Vintage Flowers: Expressive Painting for Beginners

1. Introduction: Expressive, dreamy, and a little bit magical. If that's how you want your floral compositions to feel, then this class is perfect for you. Hi. I'm Jenny Flores. I'm a watercolor and wash artist, a creative mentor, and a top teacher here on Skillshare. I fell in love with painting back in 2016 while looking for an escape from the stress of everyday life. Today, I teach thousands of students on how to paint florals that feel soft, elegant, and full of heart. I've had the joy of working with different brands, sharing my work with over 81,000 followers on Instagram and building a growing community of artists who are learning to express themselves through gentle and intentional art. In this class we'll explore how to paint expressive florals using guash or watercolor or both. You don't have to choose. I'll be guiding you step by step, whether you prepare the flow of watercolor or the opacity of wash. We'll focus on soft tones, subtle texture, and expressive brush work that gives your flowers that timeless charm. What makes this class unique is that we are not just learning a technique. We are learning how to feel our way through painting. We'll paint three lovely projects together. First is a white gandilia soften area that is perfect for easing into expressive painting. Then we'll move on to purple and yellow bells, a cheerful project that lets us play with complimentary colors and contrasts. And finally, we'll close with vintage yellow roses, a bit more detailed, but still loose and expressive and full of warm. Each project is designed to help you build confidence, explore freely, and enjoy the process. I've made this class with beginners and minds, especially those who want to paint florals that feel art, not just a copy of something perfect. Creating this class brought me so much joy and peace, and I hope it does the same to you. So when you're ready, pick up your brush and let's get started. 2. Supplies: Hi, everyone. So welcome to this topic where I share with you all the supplies we'll be needing for this class. Let's start off with papers. This class is quite special because I will be using a special kind of paper, which is a cotton rag paper. This one is deedge and I got it from the brand hat paper. If you don't have hat paper, in your country, you can search cotton rag paper or deck edge paper, and you will definitely find a lot of cotton ragged handmade papers that you can use for this class. I'll be using the colored ones, but you are free to use whatever color that you like. If you don't have this type of paper, you can use a regular watercolor paper that is also 100% cotton. And one of the options that I have for you is my favorite Bao Hong Academy watercolor paper. This is 100% cotton and 300 GSM. If you like a colored artwork like mine, you can just paint the base first. Of whatever color that you want, and then let it dry and just paint the project that we'll be having after that. Next item that we need is paints. For the paints, you have the option to use either watercolor or guash. And as for me, I will actually use both of them on each project. For the specific color that we will be using, I'll discuss it on the projects later on. So for now, you can choose whether you're going to use watercolor or gouache or both. And again, we are doing expressive painting later on. So even on the mediums that we will be using, I want you to express yourselves. Next thing that we need are brushes. I'll be using quite a lot of brushes for the class. But, you know, you don't need to get everything that I have. You can use whatever you have and maximize those. So for the brushes that I will be using, I have the silver silk 88, ultra round brush, and size six. And then I also have the silver silk 88, chisel blender brush and size six. Then next my favorite silver ultra mini brush, sign round and size two. And then another favorite is silver Monza. This one is in Filbert size two and a liner brush in size one. So again, those are the brush that I will be using, but you don't need to have all of these just to proceed for the class. Just get one round brush in regular size like eight or six, and then another detail brush and probably size two, one or zero, and you're good to. Other things that we will be needing are mixing palettes. I have here my plastic palettes, and they are quite messy, but they are very useful, so I arrange it by colors. You don't need to have this kind of palette. Any palette, even a regular ceramic plate is enough for the class. Also need some tissue papers. So we need a lot of tissue papers and then a pencil for sketching. Just light sketch. We won't be drawing details later on. Easer. This is my needed eraser from Favor castle. And then, of course, we need a cup with water for cleaning our brush. Mine is already dirty, but you need a clean one so that you can clean your brush later on. And that is it for the supplies that we need for the class. Don't feel overwhelmed. Whatever you have is enough for us to start as long as you have a paper, paint and your brush. I'll see you in the next video. 