How to Paint Loose Watercolour Poppies (Beginner-Friendly)
As a former art teacher I think painting with watercolours is such a great medium for beginners. Poppies are the perfect subject as they are soft, imperfect and almost translucence. Ideal to be captured in paint. This loose style of painting is soft and natural and a great way to create art.
I’ll take you step by step to create something beautiful.
What You’ll Need:
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolor paints
- 2 brushes:
- A medium round brush
- A smaller brush for details
- A cup of clean water
- A mixing palette
- Masking tape
- water spray bottle
Step-by-Step Instructions:
Step 1: Set Up
Mask the edges of your watercolour paper.
Spray your watercolour paints to pre moisten them and activate the pigment.
Step 2: Add a splatter background
- Wet your page with clean water.
- Add a splatter background in using greens, by tapping the brush on your finger.
Step 3: Add your flowers
Whilst the paper is still wet
- Dip your round brush into the red paint.
- Touch the brush gently to your paper. Press down slightly to make the poppy shape — kind of like a rough oval.
- Repeat in different shades of red
Don’t worry if the shape isn’t perfect!
Tip: Leave a few tiny gaps of white paper — these will look like light shining on the petals.
Step 3: Add More flowers
- Whilst your paper is still wet
- Add some closed poppy shapes by painting half circle shapes as if the flower is bending down.
Step 4: Paint the Stems
Leave the paper to dry before this step
- Using your small brush and green paint, draw a wobbly thin line down from the flower for the stem.
- Let your hand be relaxed — it doesn’t have to be a perfectly straight line.
Vary which side the stem appears from.
Step 5: Add flower centres and leaves
- Clean your brush.
- Use your small brush to pick up some dark green (mix green with a tiny bit of black).
- Create small circular shapes in the centre from small flicks of paint. You can also add some of these flicks to the bent over flowers.
- Leaves can be created by painting a stem and using the brush shape to create leaves either side of the stem all the way up.
Step 6: Finally add extra details
Final stage is to add some extra details with a light grey. Going over the poppies to add petal shapes, and some seed heads and stalks as if faded in the background.
