How to Paint Tulips
Tulips by nature have a swirling and translucent appearance to them, and painting them with watercolor paints captures this elegant look. When designing your composition, consider whether you want to paint a whole field of tulips or have a much more focused and dramatic composition highlighting just a few. Basic composition, drawing and painting skills are all that is needed to create a successful tulip painting.
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Things You'll Need
- Photo of tulips
- 300-lb. cold-pressed paper
- Drawing pencil
- Watercolor paint brushes
- Water jar
- Watercolor paint set
Instructions
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1
Locate tulips to use as reference. If you have a live tulip plant, use that, otherwise locate a photo of tulips in a book or on the Internet.
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2
Decide on the layout of your composition and sketch the tulips onto 300-lb. cold-pressed paper using a drawing pencil.
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3
Paint the flower petals of the tulip heads. Paint each petal one at a time and allow it to dry in between to avoid bleeding. Dip the paintbrush into the water, tapping off excess drips, and paint the water onto the paper. Paint the water onto the paper first before applying the watercolor paints.
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4
Dip the paintbrush into the watercolor paint, and touch the edges of the darkest shadowed area of each petal, brushing the paint lightly across the wet area of the paper to spread the paint and fill in the area. This process will create the shading, making the shadowed edges the darkest. The paint will flow across the water on the paper to create lighter transparent shading as it flows.
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5
Paint the leaves and stems of the tulip in the same manner with green paint.
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Tips & Warnings
Use large round watercolor brushes to paint larger spaces and small round brushes for details.
Do not add too much water or your paper will warp.
Use your paints sparingly; simply dab a small amount of paint along the shadowed edges, and allow it to flow to fill in an area.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit single orange tulip image by jc from Fotolia.com
