A carousel drawing gives you everything a nostalgic watercolor painter wants in one subject: curved lines, painted animals, strings of lights and a reason to use every pastel pink and mint green in your palette. The round shapes are forgiving, the colours are already cheerful, and you can finish a whole scene, horse, canopy and all, in one sitting.
Below are 27 carousel moments to paint, from a single horse’s mane to a whole fairground seen from above. Work through them in order if you like, starting simple and building up to the busier scenes, or just pick whichever one is tugging at you right now and get your brush wet.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Start the whole list with a vintage carousel in a Paris park, since its classic round shape makes an easy first subject. Pencil a simple dome shape for the canopy and a rectangle of poles beneath it, then paint the background trees and gravel in soft greens and greys before touching the carousel itself.
Once the background is dry, wash in the canopy stripes in pink and cream, leaving white paper gaps for shine, then drop in loose horse shapes without much detail. Add ink lines last for the poles, the scalloped canopy edge and a lamp post beside it, since ink on wet paint will bleed and blur your crisp edges.
The common mistake here is painting the carousel too small in the middle of a big empty park. Let it fill most of the page so the park reads as a frame around it, not the main event.
If you do not have green paint mixed yet, a touch of yellow ochre into blue gets you there instantly.
Palette: Cadmium Red Pale,Sap Green,Naples Yellow,Payne’s Grey
Painted carousel horse with roses on its saddle is the single-subject piece every nostalgic painter wants to try, so bring the horse close and let it fill nearly the whole page. Sketch the arched neck and raised front leg first in pencil, checking that the head sits roughly one third of the way down from the top of the horse’s full height, since getting that proportion right keeps the whole animal from looking stretched.
Paint the body in a pale cream wash first, then drop warm pink and gold into the mane and saddle while the paper is still damp so the colours bloom softly into each other. Once that layer is dry, add the roses on the saddle as small dabs of pink and red with a tiny dark centre, and finish with ink for the bridle straps, the pole and the eye.
If the roses look too stiff, try dabbing wet paint directly onto wet paint for the flowers instead of painting hard petal shapes, it reads as florals from a normal viewing distance.
Palette: Rose Madder,Gold Ochre,Titanium White,Permanent Rose
Keep a damp brush nearby to soften any hard edge on the mane the moment you see it drying unevenly, rather than trying to fix it once the wash has fully set.
Bring a person into the scene now with a child waving from a carousel horse, which adds movement and warmth to what has so far been static animals. Block in the horse shape loosely first in pale cream, then paint the child as a simple rounded figure, arm raised, without worrying about facial detail beyond two small dots for eyes and a curved line for a smile.
Work the horse and rider together while both washes are still a little damp, so the child’s dress colour can echo a stripe of colour from the horse’s saddle and the two feel like one unit rather than two separate paintings glued together. Let the background stay a loose wash of park colour or carousel lights, nothing crisp, so the eye goes straight to the waving arm.
If the raised arm looks awkward, try drawing it first as a simple stick line at the angle you want before building the sleeve around it, it is much easier to judge an angle as a line than inside a filled shape.
Finish with a line of ink around the child’s silhouette only, keeping the horse’s edges soft.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow,Cerulean Blue,Burnt Sienna,Titanium White
Move the fairground to the coast with a seaside carousel on a pier, a subject that lets you paint sky, sea and striped canopy all in one piece. Think about where the light comes from before you start: a low sun behind the carousel throws long warm shadows across the pier boards and turns the canopy stripes almost silhouetted at the top, while an overcast sky keeps everything evenly lit and softer in contrast.
Paint the sky and sea first in big loose washes, blue grading to a paler horizon, then let that dry fully before adding the pier railings and the carousel shape on top. Keep the carousel itself fairly simple, a dome, a few vertical poles and loose horse blobs, since the sea and sky are already doing a lot of the visual work.
The usual trouble spot is a pier that looks flat against the sea behind it. Add a cast shadow in grey-blue beneath the pier boards to ground it properly.
