Flower Painting Project

Fluid, flowy flowers are easy to achieve in an a matter of hours. I recently handed my students each a canvas and let them experiment with squishy flower paintings made by gently pressing poured rings of paint with a balloon and rolling and lifting it up to make individual petals or a whole blossom. Follow the steps below and see what you can come up with.

Step 1: Mix a color and paint the canvas. I encouraged students to choose a background color that would contrast with the color they wanted for their flowers. I also reminded them that cool colors were a safe choice because they recede in space, creating a stronger sense of depth.

Step 2: create some kind of repeated mark to help add interest to the background. A subtle pattern can go a long way to activate the negative space around the main subject. Even simple brush strokes can take their painting up a level.

Step 3: Pour paint onto canvas into rings of color

Step 4: press down on circle of wet paint and roll or lift the ballon in one direction for petals. Or lightly squish and pull straight up for a more rounded flower.

Step 4: add leaves and stems as desired

Step 5: add details like the center to the flower or little dots for baby's breath or other small flower,