Paint a beautiful sunflower in watercolor with this beginner-friendly step-by-step tutorial. Display in your home to brighten up your summer decor or give as a thoughtful, custom gift. Grab some paint and a brush and have fun!
I really like watercolor paintings. There's something so magical about the soft color and light lines.
You can also use it many different ways. Lots of water creates soft, translucent color and minimal water makes for brighter, more opaque color. With the wet-on-wet technique, you can create well blended colors and lines and with the wet-on-dry method, you can add detail and create defined lines and layers.
I had a fantastic art teacher in junior high who taught me quite a bit. We used acrylic paints, oil pastel, a little bit of charcoal and of course, watercolor. (Didn't do any oil paintings, unfortunately 🙁 ) I haven't had any training since then and that was, let's see... 13+ years ago!
However, I continue to play around now and again, because painting is really fun and satisfying. And it's nice to create custom art for my walls!
This summer I just felt like I wanted to make a quick and easy sunflower painting to display in my house. Yellow flowers are so bright and cheery and just SCREAM summer. Although watercolor sunflowers seemed like pretty easy flowers to paint, I sought some guidance and found this sunflower watercolor painting tutorial on YouTube.
I followed along and was very happy with the end result, so I thought I'd share the process with you.
Give it a try and tag me in a photo on Instagram @thehomeintent!
Tips for Painting a Watercolor Sunflower
- Wash your brush well when switching paint colors and dab your brush on a paper towel to remove excess water.
- To mix a large amount of color, start by adding a few "brushfuls" of water to your palette (I just use the inside of the lid on my paint set), then add in the paint and mix until you create the perfect color!
- Using watercolor paper will make a huge difference, and it doesn't have to be expensive! But you'll be highly disappointed if you try to paint on printer paper.
- Many smaller watercolor paint sets don't come with brown paint, so you can mix one using the primary colors: red, yellow and blue. For a darker brown, you can slowly add in black paint to this mixture.
Supplies Needed
Watercolor paints (this set includes a small brush)
Watercolor brushes (a large, round paintbrush with a pointed tip is ideal for painting petals and a smaller detail brush is good for, you guessed it, small details like fine lines and dots!)
Pencil
Preparation
Prepare your workspace by setting out a cup of clean water and a paper towel folded in half. Lay out your brush(es) and paint alongside your watercolor paper.
To prevent the paper from warping, you can tape the edges of the paper to your work surface, but note that you'll need to leave it there until the paint completely dries. If you remove it while the paper is wet, you'll still get some ripples in it. Masking tape or painter's tape work best.
If you are aiming to display your painting in a specific size of frame, make sure you paint within that boundary. My paper was 9"x12" and I wanted to frame in a 8"x10" frame, so I made some rough measurements and light markings to ensure my painting would be the size I desired.
How to Paint a Sunflower in Watercolor
A NOTE ON MIXING COLORS
The colors in your painting will have more depth if, instead of using the pure colors from your paint set, you mix a few together. Don't be afraid to add a little red or brown to your yellow\orange to give it some extra depth.
The best way to check your colors is to keep a scrap piece of watercolor paper close by so you can mix and test colors before using them in your painting.
STEP 1: Draw a Circle
Find a small circular object that you can lightly trace to create the shape of the pistil (the center of the sunflower). You could use the cap from a gallon milk jug, a shot glass, the bottom of a small vase, a large coin, etc.
STEP 2: FIRST LAYER OF PETALS
Using an orangy yellow color, begin to paint sunflower petals around the pistil. They should extend a little into the pistil and be around the same length as the diameter of the pistil. Taper them on both ends by applying less pressure to your paintbrush when you begin and end the stroke.
**ALLOW THE FIRST LAYER TO DRY COMPLETELY BEFORE MOVING ON. You can use a hairdryer to speed up the process if desired.
STEP 3: SECOND LAYER OF PETALS
Using a color slightly more orange than your first layer, paint a second layer of petals, this time overlapping them with the previous layer. Try to make them vary in length and shape (not identical!) so they will appear more realistic.
STEP 4: BEGIN THE PISTIL
Wet the inside of the pistil with a damp paintbrush. Begin to gently dab in brown color in the pistil, using more at the edge and less in the centre of the pistil. More white space in the centre will help to create depth and texture.
STEP 5: PISTIL DETAILS
Mix a very dark brown color (almost black) and begin to paint small dots all around the sunflower center, this time focus on the outer edge and the centre of the pistil, leaving a ring in the middle with less dark dots.
Using white paint, add some dots in that middle ring and some white dots and small lines throughout the whole pistil, staying away from the very edge. This will create nice texture and contrast with the darker parts of the pistil.
You can also add some tiny triangle shaped dark brown spots coming from the pistil, at the points where petals meet and overlap.