If you enjoy this kind of scene, the circus watercolor ideas list has more fairground subjects with similar colours and energy.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Payne’s Grey,Naples Yellow,Rose Madder
Carousel in the snow with string lights turns the fairground into a winter evening scene, and the trick here is working with lifting rather than painting white. Paint the whole background sky in a deep blue-grey wash first, then while it is still damp, dab out small dots of paint with a clean dry brush or a bit of tissue to lift out snowflakes and the glow around each string light.
Once that layer dries, paint the carousel itself in warmer colours, pinks, creams and a little gold, so it reads as the one warm thing in a cold blue scene. Add the string lights last as tiny dots of masking fluid before you paint if you want them to stay pure white, or simply paint around tiny gaps if you are confident with a brush.
If the snow looks too flat, scatter a little white gouache or a gel pen over the dry painting for a few bright highlight dots on the ground and canopy edge.
Swap masking fluid for an ordinary wax candle rubbed lightly on the paper first if you do not have any on hand, it resists paint in a similar rough way.
You Will Need
- masking fluid
- white gel pen
Palette: Prussian Blue,Payne’s Grey,Gold Ochre,Rose Madder
Zoom right in now with a close-up of a carousel horse’s mane and bridle, a piece that works entirely on texture rather than the whole animal. Paint the base of the mane in a flowing curved shape first, then while it is still wet, drag a dry brush through parts of it to pull streaky lighter lines out of the paint, which reads instantly as individual locks of carved wooden hair.
Let that dry completely before adding the bridle straps in ink, since crisp straight lines need dry paper underneath to stay sharp against the soft mane. Pick out the buckles and any decoration with small dots of gold paint once the ink is dry.
If the dry brush technique feels fiddly on wet paint, try it instead on a nearly dry wash, dragging a barely damp brush loaded with a touch more pigment through the edges for the same streaky effect with more control.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Gold Ochre,Payne’s Grey,Titanium White
A toothbrush flicked with thinned gold paint over the finished mane adds a scatter of tiny sparkle dots that read as light catching carved wood.
Widen the view with a carousel at a country fair with a ferris wheel behind, which means managing two round shapes in one composition without them competing. Keep the carousel large in the foreground and the ferris wheel smaller and further back, overlapping the two slightly so the eye reads depth rather than two flat circles side by side.
Paint the ferris wheel first in a pale wash since it sits in the distance and should look slightly hazier, then bring stronger colour and more contrast into the carousel in front. A simple trick for the wheel’s spokes is painting the circle first and adding the thin ink lines across it once completely dry, rather than trying to paint thin wheel spokes with a wet brush.
If the whole scene feels crowded, drop the ferris wheel to a loose pale silhouette with almost no detail, letting the carousel carry all the colour and interest.
Palette: Sap Green,Naples Yellow,Rose Madder,Cerulean Blue
A couple riding side by side on carousel horses brings a quiet, tender moment into the fairground setting. Paint both horses first as a pair, keeping them the same size and at the same height so the composition feels balanced, then build the two figures on top once the paint is dry enough to add crisp detail without bleeding into the horses.
Keep the figures simple, loose colour blocks for clothing with minimal facial detail, and let a shared gesture carry the warmth of the scene, a hand reaching toward the other, or both leaning slightly the same way as if caught mid-laugh. The common slip is making the two riders look identical in pose, so vary the tilt of one head or the position of one arm.
If you want an easier version for a first try, paint just the two horses and suggest the riders only as simple colour shapes without any facial features at all.
Finish with a line of ink along the saddle edges to tie the whole pair together visually.
Palette: Rose Madder,Cerulean Blue,Naples Yellow,Payne’s Grey
Carousel swan seat with a little girl swaps the usual horse for one of the fairground’s gentler shapes, so spend extra care on the swan’s curved neck before anything else. Paint the body of the swan in a single soft wash of white and pale pink, keeping the neck curve smooth and unbroken, since a wobbly line here is the one thing that reads as wrong immediately.
Add the little girl sitting inside the seat once the swan is dry, keeping her small against the large curved neck so the scale feels believable. A few loose pink and gold details along the swan’s wing edges, added wet into damp paint, give it texture without hard lines.
If the white body looks too plain against white paper, wash a very pale grey or blue shadow along one side of the swan to separate it from the background.
Swap a hard pencil line for the initial swan sketch with a soft pencil you can erase cleanly, since this shape needs a few attempts to get the curve right.
