For the project you will be creating stylized watercolor flower illustrations on postcard size paper. The final paintings can be sent to friends or family in the mail, traded with an artist buddy, or kept in your possession if you can't be parted from your miniature masterpiece.

In the class I break the project down into the following sections; sourcing inspirational images for painting, creating small thumbnail sketches of flowers, sketching our flowers on our final watercolor paper, mixing and testing a color palette to use for your painting, practicing our brush techniques, creating a small stylized floral watercolor painting on a postcard size paper, embellishing the painting using watercolor pencil, marker, pen or oil pastel and finally how to send your work out so it gets to the recipient in one un-creased piece.

These are the steps you will go through to create your final watercolor flower postcards:

Find inspiration for the floral painting out in the world by taking pictures or go online and save pictures
Create a folder or Pinterest board to save source material
Sketch stylized flowers and leaves (you can use the thumbnail template I provided below) based on the images you have gathered
Prep watercolor paper by cutting down to 4"x6" (if using postcard paper skip this step)
Transfer the sketches to the final watercolor paper
Mixing paints and testing colors on scrap paper (using the color wheel download provided below)
Practice brush and painting techniques on scrap paper
Paint flower painting on final watercolor paper
Embellish flower painting using watercolor pencil, marker, pen or oil pastel
Prepare the final painting to send in the mail (you can skip this step if you would like to keep it)
Send your painting out into the world!

As you work through each of these steps you will build upon the skills from the previous lessons and you will be fully prepared to tackle your final floral painting.

Documenting your Progress and Uploading Images to the Project Gallery:

Once you have completed each step be sure to document your progress by taking pictures or scanning your work. When you have finished your final watercolor Illustration be sure to upload that and the progress images to the the "My Project" section in the projects tab. The images should be formatted as jpgs. You will first select your cover image which should be sized as 690 x 388 pixels. The cover image will be what shows on your profile so you may want to use the image of your final watercolor illustration as your cover. Then to add images of your progress you will click the image button under add content, those images should be formatted as 1000 x 690 pixels and be no bigger than 2MB. Let me know if you have any questions on uploading your work and will be happy to assist.

Project Resources:

Materials List

Color Wheel

Flower Painting Inspiration Pinterest Board

Flower Thumbnail Sketch Worksheet

Additional Color Theory Resources

Notes Sheet

Lisa W

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