Acrylic Flower Pianting

step by step instructions for creating this Floral painting.

1. Acrylic paint. I like to use two types of paint. acrylic in the tube because it is denser and Folk Art Multi Surface acrylic paint because it is more fluid but has the best coverage and color saturation. You can experiment with brands and types. I suggest you have a red, blue, yellow, green, white and purple for this project. I mixed up my own color. You can feel free to choose your pallet of color and use the shades right from the bottle if you like just keep in mind you want three or four shades of green at least... Choose your pallet before you start. You want to decide your vase color you background color the floral colors etc...
2. Pencil or chalk to draw out your vase shape
3. Pallet or something to mix paint. I use plastic lids and paper plates.
4. Paper towels
5. Container for water to clean your brushes.
6. Paint Brushes of various sizes. I used #5 #8 #0 #2 #5/10 round brushes and a flat #10 for the background.
7. Q tips

Draw out your vase shape with a pencil or chalk. I used my flat brush and filled in my background with a darker red and lighter red and used a paper towel to dab it and give it a texture. Experiment a bit or just use one color that works for you. Then you can do one of two things here. One you can just fill in your vase color that you like. Two you can take some time and fill in the whole canvas with that background color and let it dry a bit then thin out the vase color just a bit and let some of that background color come through. Do not worry about making a mistake. Paint dries and you can just paint over what you do not like. There is not a wrong way to do this so relax and have fun.

using a number 8 round brush you can pick two shades of green and fill in your leaves. Start from the top of the vase and go out and up. Using more pressure will widen the brush stroke. So use less pressure as you make your way to the end of the leaves. You may want to make several and use some dark and some light leaves or a few with variations of light and dark together to fill your space. You can put a few on the bottom too. You are building your composition here.

Take your #5 smaller round brush and a more yellowish green shade to create buds/dots by loading brush and pushing down with your brush along the leaves and in the spaces, you feel looks good. You can always add more later too.

Now you want to think about where you would like your blooms and what colors you want to use. Mix a good amount that will be enough for about a 1/4inch blob with a Q tip or small brush. Make two of those blobs to make your 1-2inch blooms. Take the small brush or q tip and swirl the lighter into the darker color to create your flower.

Take your yellow or the color you chose for your center and use your Q tip to make your center with a blob/dot. do the same over the green buds until you are satisfied. Blooms are done. Enjoy your masterpiece!