3. Why Expressive Painting is Perfect for Beginners: When you're just starting your painting journey, it's easy to feel overwhelm. There's pressure to get things right, the right proportions, the right colors, the right technique. But what if I told you that the best way to begin is to let go of the pressure. That's where expressive painting comes in. Instead of focusing on accuracy or perfection, expressive painting encourages you to explore feeling, movement, and personal interpretation. It's less about copying an exact flower and more about capturing how that flower feels to you. And that is why it's such a beautiful approach to beginners. When you paint loosely, you give yourself permission to make mistakes. You allow room for happy accidents, for discoveries, and for creative freedom. You are not locked into getting every petal right. You're simply just learning how to enjoy the process. You also build trust with your brush. The more you let go of fear, the more your strokes begin to feel natural. This is how confidence is built, not by perfect results, but by painting again and again without pressure. Another reason why expressive painting works so well for beginners is that it helps you focus on core essentials. Things like brush control, paint flow, color mixing, and emotional tone without getting lost in the detail. You'll learn how to suggest shapes with just a few brush strokes, how to play with water or opacity, and how to create balance without overthinking. And most importantly, you'll enjoy it because when painting feels free, fun, and intuitive, you're far more likely to stick with it. So as you go through each project in this class, I encourage you to loosen your grip, let the paint move, and allow your own style to slowly emerge. Let go of perfection and just make space for expression. 4. White Bougainvillea: In this project, we'll paint a beautiful white Fagin Bela plant in a textured vase. We'll explore layering, creating texture, and using expressive strokes that focus on emotion and looseness rather than precision. I'll guide you every step of the way so you can feel more confident as you create your own project. We'll begin by doing light sketch of the base. Doesn't have to be precise. We'll just use it as a gentle guide later on. Next, let's do a light wash of the base. You might notice that my wash looks a bit darker, and that's because of the type and color of the paper that I am using. But don't focus on that. What's more important is creating a very light wash using the color of your choice. You don't need to use Van Deck brown for your vases. Feel free to use gray, blue, terracotta, or any color that you personally like. Just make sure to add a lot of water to your paint to keep it soft and transparent. Once the base is down, gently add slightly darker tone of the same color on one side of the vase to create subtle shadows. This will give your painting some shape and form. Again, you don't need to be exact here. Just let it flow naturally. Now, my favorite part, the texture. I usually have thick mixture of white guash or titanium white paint and just spread it right into the vase. Just spread it. Don't overthink. There's no right and wrong in this phase. This is simply your way to add texture and interest on your base and making it feel a bit more handmade and a bit more alive. Now, I'll do the base wash of the leaves. I'm using a very watery mixture of olive green, and with a small round brush, I start adding loose expressive leaves and small stems. Notice that I'm not literally painting the detailed leaves. I'm making marks. So have pointy tips. So are just like lions and some are tiny dots. That's the beauty of expressive flowers. As long as it's green, the viewer will always interpret it as leaves. So there's no need to elaborate or make it perfect. Keep it playful and loose. A Now let's do the flowers. Just like the leaves will keep it simple. I'm dabbing my round brush to suggest the petal shapes. I'm using a mid size brush here, but you can use anything from size four to size eight depending on your paper size. For the paint, I'm using concentrated white guash. My paint is a bit wet so the strokes get lighter as they dry. This is just the base layer, so we don't want it to be thick. Just keep it light and loose. Now to add dimension to your composition, we'll paint the first set of shadows on the leaves. I like to add these in the inner areas. This is the safe spot to deepen the values, and it always makes sense visually to have darker leaves closer to the base. I still add a few in the outer areas, but my focus is on building depth toward the center. Make sure to let it dry fully before moving on to the next one. This helps avoid turning your composition into a blob and keeps everything crisp and clear. Once the initial shadow layer is dry, we'll spread more dark greens around the composition. These rookes are still expressive. We're not painting exact shapes. Just let your brush dance around the piece. Focus on looseness and emotion rather than detail. These deeper tones help balance the composition and bring everything together. Now to add dimension to the flowers, let's place a few strokes of concentrated white on one side of each blue. These simple strokes make big difference. They help the flowers pop and add gentle contrast without needing to outline anything. Just a few touches go a long way. Now for the final touches, I'll be re establishing the shadows and textures of the base. This step is completely optional. It's really up to you if you want to add more detail or depth. Sometimes just a few extra strokes can make the vase feel more grounded and balanced in the composition. Then I'll add a bit more texture with thick white paint to enhance the layered and handmade look. I'm using a slightly darker version of my original vase color and adding shadows to one side, as well as near the base. If you feel like your vase already look good as is, feel free to skip this step. You can put down your brushes and go ahead and sign your work. And my work is finally done. In this project, we learn how to build expressive florals by layering loosely, creating texture, and adding simple shadows and highlights. We focus on movement not precision and trusted that even imperfect strokes can create something beautiful. I hope this class brought you joy and confidence as you faint, so I'll see you in the next class. 