By Bloom Art Experiences
Difficulty: Easy/ medium
Materials
- 1x A4 sheet of thick paper or card (preferably painting paper or watercolour paper)
- 1x pencil
- 1x ruler
- 1 or 2 smaller paint brushes of your preference
- Paint palette
- Jar of water to clean your brush
- Cloth to wipe your brush
- Your favourite acrylic paint colours, or a simple palette of blue, red, yellow, white and brown so you can mix your own colours
View the tutorial below or download and print the PDF
Step 1: Setting Up Your Materials
Set up a clear area to work, with fresh paint water for cleaning your brush and a cloth to wipe it on. We are using a sheet of acrylic paint paper for this project, but you can use any thicker card or water colour paper you have at home – something much thicker than normal copy paper. You can use your favourite acrylic paint colours that you think Mum will like, or stick to a simple palette of red, blue, yellow, white and brown to experiment with colour mixing!
Step 2: Fold Your Card In Half
Fold your card in half (this is where you can use your ruler if you wish).
Step 3: Draw Your Outline
Sketch in a simple outline of a flower or a few leaves, depending on what you think your Mum will like. You can use a photo or a flower from the garden as inspiration – but keep it simple! We have chosen an Echinacea because they have a distinct centre and petals.
Step 4: Paint Your Outline
Start with a slightly watered down brown (we are using Raw Umber) to lightly outline your pencil markings. This will help to form a lovely crisp edge to your painting as you fill it in later.
Step 5: Block In Your Greens And Petals
Start by painting in your green foliage or stems first. You may need to water your acrylic paint down as you go, so the brush glides over the surface of the paper and the paint goes on smoothly – almost like watercolours. Start from the centre of the flower and paint your petals outwards in a controlled, sweeping brushstroke.
Step 6: Highlight Your Leave And petals
Acrylic paints layer really nicely – so this is the time to add your highlights with your smallest brush. Add some white or yellow to your green to highlight your leaves or stems. Add some white or yellow to your petal colour to highlight your flower. You can keep going with lighter and lighter layers, to really see your flower or leaves come to life! Keep adding a slight bit of water to your paint as you go, to keep it looking lovely and smooth.
Step 7: Paint In your Background And Add Any Details
Pick a background colour you think Mum will like – something that contrasts the flower you’ve chosen always works best. In this case, we have chosen a lovely sky blue. You can make this background as washy or textured as you like – experiment with the amount of water you add to your paint here.
Step 8: Write Your message And Gift To Mum!
Once it’s dry, you can write a lovely message and even gift Mum with a picture frame so she can keep your creation forever.
We would love to see what you create – feel free to send any photos to our Instagram at @bloom_art_experiences. Happy painting!
Kate & Emily from Bloom Art Experiences
Thanks Kate & Emily for this fantastic tutorial!
Bloom Art Experiences was created in 2022, by Brisbane based still life painters Kate Quinn and Emily Day, after they noticed there weren’t many options for all-inclusive, bespoke painting workshops using high quality artist materials, in beautiful and unique locations around Australia (particularly regional areas). Since then, they have also created 2 online painting courses, so you can paint your own floral still life in either oils or acrylics, from the comfort of your own home, at your own pace. Whether it is online, or in-person, the Bloom concept is simple: it’s all about creative self-care and discovering the joy in painting. A Bloom experience is for anyone and everyone, regardless if you’re a complete beginner or a hobby artist!
Want to find out more about Bloom Art Experiences or take advantage of their promotion? Find out more below!
Bloom Art Experiences would like to offer a 10% off promo code for their online acrylic and oil courses ‘create a simple floral still life’ for Craft & Quilt Newsletter readers. Please use the code HELLOBLOOMER at the checkout. You can find their courses here: www.bloomartexperiences.com/bloom-online.
- Website: www.bloomartexperiences.com
- Instagram: @bloom_art_experiences
- Kate’s Instagram: @katequinnart
- Emily’s Instagram: @e_milydaystudio