7 Botanical Watercolor Painting Ideas to Try Today

There’s something endlessly satisfying about capturing botanicals with watercolor. Whether you're brand new to the brush or deep in your painting era, this article is a curated, but not exhaustive, list of botanical watercolor projects you can explore via Skillshare classes. Get inspired with a variety of project options—from loose florals and detailed leaves to full garden scenes and modern botanical compositions.

Want to brush up on the basics before diving in? These Skillshare blog articles are a great place to start:

1. Beginners’ Guide to Loose Watercolor Flower Painting

On a wooden surface is a watercolor painting of soft flowers and leaves in pale oranges, pinks and browns. Next to the painting are watercolor paints, brushes and a paint tray. — Watercolor flowers can be delicate without lots of fine lines and details. Learn to paint gorgeous soft, loose blooms.

Learn basic loose watercolor techniques for creating loose floral arrangements. One step at a time, discover how color and water work together, and how to create simple botanical sketches and loose flowers, leaves and branches.

Watercolor Flowers: A Beginner’s Guide to Loose Painting is designed for beginners, though anyone with an interest in botanical watercolor will find interesting projects and helpful hints.

Taught By

Altea Alessandroni is an Italian artist who’s most inspired by nature, especially botanicals and landscapes. She enjoys creating with physical materials, both on paper and on her iPad. Altea’s classes on Skillshare teach both botanical watercolor and botanical line drawings.

Student Reviews

“Altea is calming and encouraging. I enjoyed the easy steps and skills I could use to build on. I've only been doing watercolor for about 3 months and she helped me feel confident in learning some new skills, as well as reinforcing some basics I've already learned. She is one of my favorite Skillshare teachers so far.” -Lisa K.

“I've struggled with loose florals and Altea really helped with technique and pigments levels so that I made something that is very beginner looking, but much much closer to what I wanted to achieve. I highly recommend her as an instructor.” -Stephanie DeGrasse

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2. Orange Tree Watercolor Botanical Illustration

On a dark wooden surface is a cream colored sheet of paper with a circular watercolor painting of a section of an orange tree, featuring delicate sage-colored leaves, three white blooms and two ripe oranges. — Fruit is always a beautiful botanical subject, often including flowers and leaves as well as the fruit itself.

Master the basics of watercolor painting, including confidently color mixing, layering and fixing mistakes as you paint a delicate orange tree.

Watercolor Botanical Illustration: Orange Tree is a step-by-step guide for this specific piece, and you’ll learn skills you can use while watercolor painting other subjects.

Taught By

Noelia Acebes is a watercolor illustrator who’s loved art since childhood, and discovered a passion for watercolor during architecture school. She now uses watercolor painting for both enjoyment and expression, as well as to convey ideas to clients.

Student Reviews

“This class is pure joy! Lots of experience being handed down by Noelia as she guides students through each and every step with thoughtful reminders and advice where needed. Highly recommended!” -Kalwynah Stryker

“I'm loving this class, I will start my project now and upload it when I'm finished. I'm confident I will be able to complete it thanks to the teacher's explanations!” -Maria Smith

Teacher Tip:
“Many artists like taping their watercolor paper to a board or other hard surfaces to keep it in place as they work. Your board doesn’t need to be anything special, just a flat surface, and you can use professional painters tape or masking tape to affix the edges of your watercolor paper to the board.” -Watercolor Beginner-to-Expert Guide

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3. Elegant Watercolor Winter Wreaths for Beginners

On a linen surface is a watercolor painting of a delicate, crescent-shaped winter wreath in a palette of creams, pale to dark greens and deep burgundy. — Winter wreaths can contain much more than evergreen leaves and holly berries. This delicate botanical will add elegance to your holiday cards and gifts.

Learn to combine botanical elements for a simple, elegant winter wreath. From practicing botanical elements to mixing colors to painting the wreath step-by-step, this is designed to be a meditative process.

Watercolor Botanicals for Beginners: Paint Elegant Winter Wreaths, another class from Altea Alessandroni, is beginner-friendly, but will also be enjoyable for more experienced painters looking for a laid-back, calming painting experience.

Student Reviews

“Altea’s watercolor botanical course has been a truly wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much, even starting from a beginner level, thanks to her clear and detailed guidance. The video quality is outstanding—everything is beautifully filmed—and the atmosphere is incredibly calming. Each lesson felt like a peaceful moment just for myself. Thank you, Altea, for such an inspiring course!” -Summer D.

“Love watching Altea paint her delicate floral wreaths and to see the layering process that it takes to create them. Patience and take your time. I like the idea of using Procreate to pre-design some composition ideas.” -Samantha H.

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4. Watercolor Boho Cactus Composition

Close up of a watercolor painting of a nopal, saguaro and aloe vera cacti, as well as some leafy botanicals in greens, blues, pinks and lavender — Cacti may be prickly, but this class gives them the softness of boho watercolor.

Find out how to design and paint different types of cacti in a folksy, bohemian style. With a unique color palette, you’ll learn to paint a variety of cactus types.

Watercolor Botanical Illustrations: Boho Cactus Composition is designed for painters of all skill levels, offering thorough guidance and ample room for your own creativity.