Palette: Titanium White,Rose Madder,Gold Ochre,Cerulean Blue
Carousel canopy with painted panels turns the top of the ride into the whole subject, a chance to paint small decorative scenes inside each panel shape. Sketch the dome in pencil divided into even wedge sections first, checking that each panel is roughly the same width by comparing them against each other rather than measuring exactly, since even spacing by eye matters more than precision here.
Paint the canopy’s base colour first in broad pink and cream stripes, then once dry, drop a tiny painted scene into two or three panels only, a cluster of flowers or a small painted bird, leaving the rest plain so the detailed panels stand out rather than compete.
Finish the scalloped edge and any hanging tassels in ink, working slowly around the curve rather than trying to draw it in one sweep.
If the dome shape looks lopsided, lightly pencil a straight vertical centre line first and build the curve symmetrically out from it.
Palette: Rose Madder,Mint Green,Gold Ochre,Naples Yellow
Carousel at pastel dusk leans fully into the colour palette this whole list has been building toward, with a sky doing most of the emotional work. Wash the sky first in overlapping bands of pink, lavender and pale orange while the paper is fully wet, tilting the page slightly so the colours drift and blend into each other without hard lines.
Let that sky dry completely before painting the carousel as a darker silhouette shape in front of it, since a dusk scene reads instantly once the carousel sits as a clear dark shape against a glowing sky rather than competing for the same pale colours. A touch of warm light can still glow from inside the canopy, painted as a small patch of yellow left unpainted by the silhouette wash.
If the silhouette edges look too hard, soften just the very top edge of the canopy with a damp brush before the dark wash fully dries.
Palette: Permanent Rose,Lavender,Payne’s Grey,Naples Yellow
Grandfather holding a toddler on a carousel horse gives the scene a gentle, generational warmth that works well as a ten-minute quick sketch or a slower forty-minute painting. For the quick version, keep both figures as simple loose shapes, a seated adult form behind a smaller rounded toddler shape, with the horse beneath them barely more than a cream blob with a mane line.
For the longer version, spend time on the hands, since a hand steadying a small child is the detail that makes this scene read as tender rather than generic. Paint the grandfather’s clothing in a muted colour so the toddler’s brighter outfit and the horse’s pastel tones stay the visual focus of the piece.
The common mistake is making the adult figure too small next to the child, so measure the toddler’s head against the grandfather’s torso before committing to final proportions in ink.
If figures feel difficult, reference a photograph of any adult holding a small child for the general pose, then simplify it into the fairground setting.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Cerulean Blue,Rose Madder,Naples Yellow
Carousel in spring with cherry blossoms layers pink on pink, so give the carousel a slightly different pink tone than the blossoms to keep the two readable as separate things. Paint the blossom branches first using a dry brush technique, dragging a nearly dry brush loaded with pink paint sideways across the paper to create a soft cloud of texture rather than individual painted flowers.
Once that layer dries, paint the carousel beneath and slightly overlapping the blossom branches, using a cooler or deeper pink so it sits forward in the composition rather than blending into the tree above it. Scatter a few small dots of pink gouache or masking fluid before painting for falling petals caught mid-air.
If the blossoms look too solid and leafy, thin the paint further and add more water to each brushload, cherry blossom reads best as soft and slightly transparent rather than dense.
A spare toothbrush flicked lightly with pink paint adds a convincing scatter of fallen petals on the ground below.
You Will Need
- toothbrush for splatter
Palette: Permanent Rose,Rose Madder,Sap Green,Naples Yellow
Carousel rooster and carousel pig side by side breaks from horses entirely and gives you two very different textures to paint in one piece. Start with the rooster’s tail, the most expressive part of the whole animal, using long curved brushstrokes of red, orange and gold pulled from a single loaded brush so the colours blend along each feather without separate strokes.
Paint the pig beside it in a much simpler flat pink wash with minimal shading, since the contrast between the rooster’s busy tail and the pig’s plain round body is what makes the pairing interesting rather than repetitive. Add ink details, the rooster’s comb, the pig’s curled tail, once both shapes are fully dry.
If the rooster’s tail feathers run together into mud, work in smaller sections and let each one dry slightly before adding the next colour beside it rather than painting the whole tail wet at once.
