In this blog post, we’re going to explore the wonderful world of painting easy watercolour flowers. We’ll use a technique called “dispersion” to create magical, dreamy textures which bring our simple flowers to life. So if you’re ready to bring some fun, floral magic to your artwork, grab your supplies and let’s get started. I’ll break down the process step by step, so you can create beautiful watercolour flowers stress-free.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

• A pencil: Pick something that won’t leave super dark marks, like a medium or hard pencil. We’ll use this to lightly sketch our petals.
• Your favourite watercolours: Pick colours that speak to you today, in this moment.
• A medium or small brush: Choose a brush relative to your size of paper that will allow you to work on small details.
• 2 glasses of water: One to rinse your brushes and one for clean water.
• Paper: Use watercolour or thicker paper to get the best results

Step 2: Sketch Your Flower

Before you begin actually painting your easy watercolour flowers, you’ll first need to sketch some basic petal shapes. This step can be a helpful place to start when faced with a blank page. Let’s go through it together.

1. Ready Your Paints: I know I said we need to draw before we paint, but before we even do that it’s a good idea to get the paints ready as some paints take a while to activate. So go ahead and activate the colours you want to use – if you’re using watercolour pans that means adding a drop of water to the pan of paint. It’s a good idea to activate all the ones you’re thinking of using, that way they are good to go and you don’t have to break your flow while painting. If you’re using tubes or watercolour inks, ensure your paints are ready to go.
2. Choose Your Petal Style: Pick a petal style that resonates with you. I’ve got some example shapes for you above, but you are free to make up your own. Remember, there’s no right or wrong choice here. You can experiment with various petal styles to keep things interesting.
3. Sketch Your Petals: Begin drawing three, four, or five petals together to form the basic shape of your flower. You can start in the middle and work your way out or experiment with your own placement. Keep in mind that your petals don’t have to be identical. Variability adds character to your flowers.
4. Draw Lightly: Sketch your petals lightly, avoiding heavy, dark marks. We want our paints to be the star of the show so draw gently.

Step 3: Add Water

Now that you have your flower shapes sketched, it’s time to paint them with clear water. Start by wetting your brush with clean water. Then paint within the sketched lines of your flower petals. The water will act as a base for your watercolour pigments and allow the colour to flow around and create the fabulous texture we’re after. This can be a bit fiddly because it’s hard to see where the water has been applied and how much water there is. An easy way to deal with this is to look at your paper from an angle – this should allow you to spot the water more easily and see if you need more or less.

You want your paper to look shiny with the paper texture visible, not like a big puddle. If there’s too much water, simply dry off your brush on a paper towel or rag and use it like a sponge to soak up the excess.

Step 4: Paint the Flowers

With your flower shapes defined and the right amount of water in place, it’s time to add your favourite colours. Here’s where the magic happens:

1. Dab on the Pigment: Load your brush with watercolour colour and gently dab it onto your wet paper. The water you applied earlier will spread the pigment for you so you don’t paint the whole petal.
2. Encourage Pigment Spread: But if the pigment doesn’t spread as much as you’d like, gently drop in some more colour by touching your brush tip down again (and again if needed). This encourages the pigment to cover more of the petal surface.
3. Leave Gaps for Texture: To achieve a dreamy, textured effect, leave gaps. This adds depth and visual interest to your flowers.
4. Add Splotches: Depending on the intensity of your colours, you can add splotches or details to the petals.

Step 5: Create Variety

Once you’ve painted your first watercolour flower, go ahead and make another one with a different petal shape! Variety is key to making your art engaging and diverse. Remember that you’re not limited to replicating real flowers, so let your imagination run wild.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations! You’ve created magical watercolour flowers using the dispersion technique. Remember that watercolour painting is all about experimentation and self-expression, so keep practicing and have fun with your artwork. You can use this technique to paint all sorts of things with this same wispy texture. I’d love to hear about where you take this!

Taking it Further

If you enjoyed this tutorial on painting easy watercolour flowers you might enjoy Magical Watercolor Flower Paintings 101: The Art of Dispersion. This was my first ever class on Skillshare, and it still one of my most popular. If you don’t have a Skillshare membership, this link will give you 1 month’s free access to Skillshare, where you can take this class plus thousands of others. (If you choose to continue your access after a month with a paid subscription, I’ll be paid a small commission.)

You might also enjoy the other art tutorials on this blog.