A few years ago, inspired by the swimmers during warm ups at a swim meet, I created the watercolor painting above. I loved the perspective of the painting, but always wanted to create another version with richer more saturated colors. And I did – see my steps below.

I taped off the edges of my paper with thick painter’s tape, to create a white border. I marked where the swimming lane lines would be with a pencil and ruler.

I painted the swimmers first, so I could add blue paint (water) over parts of them, so those parts would look like they were underwater.

When the swimmers were completely dry I painted the blue pool water. I tried to keep the blue in the lane line areas lighter.

Once dry, I painted the swimming lines using a flat brush, red watercolor paint and white gouache.

Next, I added more blue to darken the water in areas. I also added white gouache around the swimmers for splash.

The richer colors make such a difference. Makes me want to dive right in! The perfect painting for the swimmer in your life. Create one or order a print on canvas (pictured above), paper, acrylic, and more on Zazzle – click here to visit my Zazzle shop.

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