Palette: Cadmium Red Pale,Gold Ochre,Rose Madder,Naples Yellow
Ticket booth beside a carousel adds an architectural element to balance out all the round carousel shapes with straight lines and right angles. Paint the booth’s box shape first in simple flat colour, keeping the lines loosely straight rather than ruler perfect, then add its little peaked roof and a small striped awning in a contrasting pastel tone.
Keep the carousel itself soft and slightly blurred behind the booth, since this piece works best with the booth as the sharp foreground subject and the fairground beyond it as atmosphere rather than detail. A tiny painted sign or a few coins of loose colour suggesting tickets on the counter finishes the human side of the scene.
If the straight lines of the booth wobble more than you like, pencil them in lightly first with a ruler, then paint freehand just inside those guides so the ink line keeps a little natural looseness.
Swap a ruler for the edge of a postcard or any stiff card if you do not have one handy.
Palette: Mint Green,Rose Madder,Naples Yellow,Payne’s Grey
Carousel horse in an antique shop takes the subject indoors and lets you paint a weathered, aged version rather than a fresh fairground one. Mix a slightly muted, dusty palette for this piece, adding a touch of grey into your pinks and golds so the horse reads as old paint on old wood rather than a bright new ride.
Paint the shop interior loosely behind the horse first, soft suggestions of shelves, other antiques and warm interior light, keeping this background much less detailed than the horse itself so attention stays on the one standing figure. Chipped paint on the horse can be suggested by leaving small irregular gaps of white paper showing through the coloured wash, rather than painting every crack individually.
If the muted palette starts to look muddy rather than aged, keep at least one small area of brighter colour, a faded rose on the saddle perhaps, so the eye has one point of warmth to rest on.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Payne’s Grey,Gold Ochre,Naples Yellow
Carousel reflected in a puddle adds a bit of technical fun after a run of straightforward subjects, since the reflection has to read as believably upside down beneath the real carousel. Paint the carousel itself first in full colour and detail, then flip your reference mentally and paint a softer, less detailed mirror version directly beneath it, stretched slightly and with the colours more muted.
Keep the puddle’s edge irregular rather than a neat oval, and leave small gaps of untouched white paper within it to suggest the sky catching on the water’s surface. A few quick horizontal ink lines dragged lightly across the reflection break it up convincingly as rippled water rather than a perfect mirror copy.
If the reflection ends up too crisp and competes with the real carousel above it, go back in with a damp brush once dry and gently lift a little colour out to soften it further.
A thin wash of grey blue over the whole puddle area, once the reflection is dry, unifies it as one body of water.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Payne’s Grey,Rose Madder,Naples Yellow
Carousel in an autumn park with falling leaves swaps the usual pastel greens for warm oranges and rusts, giving the whole scene a cosier feel. Paint the background trees first in loose overlapping washes of orange, red and gold, letting the colours bleed into each other at the edges while the paper is still wet for a soft autumn haze.
Once dry, paint the carousel in front using your usual pastel palette, but warm it slightly with a touch of the same orange from the trees so it sits comfortably within the scene rather than looking cut and pasted on top. Scatter falling leaves last, small simple almond shapes in varied autumn colours, some on the ground and a few still drifting mid-air near the canopy.
If the leaves on the ground look too scattered and random, group a few together near the base of the carousel and keep the rest sparse elsewhere, clumping always reads more naturally than even spacing.
For more cosy seasonal scenes with this kind of warm palette, the village scene drawing ideas make a good companion piece.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Gold Ochre,Cadmium Red Pale,Payne’s Grey
Balloon seller next to a carousel introduces a cluster of bright round shapes that echo the carousel’s own roundness in a different scale. Paint the balloons first as a loose bunch of overlapping circles in varied pastel colours, leaving tiny white gaps between them so each balloon reads as a separate shape rather than one blob of colour.
Add the seller as a simple standing figure holding the strings, keeping the pose relaxed with one arm raised, then paint the carousel behind in softer, slightly less saturated colour so the balloons stay the brightest thing in the composition. Thin ink lines for the balloon strings, drawn slightly wavy rather than perfectly straight, keep the whole bunch feeling light and buoyant.
