How to Paint a Girl Holding a Flower Bouquet
Girls holding flowers have been the subject of paintings as far back as the history of painting can be traced. Girls with flower bouquets in paintings can represent youth, love, or the innocence of childhood. Regardless of the symbolism of your painting, bringing it to life on canvas is the primary goal, and painting is an artistic medium ideal for this subject matter.
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Instructions
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Wash your canvas with white paint or use a blend of yellow, white and brown to create an antique look for your background. The wash should be faint. If it comes out too dark, dampen a sponge with thinner and brush it over your canvas to tone it down.
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Paint your subject (the girl you're creating in your painting) first, beginning with her hair and face. Painting her hair first will help you define the shape of her head. To give her curly hair, choose a flat brush about the width of your thumb. Load the brush with paint. Apply the paint by rolling it on to the canvas. This will give her hair a curled effect. Use yellow and mix in a light touch for blonde hair. Adding brown, black or brown and red together using the same technique lets you create different hair colors.
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Paint her face with a base of white paint, then apply darker hues such as tan, orange or brown to bring out the flesh tones. Use tan as the base coat for a darker flesh tone and build the color up by adding in shades of brown until you get the dark tone you're after. Use yellow as the primary color on top of white and tan paint for a more Asian effect, or dark green and white if you're going for an olive complexion.
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Paint her eyes with blue, green or brown applied to the very tip of a small brush. You can also combine the colors to create subtle variations on these colors Clean your brush and pick up some red paint. Paint her lips by applying two thin lines to get the initial shape. Add more paint to fill her lips out.
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Paint her shoulders, beginning at the end of her hairline and working your way to her arms. Bring her arms up in front of her. To do this, bring your paint strokes down to where the bends of her elbows will be, then angle the strokes up toward her chest. Use the same colors for her arms you used to paint her face to keep skin tone matched. Paint indistinct hands where her arms meet. Two circles of skin tone color are all you need. The bouquet will cover these.
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Paint a flowing dress to the base of the canvas. For a beginner, this is easier than trying difficult body details. Select a color for her dress. Paint the dress in a base color, then layer in strokes of black or a darker version of the dress color to create shading, depth and texture to the appearance of the dress.
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Paint the bouquet in your girl's hands using a dabbing motion of the brush. Oil painting allows you to suggest detail rather than render it fully. Paint a bouquet holder with brown and blend in a little black to had texture.
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Apply flowers in the girl's bouquet with a variety of bright colors. Take advantage of your various shades of purple, pink, yellow and red. Apply the colors by pressing a small fan brush (about the width of your little finger) to the bouquet, then offset it with thin strokes of green to give separation to the flowers.
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Tips & Warnings
Consider using a photograph as a guide when you attempt your first painting. Many artists (even seasoned) find a guide helpful.
References
- Photo Credit Flower Girl and Basket of Flowers image by TMLP from Fotolia.com