You can continue to play with light and dark specs to add more dimension to the pistil.
**TIP: If you don't like how it turns out, you can dampen the spot you'd like to redo, and very gently blot with a paper towel to remove the paint. Just be careful that you don't remove paint in places you don't want to!
STEP 6: PETAL DETAILS
Using a darker orange color, paint 1-3 lines on each petal, running from the pistil towards the tip of the petal. Make them various lengths and intensities. This will add some dimension to your petals.
To some petals, add a line along one side of the petal from pistil to tip.
If it's still lacking depth, go in with a reddish-orange in a couple of spots.
STEP 7: STEM AND LEAVES
Paint a green line strait down from the flower, with a little bend to it.
Start the green leaves by making brush strokes to create a general shape, then move in with deeper green colors to create shape, depth and details. You can paint the sunflower leaves connected to the stem or coming from behind the flower head itself.
STEP 8: DRY
Allow your painting to fully dry before framing and displaying your finished painting!
Did you try this out? Tag me in a photo of your painting on Instagram @thehomeintent. I'd love to see your creative take on this project!
MORE DIY HOME DECOR
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- How to Dry Flowers and Greenery
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📖 Recipe
Watercolor Sunflower
Paint a beautiful sunflower in watercolor with this beginner-friendly step-by-step tutorial. Display in your home to brighten up your summer decor or give as a thoughtful, custom gift.
Materials
- Watercolor paints
- Watercolor brushes (a large, round paintbrush with a pointed tip is ideal for painting petals and a smaller detail brush is good for, you guessed it, small details like fine lines and dots!)
- Pencil
- Watercolor paper
Instructions
- Prepare your workspace by setting out a cup of clean water and a paper towel folded in half. Lay out your brush(es) and paint alongside your watercolor paper.
- To prevent the paper from warping, you can tape the edges of the paper to your work surface, but note that you'll need to leave it there until the paint completely dries. If you remove it while the paper is wet, you'll still get some ripples in it. Masking tape or painter's tape works best.
- If you are aiming to display your painting in a specific size of frame, make sure you paint within that boundary. My paper was 9"x12" and I wanted to frame in a 8"x10" frame, so I made some rough measurements and light markings to ensure my painting would be the size I desired.
- Find a small circular object that you can lightly trace to create the shape of the pistil (the center of the sunflower). You could use the cap from a gallon milk jug, a shot glass, the bottom of a small vase, a large coin, etc.
- Using an orangy yellow color, begin to paint sunflower petals around the pistil. They should extend a little into the pistil and be around the same length as the diameter of the pistil. Taper them on both ends by applying less pressure to your paintbrush when you begin and end the stroke. **ALLOW THE FIRST LAYER TO DRY COMPLETELY BEFORE MOVING ON. You can use a hairdryer to speed up the process if desired.
- Using a color slightly more orange than your first layer, paint a second layer of petals, this time overlapping them with the previous layer. Try to make them vary in length and shape (not identical!) so they will appear more realistic.
- Wet the inside of the pistil with a damp paintbrush. Begin to gently dab in brown color in the pistil, using more at the edge and less in the centre of the pistil. More white space in the centre will help to create depth and texture.
- Mix a very dark brown color (almost black) and begin to paint small dots all around the sunflower center, this time focus on the outer edge and the centre of the pistil, leaving a ring in the middle with less dark dots.
- Using white paint, add some dots in that middle ring and some white dots and small lines throughout the whole pistil, staying away from the very edge. This will create nice texture and contrast with the darker parts of the pistil.
- You can continue to play with light and dark specs to add more dimension to the pistil.
- Go around the pistol with a dark brown color and paint small triangles coming out the pistil into the petals.
- Using a darker orange color, paint 1-3 lines on each petal, running from the pistil towards the tip of the petal. Make them various lengths and intensities. This will add some dimension to your petals.
- To some petals, add a line along one side of the petal from pistil to tip.
- If it's still lacking depth, go in with a reddish-orange in a couple of spots
- Paint a green line strait down from the flower, with a little bend to it.
- Start the green leaves by making brush strokes to create a general shape, then move in with deeper green colors to create shape, depth and details. You can paint the sunflower leaves connected to the stem or coming from behind the flower head itself.
- Allow your painting to fully dry before framing and displaying your finished painting!
Notes
The colors in your painting will have more depth if, instead of using the pure colors from your paint set, you mix a few together. Don't be afraid to add a little red or brown to your yellow\orange to give it some extra depth.
The best way to check your colors is to keep a scrap piece of watercolor paper close by so you can mix and test colors before using them in your painting.
If you don't like how it turns out, you can dampen the spot you'd like to redo, and very gently blot with a paper towel to remove the paint. Just be careful that you don't remove paint in places you don't want to!
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