If the balloons end up too uniform in size, vary them noticeably, a couple of large ones with several smaller ones tucked between, which reads as far more natural than a neat matching set.
Palette: Permanent Rose,Cerulean Blue,Naples Yellow,Mint Green
Carousel from above showing its round roof asks you to think entirely in terms of eye level, since this bird’s eye view flattens all the familiar side details into one simple circle divided by stripes. Draw a large circle first, as perfectly round as you can manage by tracing a plate or a bowl, then divide it into even wedge sections with light pencil lines radiating out from the centre.
Paint each wedge in alternating pastel colours, pink, cream and mint, letting a little bleed happen at the edges where wet colours meet for a soft hand-painted look rather than a perfectly crisp graphic one. A small round finial or flag shape in the very centre of the circle adds the one three-dimensional touch this otherwise flat viewpoint needs.
If the circle looks uneven once painted, a thin ink line traced carefully around the outer edge once everything is dry corrects a surprising amount of wobble.
You Will Need
- plate or bowl to trace a circle
Palette: Rose Madder,Mint Green,Naples Yellow,Gold Ochre
Girl in a party dress on a carousel puts the figure’s clothing at the centre of the composition, so plan her dress colour before anything else and build the whole palette around it. Paint the dress first in one confident wash, letting it pool slightly fuller at the hem where fabric would naturally gather, then keep the carousel horse beneath her in a quieter, more neutral tone so the dress stays the brightest note in the piece.
Work her hair and any ribbon or bow details once the dress is fully dry, using a smaller brush for these finer shapes. A little gold trim painted along the dress hem or sleeve ties her outfit back into the carousel’s own gold accents elsewhere in the scene.
If the dress shape looks flat, add one deeper shadow tone along the folds while the base wash is still slightly damp, just enough to suggest gathered fabric without overworking it.
If you enjoy painting figures like this one, the girl drawing ideas list has more figure poses to practise.
Palette: Permanent Rose,Gold Ochre,Naples Yellow,Titanium White
Carousel chariot decorated with shells gives you a wider seated shape to paint instead of a horse, with a surface full of small repeated decorative details. Paint the chariot’s main body first as one confident curved shape, then once dry, add the shell motifs as small fan shapes in cream and pink, repeating the same simple shell form across the surface rather than inventing a different decoration each time.
Keep the shells loosely painted rather than botanically accurate, a fan of short curved lines radiating from one point reads perfectly well as a carved shell from normal viewing distance. Gold paint along the chariot’s rim and any curled edges adds the gilded look these decorative fairground seats usually have.
If the shell pattern starts to look busy or repetitive, space the motifs unevenly with larger gaps of plain chariot colour between some of them rather than spacing them all identically.
Palette: Naples Yellow,Gold Ochre,Rose Madder,Titanium White
Carousel in a city square on a winter evening brings architecture, lamplight and cold air together around the fairground ride. Paint the surrounding buildings first as simple flat silhouettes in deep blue-grey, varying their heights slightly along the horizon so the square feels like a real place rather than a flat backdrop.
Once the buildings are dry, paint the carousel itself with warm glowing colour, pinks and golds against all that cool blue, since the contrast between warm carousel light and cold winter air is what carries the whole mood of the piece. Small dabs of warm yellow at window shapes in the background buildings echo the carousel’s glow and tie the whole square together.
If the buildings compete too much with the carousel for attention, keep them nearly flat and shadowed with almost no window detail, letting all the warmth and detail sit with the ride itself.
A similar mood runs through the Christmas lights drawing ideas if you want more glowing night scenes to paint next.
Palette: Prussian Blue,Payne’s Grey,Rose Madder,Gold Ochre
Small hand-cranked carousel at a village fete scales the whole subject down to something humble and homemade, with none of the grand canopy or lights of a fairground ride. Paint the little wooden frame first in plain warm wood tones, keeping the shape simple and slightly rustic rather than ornate, then add a handful of plain painted horses or seats, fewer and plainer than a full-size carousel would have.
Include the person cranking the handle as a small figure at the side, since this human-powered detail is what makes the whole scene read as a village fete rather than a travelling fair. Bunting strung around the little stall, painted as a simple line of small triangle flags in alternating pastel colours, finishes the homemade festival feeling.
