So you want to learn how to paint watercolor flowers. Let’s face it, it can get overwhelming looking to buy clipart for commercial use. You can find yourself even starting to think what if you could just paint these watercolor flowers yourself?
Here’s the thing. It’s actually not that hard…provided you know the right tips!
If you are just starting out my best advice would be to first remove all your expectations. You may have a picture in your mind that you want to achieve but don’t expect to achieve that your first crack at it. You are here to learn. Practice makes perfect. That’s actually my last tip! But we’ve got a lot to cover before we get to that.
Get You Supplies Together
Before you can even get started painting watercolor flowers you will need to get your supplies together. I am assuming that if you are reading this article you probably have some idea of the supplies you will need but let me just quickly go over some of the basics for those that may not know.
Now every artist has their own work flow but since you are reading a beginners guide to painting watercolor flower art I will give just the essentials. You will need paper, watercolor paints, brushes and a jar of water.
Paper – Do yourself a favour and get watercolor paper. You can find this online or at your local art supply store. I personally like a heavier paper as it is more resistant to getting soggy or warping. So if you are going to do this why not do it right! Right?
Brushes – I recommend nothing too expensive in the brushes department especially if you are starting out. Go to Amazon and find a set of 4 to 5 brushes of varying sizes preferably with rounded or pointed tip.
Watercolor paints – If you have kids you may already have a set of watercolor paints in your household. You may even have a set left over from when you were a kid! If you don’t already own watercolor paints they are cheap! There are many different brands of paints you can buy but a good start is just to get a cheap set of Crayola watercolor paints like you had when you were a kid to make beautiful floral watercolor flowers. They will do the job!
Jar of water – This you will use to clean your brush when you are switching colors. Any jar or container to put the water in will do. If you feel the water is getting too dirty feel free to go ahead and change it out.
Pro Tip (I always wanted to say that), instead of having just one jar of water have two. Use one for rinsing your brush and the other for diluting colors. You will need clean water for diluting colors.
See you don’t really need a whole lot of supplies to do watercolor art. However, there are a few other supplies that are not essential but you may find useful.
Styrafoam egg carton – Each egg holder in the egg carton is perfect for mixing colors or diluting colors.
Paper towel – Sometimes even the experienced watercolor flower artists can get carried away with the paint and water. Paper towel is great for soaking it up!
Color wheel – If you have painted before you may have one of these already. If you don’t you could probably look one up online instead of buying one. This will help you to figure out ahead of time what colors will work together to give you the floral watercolor end product you envision.
Alright now that we have the supplies out of the way we can get to the actual watercolor painting part.
But before we talk about that why don’t you join my email list? For joining you’ll get a free Goodie Bag of handmade clipart that are lovely, if I do say so myself. And just between you and me you may get some other goodies too but shhh don’t tell anyone! Oh and you get first access to all my sales and discounts on my other clipart collections.
Watercolor Flower Painting
For your first attempt I would try painting a flower that has fewer pedals but the pedals are larger. I think this will make it easier for you as you will get to do broad strokes and not have to focus on such fine details. You can see some nice examples of watercolor flowers that I have done the past like these tropical flowers or this flower png collection that I painted.
A good way to start your painting is to start with a light wash of the first color you are going to use. Paint the biggest pedals first and you can darken up the parts of the pedals that you want afterwards. After you are happy with that you can add the center of the flower, if you were painting a sunflower perhaps, or the center details of the flower if you are painting a hibiscus for example. Now you are ready to add any finer details of the flower that you want to include in the painting.
It is easier to go from light to dark when painting watercolor flower art.
If you are wanting to paint tropical watercolor flowers but don’t have any tropical flowers on hand a simple google search will give you lots of examples of tropical flowers that you can use for inspiration.
Variety is the Floral Bouquet of Life
Well I know variety is supposed to be the spice of life but when it comes to a bouquet of watercolor flowers variety is also a nice thing to have. If you are attempting to paint a floral background or something that will end up becoming a floral bouquet png then you will want to have a variety of complimentary flowers and you can even include foliage.
Practice makes perfect
Remember when I said to let go of your expectations for your finished product this first attempt at watercolor flowers? Nobody reaches their artistic potential with watercolor painting the first time. This is why it is important to practice. Practicing serves 2 main purposes.
- Practicing will allow you to experiment and improve your technique
- Practicing will be the thing that crystallizes your style
Obviously, you need to practice to figure out what works for you and continually improve your technique so that you can become competent in your painting. In addition, each watercolor flower artist brings their own personal signature to their art that only they can do. It can take time to figure out your own unique style and this can only be done thru creating pieces of watercolor art on a continuous basis
Above all, have fun with what you are creating and learning. Don’t be afraid to share your art with the world!
Happy creating!
Kris
Go here to buy clipart for commercial use.
