Whimsical Watercolor Poppies for Beginners: Paint Loose Florals in 15 Minutes

1. Welcome to Class: Welcome to my class where we're going to paint a whimsical poppy painting in a loose watercolor style. This project only takes about 15 minutes, which makes it perfect for a short practice session or for trying out a new flower or technique without feeling overwhelmed. Hi, I'm Brenda. A watercolor artist who loves the playful imperfection side of painting. My teaching style is relaxed and encouraging. I want you to enjoy the process, not worry about perfection. This class, you'll learn how to bring a group of poppies to life with soft petals, flowing stems, and loose expressive leaves. By the end, I hope you feel inspired to keep experimenting with watercolor. I can't wait to see your class project. 2. Supplies You’ll Need: Welcome to class. I can't wait to get started. For this class, you really don't need anything fancy. Just use whatever supplies you already have. Even if that's kids watercolor paints and scrap paper, what makes it most important is that you're playing and experimenting. I'll be working with Cotton Watercolor paper, Daniel Smith, tube paints and meat and brushes, including a couple small detail brushes. But please don't feel like you have to match my setup exactly. Have. You'll want to have a cup of water, a rag, or paper towel and good lighting. That's all you need to get started. Simple, approachable, and ready to get some fun painting done. Join me in the next lesson when we talk about the colors that we're going to use to create these beautiful poppies. 3. Choosing Paint Colors: In deciding on the colors I'm going to use, I like to start with a scrap piece of paper so I can test out the colors before I begin. I've got a finished sample on my desk to show you where we're going to be heading. But for this painting, I think I'm going to make my poppies a little bit more orange and less red. Of course, your poppies should be any color that makes you happy. No matter what kind of paint you're using, the most important step is to wet them down about 30 seconds at least before you're ready to start painting. I just use a spray bottle, but you could use anything you wanted, including your brush to wet your paints. Now, let me show you the paints and the colors that I'll be using. I'll use two different reds, one leaning towards the pink side, plus an orange and a yellow. I'll be blending these different colors together during my painting. So here I am showing how they're going to look all beautifully blended. I always use three different shades of green. I like to use a yellow green, a grass green, and either a blue green or a brown green. These three different shades adds instant depth and interest. I hope you choose to use a bunch of different greens as well. I'll be using a dark brown with a tiny detail brush for the center of the poppies. I'll use that same brush for the stems and the leaves. I think we're now ready to move on to the next lesson where I can show you how to start putting poppies together onto your piece of paper. 4. Painting the Poppy Flowers: All right, let's paint some poppies. First, load your paint with plenty of water. I'm aiming for that milk like consistency. When you dip your brush in, it'll cling and almost drips, but not quite. If it's too runny, touch your rag. If it's too thick, add a little bit more water. Remember, watercolor is all about seeing what happens when you play with water and paint. We'll start with a simple bud. Make one very easy oval. That's it. Congrats. You've painted your first poppy bud. For a bud that's starting to open, paint two ovals side by side, so they nudge into each other. Keep your light touch and let your water carry some of the paint to the edges. Now, let's paint a poppy that's facing us. I like four petals. Paint each petal with slightly jagged edge so that it feels loose and alive. You can add a bit of white space in between petals or let them bump up against each other. Both choices will be beautiful. Your poppy does not need to match mine. Yours is your art, so it is correct, whatever you do. To far, you may have noticed that I used one warm red. Now I'm going to drop in a second color right into the petals while they're still damp. Try an orange or even a touch of yellow and just let it bloom. This is the magic of wet on wet blending where the colors meld into each other. You could even tilt the paper if you wanted more movement. Keep it flat and soften the edges with a paintbrush. Watercolor is all about. Let's see what happens when you try something new. Go ahead and place on a few more flower heads around your page wherever your eye wants them. Trust your instincts. This is your art. You could put a bigger one here, a smaller one there, vary the sizes and the angles so that they feel natural. If your paint brush starts to get dry, rewet it with some more paint and water. It's called watercolor for a reason. Drop in your secondary color right away so that the colors have a chance to mingle. You can add some easy depth, touch a slightly darker color into the outer edges or into the tiny folds where the petals would overlap. Only need a whisper of that darker pigment and when it dries, you're going to see a beautiful soft gradient that gives your flour a lot of form without very little effort. If you feel like you've added too much, you can rinse your brush, blot it, and lift up a little bit of paint. We're experimenting here, not chasing perfection. When you're ready, add some more buds and some side facing poppies. For a side view, think of a crescent shape with a shallow top edge, and then pull one or two loose petals from that curve. Keep it sketchy and light. Leave a few bits of white paper showing. That sparkle of paper is part of the watercolor charm. Step back and look at your painting. Do you want one flower to stand out as the star? If so, add a bit more depth, maybe a darker shade at the base of the petal or a crisper center. Keep the other flowers softer and lighter so the eye naturally goes to the main bloom. Be yourself. Your version is the right version. When your front facing petals are no longer shiny, but a little damp, that's a good time to add some centers. You'll want to switch to one of your tiniest brushes that you have, something that you can add some details with. I prefer to use a nice dark brown, almost black color. And I'm going to touch the center of the flowers and make a little cluster in the middle. Let a few tiny dots or short spokes radiate outwards. And if you see that the center is bleeding too much, wait a moment and dry your brush or lift it. It's all about a balance. Join me in the next lesson while we talk about the stems and these beautiful leaves that we're going to create. 