vibrant Field and Sky Painting

This is one of the simpler paintings on the list. One thing this artist does really well is using color variation on the grass to create the appearance of depth. Rather than using a solid color, challenge yourself to vary your shades like in this painting.

15. Simple Tulips Painting

There are many florals on this list, and for good reason. You can pick your favorite flower and paint it in any color you like to create a simple, beautiful painting.

16. Color Blocked Desert Painting

If you like working with simpler shapes, you might try practicing painting with a desert scene like this one. This painting actually requires no blending whatsoever, and only 5 colors, which makes it great for beginners.

17. Small White Branches Abstract Painting

One big mistake beginner painters make is starting out with paintings that are just too big. Larger paintings will take more time to complete and can be more difficult. For beginners, try starting small like in this painting.

18. Simple Floral Bush Painting

Believe it or not, this painting only uses 5 colors. This is a great opportunity for beginners to practice techniques for painting florals and greenery from a distance.

19. Dreamy Pink Sky Painting

This painting is another of my favorites on this list. By using a simple foreground, like these birds on a wire, you can spend more time creating a beautiful skyscape in the background.

20. Flowers in the Night Sky

This artist makes a great use of contrast to create a simple but intriguing painting.

21. Vibrant Color Landscape

As a beginner painter, you don’t have to feel limited to the colors you observe in the real world! Explore using your own palette to create a unique painting like this one.

22. Dandelions in the Sky Painting.

Using a dotting technique to create a starry sky is one of my favorite techniques for beginner painters. It’s a simple technique that leads to amazing results.

23. Sunset over LA painting

With a painting like this, start out by creating a gradient base for the sky. Then, add in elements like a cityscape, stars, and palm trees.

24. Detailed Flowers with a simple background

When you’ve got the basics down, you can start experimenting with ways to add a bit more detail into your paintings. Take these flowers for example. All it takes is a few darker purple accents to add a much more realistic look.

25. Light and Bright Field Painting

What I love about this painting is that it looks like the light is shining down on a particular area of the field. You can achieve a similar look by using a light shade of green to create a focal point.

26. Field of Florals Simple Painting

To recreate this painting, start with a simple green base. Then, add flowers of a few favorite colors. Finish the painting by adding stems. It’s much simpler than it may seem!