5. Purple & Yellow Bells: In this project, we'll paint a playful purple and yellow flowers in a vase. A great way to explore color and contrast and expressive brushwork. We'll focus on layering, adding highlights and shadows, and using loose and tensional strokes to suggest form without going too detail. You'll also learn how to balance a two tone floral palette and add gentle foliage and fill in empty spaces with confidence. It's a relaxed, joyful project, perfect for building your expensive floral skills. Now let's start with a very simple, square shaped sketch for the base. Nothing too perfect. We're just using it as a guide. Next, we'll paint it using a light wash of vantek brown. Make sure to leave a little bit of empty space because this will act as your highlight. I'm also curbing the sides just a little to suggest that the vase has three rounded layers. This gives it more shape and visual interest. But of course, it's totally up to you. Feel free to design your vase however you like. This is a great chance to be playful and experiment with your own creativity. Now I'm using a watery shade of greenish brown to start adding loose lip strokes throughout the composition. This is the base layer, so we are keeping everything soft and expressive. The goal here is to build a good foundation for our painting. Y After that, I am switching to olive green in the same watery consistency to add a bit more color variety while still keeping the overall tone muted. Just like I mentioned in our first project, leaves don't have to be detailed or accurate. As long as it's green, the viewer will naturally interpret it as foliage, even if it's just a line or a blob. So don't overthink this part. Let your brush create different marks. Some strokes can be long and spiky, others can be short lines, dots, or even curb dabs. Think of it as filling the page with visual energy, not perfection. This loose gesture layer gives your piece movement, rhythm, and that expressive feel that we are aiming for. Now it's time to paint the star of the show the purple flowers. I'm using a small Filbert brochure to create a dot like stroke. Notice how I vary this shape and size as I go. This gives us more variety in the floral shapes. And remember, in this class, we are using both squash and watercolor or you're allowed to use it interchangeably. So it's totally fine to break the rules. Just go with what works for you. Now it's time to add highlights to our purple flowers. I'm using a thick mixture of white paint, and I'm placing just a few strokes along the sides of the flower. The simple step add dimension, it makes the petals feel like they're catching the light. After that, I pick up an even more concentrated white to add a second layer of highlights to submus small touches on top of the lighter areas. This layering gives our flowers more life and a soft dreamy feel, which is exactly what we want in expressive floral painting. Now I'm using a very deep shade of purple and adding it into the center of each flower, a small dot. Now it's time to add a new layer of leaves. This will deepen the composition and bring in more contrast. We're following the same process as the first layer, but this time I'm using a more concentrated shade of green. I personally love using undersea green for this step. It's earthy, rich and blends beautifully with our base colors. This layer is where we suggest shadow and density. So I'm focusing most of the strokes toward the inner part of the arrangement near the base of the stem and around the central flowers. That's where you'd naturally expect more leaves to collect, especially in a floral bouquet like this. The outer parts can stay airy and light. Just like before, keep your strokes loose and varied. Some can be lines, some can be dab, some can be spiky. Don't worry about precision. We are painting what feels natural, not what's technically correct. These deeper greens help us push the first layer back and gives your piece a stronger sense of depth and structure. Now I'm adding the yellow flowers. These will serve as the second main color in this composition. Just like before I'm keeping the strokes loose and varied. Some are soft dots, others are a bit more curve. The idea is to make them feel like they're part of the same expressive style, not too precise, just suggested. I'm using a creamy pale yellow here, but feel free to adjust your shade depending on what looks good against your background. I'm placing this in between the purples and filling some small gaps where the piece needs more balance. This color contrast brings in more life and makes the entire arrangement feel more complete. Now take a step back and look at your work from a distance. This is the best way to check the overall balance of your composition. If something feels off or a little empty, don't hesitate to add more strokes, extra foliage, or even a few more flowers. There is no perfect number of elements. Just follow your eye and adjust where it feels necessary. This part is all about trusting your instincts and letting the piece tell you what it needs. To finish off, I'd like to add a bit more color and texture to the vase. I'm using a more concentrated mix of Vandek brown here and adding subtle strokes to build depth and richness, especially in the shadowed areas. This adds more contrast and helps the vase feel grounded and weighty compared to the lightness of the flowers. You can also add small touches of highlight or dry brush texture if you want to make it feel more rustic or worn. Feel free to explore and personalize your vase here. This is a great moment to add your own final touch. And that is it. We are done with our purple and yellow bells project. I hope you enjoyed the process and saw how expressive strokes, soft flaying, and playful color choices can bring your florals to life. Now, go ahead and sign your work, and I'll see you in the next project. 