Taught By

Artjourneywithme Heidi is an artist and facilitator with a wealth of classes featured on Skillshare. She believes art can be deeply therapeutic and helps people truly express their creativity. In addition to this boho watercolor cactus class, Heidi offers instruction on watercolor and Gouache Valentine’s, as well as crochet and watercolor classes on themes such as Christmas, food, and other botanicals.

Student Reviews

“A beautiful class and great tips through the process. Thank you!” -Joan Saidl

“Super class I really enjoyed thanks Heidi! :)” -David N.

Teacher Tip
“Use the wet-on-dry technique to paint on white paper or areas of your painting that already have color—just be sure to let the first layer dry completely before adding on a new one. Layering colors in this way is called glazing.” -Essential Watercolor Techniques for Every Artist

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5. Three Styles of Watercolor Botanicals

With just watercolors, ink and live samples, you can create very different paintings of the same flower.

Learn to study a fresh botanical sample for the purpose of recreating it in three watercolor styles:

Minimal line drawing
Line and wash
Loose watercolor

Painting Watercolor Botanicals from Live References in Three Art Styles is designed for beginner to intermediate watercolor skill levels, as a basic understanding of the medium will be foundational for branching out into new styles.

Taught By

Garima Srivastava is an artist and illustrator based in the Netherlands who reconnected with her creativity after moving from her home country. People say her instruction makes art look achievable, yet still of high quality and beautiful. Garima loves painting in watercolor and gouache as well as on her iPad.

Student Reviews

“I loved this class, like all of Garima's classes. Her instruction is very clear, and she always brings new concepts and learning to the table. For someone who has not studied art her teaching and classes are extremely helpful. Highly recommend all her classes!” -Sunditta Chopra

“Thanks Garima for an interesting class with a variety of ways to paint the same flower. I liked that you gave so many reference photos, which one can choose from to practice drawing and make your own style of painting using your method.” -Parul Bhargava

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6. Botanical Frame in Loose Watercolors

Spiral watercolor paper pad open to a watercolor painting of a botanical frame in blues, greens, and golds. Around the painting are a tray of watercolor paints, brushes, blotter paper and a bowl of water. — A delicate botanical frame is the ideal complement to decorative lettering and portraits.

Find a new way to relax by painting simple, delicate botanical frames. The designs you create are lovely on wedding or dinner party invitations or around a friend’s portrait.

Loose Watercolor Leaves–Fun and Easy Way to Paint a Botanical Frame is designed for beginners as it’s focused on simple technique and no drawing.

Taught By

Ana Victoria Calderón is an artist with a degree in graphic design and based in Mexico City. She teaches and holds retreats all over the world, and licenses her work with major companies and publications. Ana Victoria offers beginner and advanced watercolor classes, as well as instruction on sacred geometry.

Student Reviews

“I really enjoyed this class and have long been a fan of Ms. Calderón's books. I appreciated that the painting was made in real time so that I could follow along. I also enjoyed doing some variations of my own. I look forward to taking more classes from this wonderful instructor.” -Cynthia L. M. Brown

“This was such a fun and relaxing class to take! I love all of Ana's classes. I started taking her classes as an absolute beginner (no prior watercolor experience), and her techniques are so accessible!” -Urvi Y.

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Teacher Tip
“Watercolor paints blend and bleed into one another very easily, and indeed this is a great quality of the paints. It means you can create areas of blended color that don’t have hard lines between them. However, be careful to paint section by section (or, petal by petal) and let each section mostly dry before working on one right next to it. Otherwise, you might end up with a big blob of color that has bled together in places you didn’t intend.” -Watercolor Flowers: Painting Yourself a Garden

7. Advanced Techniques in Botanical Watercolor Illustration

An artist is painting a watercolor purple plumb hanging from a light brown branch with green leaves. Around the painting are brushes, paints and a tray of mixed colors. — Create watercolor paintings of plump, juicy fruit that looks ready to fall from the branch in this advanced technique class.

Learn to apply basic and advanced watercolor painting skills to create a gorgeous Italian blue plum at the end of a branch. You’ll use dry brush and wet on wet techniques to paint something suitable for a gift or to hang on your own wall.

Botanical Illustration - Advanced Watercolor Techniques is designed for those with a basic understanding of watercolor painting, which will help with the details and realism of the piece.

Taught By

Disha Sharma is an artist and commercial illustrator who enjoys working with watercolor and gouache. She also loves combining traditional media with digital elements for commercial and pattern designs. Disha offers classes on watercolor painting as well as iPad and Adobe. instruction.

Student Reviews

“This is a great class for practicing color mixing, painting techniques (wet on wet, wet on dry…), layering and details. The subject is not too detailed which allows you to focus on all these elements that bring botanicals to life. Great class, Disha!” -Lisa K.

“Fantastic class, Disha! As soon as I saw it published I have been wanting to take it. It was a pleasure to see the plum and the leaves coming to life, and it was fun, even if nicely challenging, to recreate my own! Great way to go back into watercolors, after a long hiatus. Nice review of techniques like glazing, with amazing results. Thank you!” -Claude C.

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That’s Only the Beginning

The botanicals you can create with watercolor are limited only by your imagination. Skillshare offers numerous watercolor botanical classes, catering to different styles, skill levels and desire for incorporating digital elements. Enjoy!

Written By

Katie Mitchell

Katie lives in Michigan with her husband, kids and pets. She enjoys cooking, travel and live music.