5. Adding Stems, Leaves, and Details: Now that our little flowers are in place, let's bring them to life with some stems, leaves, and some final details. For this lesson, I'll be using my tiny little detail brush. If you have a rigor brush, that's even better. Truly, though, any small tipped brush will do. Remember, it's not about the tools, it's about the practice and play. I like to mix up several shades of green and test them on a scrap paper before I begin. Once I find the tone I like, I start to add stems. Poppy buds grow upside down, which makes them fun to paint. Begin right at the top of your bud and arch your stems over. Don't stress about making them perfectly straight. Nature isn't straight. Let your stems wobble and bend. If one passes behind another flower, simply lift up your brush and continue the line on the other side. It's an easy way to add depth. Try using two or three greens here, so your stems feel varied and alive. Now, let's add some leaves. I want you to hold your brush way up near the top of the handle. About the last 20% of the handle. This trick will take away your control, which is exactly what we want. Just let the brush dance across the paper, make quick swiggles and jiggles, add a few wisps, and then let them fall where they may. That lack of control is what makes the leaves feel organic and spontaneous. It adds a little bit of whimsy to your painting. I'll just give you one word of caution. Stop sooner than you think you should. It's so much fun adding leaves this way that it's actually easy to overdo it. You can always come back in and add more later, but it's very hard to take them away. Let's take a look at how I'm painting these leaves. Do you see how I have my hand all the way at the top of the brush? I'm dipping into several different colors of green. I'm just letting it dance across the page without any plan, mixing just the right shade so that I have lots of depth and texture in my painting. Adding some jagged edges here, some squiggles there. You've got this. I know it's intimidating, but it's the lack of control that makes this so much fun. Just breathe through it and let yourself go. You are going to discover how much fun this actually is. Remember, yours will look different than mine. Just like mine looks different than my first one that I did. Now let's add some whimsical outlines. Again, I'm holding my brush up high on the handle so my lines stay loose. Use that same small brush and lightly outline some of the flower heads and buds. Let the line wander outside the petals onto the white paper, make it jagged, maybe just half a outline, or even just a broken edge. There's no right way to do this. If this doesn't suit your style, you can skip this altogether. Remember, it's your art. Do what makes you feel happy. Before we add some splatter as a finishing touch, the painting needs to be completely dry. I'm going to use a height gun, but you could use a hair dryer or just let it naturally dry. Once everything is dry, load your brush with very watery paint. Back to that milky consistency and tap it gently over the painting. I splattered it with orange and yellow to tie in my flowers. Little bursts of color and movement and energy, almost like the petals are floating off the page. From here, you can decide if you'd like to add any final touches, maybe deep in the centers with more dark dots or add another leaf or two. Let your eye guide you. These small playful details will add so much character to your finished piece. That's it. For this section in our final class, I'll walk you through how to wrap up everything and enjoy your completed painting. I really hope you take a picture of your finished painting and upload it to the class so that we can all enjoy the art that you made, even if it looks completely different than mine. It's your art and I'm so proud of you. 6. Framing and Finishing Touches: Wrap up and take a look at the finished paintings. Here on the left is my paint practice painting, which turned out a little bit different in color from the one I created for this class. And that's the beauty of watercolor. No two paintings will ever be the same. I suspect your version will look different from mine, too, and that's wonderful. I hope you'll be brave and share your work with us in the class project. We're here to support you, no matter what level you're at. One fun tip is to use a mat to frame your painting. If you painted larger than your mat, you can move it around until you find the section you love most. See how shifting it changes the focus. Decide what you want to highlight and what can sit behind the mat, and don't forget to sign your artwork. That little signature of yours says, Yes, I made this and it's worth celebrating. I can't wait to see what you have created. 7. Next Steps and Stay Inspired - Follow for More Classes: Thank you so much for joining me in this class. I'd love to see what you created. So don't forget to upload your painting in the class project section and leave me a note or a comment. I truly enjoy connecting with you. You can also follow along for more of my watercolor work on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tik Tok. You can find me at my handle at Brenda's dot eight.