6. Yellow Roses: We will start with a very light sketch of the vase shape as usual. And as you can see, I'm simply outlining the general silhouette. It doesn't need to be perfect, and as always, think of this as soft guide rather than detailed drawing. Keep your lines light and relax we will let the paint do most of the work later on. Now let's begin with the base layer. I'm using a very light, milky mixture of muted blue tone and gently filling out the shape of the vase. Keep your brush movement soft and even and don't overwork this. This is just a foundation. Allow this layer to dry slightly before moving to the next layer. Y So our layer will stay clean and it doesn't turn muddy. Now, we'll begin building dimension. Using slightly darker and more pigmented blue. I'm adding shadow on one side of the vase. Notice that I'm not outlining the shape. I'm simply placing darker tones where shadow would rather naturally fall. Already, you can see the vase starting to take form. Let some edges stay soft while others remain slightly defined. That variation creates a very beautiful interest and depth on our composition. Now I'm going in with even darker tone. So this is where the vase really begin to come alive. Place the darker value toward one side, allowing it to overlap slightly with the previous layer. You'll see how quickly the volume builds. Don't cover everything, leave parts of the lighter base visible so the contrast can shine. Depth comes from value change, not from adding more detail. Now I'm gently adding the tones. If any areas feel too harsh, soften it with slightly damp brush. If something feels too light, deepen it just a bit. This stage is all about balance. You can slightly tap your brush in certain areas to add subtle texture, but keep it controlled and minimal. We are shaping the vase through contrast and softness at the same time. Now let's start building the foliage. Using a watery, muted green mixture, begin placing loose leaves above the vase. Don't focus on painting perfect leap shapes. Just make expressive marks. Some can be short strokes, some thin lines, some tiny dabs. Keep it light and airy. Think of this as building the structure that will hold our flowers. Now for the flowers, using a soft creamy yellow mixture, begin dabbing the petals. I am using gentle tapping motions with my round brush to suggest rose shapes. They don't need to look perfect. Think of them as little clusters of light. Leave small gaps between each flower so the composition can breathe. Keep this layer light and we'll build the depth later. Now, I am adding a touch of white on one side of each bloom. Just a few gentle strokes. This creates instant dimension and gives the rose a soft luminous quality. Don't overdo it. A small highlight can make a big difference. To add depth, I am placing a slightly darker yellow in the center of each flower. This prevents the rose from looking flat and gives them more structure. Notice that I'm not drawing circles. I'm simply tapping color into the middle. Well, not technically the middle on slightly upper, some middle and somehow in an area where I want the center of the rose to be. And I'm just letting it blend naturally. Subtle value shifts are what create the venter sharpness. Now we'll strengthen the composition. Using darker green, begin adding stems and deeper leaves around the flowers. Focus more on the inner areas near the vase opening. Darker tones here can help anchor the bouquet and create them. Feel free to add leaves anywhere in the composition. Be expressive here because those expressive strokes can make everything feel more natural. So as we paint this, you will see how this instantly brings more life and movement to our piece. For the final touch, let's ground the vase. Using a soft diluted bluish gray tone, paint a simple horizontal shadow underneath. Keep it light and subtle, just one gentle stroke. You can soften the bottom edge slightly so it fades into the paper. This small detail helps the vase feel stable in space. And that is it for our yellow vintage roses. We built this piece layer by layer, focusing on contrast, softness, and expressive brush work instead of perfection. I hope this project help you feel more confident with layering and working with values. Trust your stroke, let your flowers stay imperfect and full of character. I can twait to see your beautiful roses in the project gallery. 7. Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for joining me in this class. I hope these expressive floral projects reminded you that painting doesn't always have to be perfect. It can be soft, emotional, and free. Sometimes the most beautiful artworks are the ones that reflect how we feel rather than what we see. Whether you painted just one project or all three, I hope you walk away with a deeper appreciation for loose strokes, soft colors, and the stories that flowers can quietly tell. If this class help you relax, reconnect with your creativity, or simply enjoy painting again, I'd love to hear about it. Please share your class project in the project section and leave a review in the class review section. Your feedback helps me continue creating classes that speak to your heart and support your growth. And if you would like to keep learning with me, don't forget to follow me here on Skillshare and on Instagram. So you'll be notified when new classes are released. Remember, every brushstroke is a step forward, and every painting, no matter how simple, is a gentle celebration of who you are and who you are becoming. Until next time, keep expressing, keep creating, and I'll see you the next one.