Painting parties are very popular these days and I’m pretty sure I know why. Painting is not as easy as it looks. As an art teacher, I loved seeing my students gain confidence in their artistic ability as I gave them some guidelines and boundaries for them to work within and then explore and that’s what a good teacher can do for you. It is so hard to stare at a blank piece of paper. Thoughts are racing, Where do I begin? What if I mess up? I don’t know how? I messed up. I give up. 

I get it and I can see the appeal of going to a class where supplies are ready and you are set up for success.

This post is a mini sequel to my last step by step floral painting you can find here. I was asked to teach at a painting party a friend was hosting. I’m not really into the “copying the teacher” thing, so I painted up a couple of versions to inspire and help guide the participants. My last painting I shared was more of a floral bouquet or still life and this painting is really loose and abstract. REMEMBER: Yours does not have to look like mine! Take the general ideas and make it your own, it probably won’t look like mine as much as you try to copy it, so just embrace that! 🙂 As I mentioned in my last post, it usually helps to reference some photos of bouquets or flowers that you like.

What you need:

Good Paper: Look for paper that is at least 90 lb. For this painting, I used a heavy watercolor paper.

Acrylic Paints: I used a mix of student grade (like liquitex basics) and some higher quality paint. I actually got a huge bucket of acrylic paints from an estate sale for $5. You mostly want a red, yellow, blue, white, magenta, and then a blue/green color.

Brushes:(a variety of sizes) I have a bunch of brushes I have collected over time, some are low quality craft brushes and I have a few that are nicer. Just use what you have! The main point is to have a few different sizes and maybe a mix of flat and round brushes to create different strokes.

Its hard to stare at a blank piece of paper. So the first thing I did was make a wash (paint and a little water) with white paint and added the slightest tint of blue and in some places red to tint the paper. I was sure to be loose with my brush strokes.

The next step was to mix some green using blue and yellow and create some loose stokes that were to represent some leaves or greenery. They really don’t have to look like leaves, because when you start putting some other colors in the shape of flowers, your eye will just read them as leaves later on. Pretty cool huh? So have fun with it.

Next, I made a darker green by adding a bit more blue and built some strokes off of the previous ones I made.

Then start adding some blooms. The key here is to use a variety of colors, some light and some dark and different brush strokes for each flower. Once I have a color, I use that color and stroke in at least 3 areas before cleaning my brush and making a new color. Doing this will help to balance your painting and help the viewers eye to travel around the canvas (or in this case, paper).

Build layers, fill in those blooms using darker and lighter tones for each bloom. I even went in and added even darker greens. I also took some of the lighter colors and lightly added them to my white-ish background.

And here is the final piece! My best piece of advice is to stay loose and have fun! Put on some music and work quickly, don’t stay in one area too long!

I hope this post was helpful and inspires you to create your own painting! They make great gifts, inexpensive decor, and of course painting is a great way to spend some time!