If the scene feels too bare next to the busier carousels elsewhere on this list, add a small crowd of simple figure shapes watching nearby, loosely painted and without much detail.
Palette: Burnt Sienna,Rose Madder,Mint Green,Naples Yellow
Carousel horse painted mint and gold brings back the full-page single horse portrait but with a cooler colour direction than the earlier pink and cream version, a useful variation once you have painted a few of these already. Keep the same construction approach as before, body first in a pale wash, then mane and saddle built up while the paper is still slightly damp, but swap warm pinks for mint green throughout and let gold take over as the main accent rather than a secondary one.
Try varying the pose this time if you painted an earlier horse standing square, perhaps a rearing front leg or a head turned to one side, so the two pieces sit well together as a pair rather than repeating the same silhouette. Gold leaf pen or gold gouache along the mane and saddle edges, added once everything else is completely dry, gives this version its richest finishing touch.
If mint and gold together look a little cold, warm the shadows slightly with a touch of burnt sienna mixed in rather than pure grey.
You Will Need
- gold gel pen or gold gouache
Palette: Mint Green,Gold Ochre,Titanium White,Payne’s Grey
Cotton candy and a carousel in the background flips the usual focus, putting a fairground treat right in the foreground with the ride itself soft and distant behind it. Paint the cotton candy first as a large cloud-like shape, working wet into wet with soft pink fading into white so the fluffy texture comes from the water doing the blending rather than careful brushwork.
Once dry, paint a thin paper cone shape at the base in a plain stripe pattern, then build the carousel behind it in much paler, hazier colour, almost like it is slightly out of focus, which naturally happens if you paint it with more water and less pigment than usual. This soft background keeps the cotton candy as the clear star of the piece rather than competing with the busier ride behind it.
If the cotton candy looks too solid and cloud-like rather than sugary, leave a few tiny white gaps of untouched paper scattered through it for sparkle.
Palette: Permanent Rose,Titanium White,Naples Yellow,Cerulean Blue
Finish the list with a carousel at a beach boardwalk with gulls, a scene that lets you combine everything practised so far, water, architecture, animals and a crowd of pastel colour, into one final piece. Paint the sky and sea first in a loose graded wash, then the wooden boardwalk as a simple perspective of planks leading the eye toward the carousel standing at the centre or slightly off to one side.
Add the carousel in your usual pastel palette, then finish with a few gulls as simple curved M shapes in the sky, varying their size slightly so some feel closer and some further away. Keep the gulls few in number, three or four scattered shapes read as a natural flock far better than a dense cluster crowding the sky.
If the boardwalk perspective feels tricky, draw the plank lines converging toward a single point on the horizon first in light pencil before painting over them, which keeps the whole walkway feeling properly grounded.
For more coastal painting practice afterward, browse the lavender painting ideas for a change of subject with a similarly soft palette.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Naples Yellow,Rose Madder,Payne’s Grey
What to Do Next
Pick one carousel moment from this list, whichever colour or scene is pulling at you most, and start with the background wash before any fine detail goes in. A cold press watercolor block and your usual pastel palette are all you need to finish it this afternoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest carousel drawing idea for a first attempt?
A single carousel horse portrait close up is the easiest start, since you only manage one shape, one mane and one saddle rather than a whole fairground scene with poles, canopy and background all at once.
How do you keep the carousel’s round shapes looking even?
Trace a plate, bowl or coin for the main circle before adding any pencil detail, then build the canopy stripes and wedge sections out from that traced edge so the whole shape stays symmetrical.
What colours work best for a nostalgic carousel painting?
Pastel pink, mint and cream with small touches of gold give that classic nostalgic fairground feel, while a deeper blue or grey in the background makes those warm tones glow by contrast.
Should ink lines go on before or after the watercolor?
Add ink details after the paint is completely dry in most cases, since wet paint under fresh ink makes lines bleed and blur, though a few artists like drawing confident ink lines first and painting loosely inside them.
How do you paint a carousel horse’s mane so it looks textured?
Drag a dry or nearly dry brush through the still damp paint of the mane to pull out streaky lighter lines, which reads instantly as individual carved locks of hair rather than one flat painted shape.