top of page

How to Paint Tulips

Using the wet into wet technique

 

Watercolour tulips by Kerry Slack.jpg

​

A bright bunch of tulips in a simple glass jar makes a lovely subject for practising the wet into wet watercolour technique. In this painting we focus on soft colour blending for the petals, confident brushstrokes for the leaves, and light, transparent washes to suggest the glass and water. The aim isn’t to paint every detail, but to capture the fresh, lively feel of spring tulips while keeping the painting light, fluid and full of movement.​​

 

Materials

​

  • Watercolour paper (300gsm cold-pressed)

  • Round brush (size 6–10)

  • Pencil & eraser

  • Water jar & kitchen roll

  • Cocktail stick

  • Tulips (optional)
     

Colours (suggested)
 

  • Pink or alizarin crimson, purple, yellow, cad red or vermillion, sap green, paynes grey

  • Tulips come in all sorts of colour varieties - so feel free to get creative with your colour choices

Tulips.jpg
Step 1: Super light sketch
 

  • Start with a very light pencil drawing or trace the sketch below

  • Sketch the round glass jar first so the composition is centred.

  • Draw a soft oval for the top opening of the jar and a curved line for the water level inside.

  • Lightly add the tulip stems emerging from the jar.

  • Sketch the tulip heads as simple oval or teardrop shapes.

  • You can omit the leaves for now.  I find they work better when I place them right at the end of the painting.  It allows me to judge how many and where my painting needs them best

  • Keep the drawing minimal — just enough to guide your painting.
     

Tulips in a vase sketch_edited.jpg

​​​

Step 2: Flower Petals first - Pass one
​​

  • Decide where your light source is, I chose top right.  Keep this in mind when painting, top of flowers - some light colour or white space, underneath will be dark.  Where petals overlap you can add some darker colour to the underneath petal to indicate the shadow from the petal above.
     

  • I painted my tulips in a variety of colours.  Choose the colours for each tulip.  As we are working wet into wet, it's a great opportunity to paint some tulips  a mix of harmonious colours, i.e. red and yellow, pink and purple.  Be careful of complimentary colours at this stage.  When mixed together they desaturate each other and you will loose the colour vibrancy.

    Colour Mixing Guide
     

  • Lay down a concentrated mix of your chosen colour on the dark side of the first petal

  • With a clean clean, damp brush, lay down some water, slightly ahead of this paint, then push the water back into your paint.  You are trying to encourage this paint to flow toward the light side.  Ideally the paint will get lighter as it moves across the page.  Leaving some white space on the top edge of the petal works really well too.
     

  • Use a cocktail stick for petal veins, while the paint is still wet

  • Repeat for all petals.  

  • Remember, that if petals are next to each other and the first is still wet, you will need to start another flower or leave a small gap between the petals, otherwise the two wet petals will flow into each other.

    Handy Hints​

    Avoid dragging the paint across the petal, the petal will end up too dark and you'll loose the light

    If your paint doesn't want to flow across the page you may need to introduce a little extra water into it and gently tap it, to get it moving.

    If you've added too much paint or water, it may rush across your petal.  Use a thirsty brush to mop it up or press gently with a tissue

    If your paint is drying with a hard line, you can add some more paint to the petals edge and encourage this to move across the hard line, very sightly, this will cover it up

    All this takes practice and familiarity with the water/paint ratios.  We practise these wet into wet techniques each week, but in different designs.  Please follow this link if you'd like a simple 15 minute warm up exercise.

​
Step 3:  Build Depth in the Petals

​

Once dry, add a second layer to define the form.

  • Deepen shadows with stronger rose or red tones.

  • Add darker colour where petals overlap.

  • Use gentle brush strokes following the vertical shape of the petals.
     

Step 4: The Glass Jar

​

The glass jar should remain very light and transparent.

  • Use a diluted mix of Payne’s Grey

  • Lightly paint the outline of the jar and add a few lines for the rim

  • Add two ellipsis, one for the waterline and one for the bottom of the jar

  • Add a couple of soft downward shadows 
     

Leave plenty of white space to suggest reflections.

​
Step 6: Paint the Leaves and Stems
 

Mix a fresh green by adding yellow and a touch or pink/red to desaturate the colour to a more nature inspired green
 

Place some clean water, below the waterline in the jar.  Keep it random, we don't want to wet the whole area, just here and there

​

  1. Paint the stems with a light yellow-green wash.  Paint them confidently from flower to bottom of jar, skipping the jar rim.  When your brushstrokes hits the random water bits below the waterline, the paint will bleed out - a simple way to give the impression of water distortions

  2. Add leaves using confident curved brush strokes.

  3. While still damp, introduce darker greens on one side to suggest shadow.

Allow some colour variation — leaves rarely stay one flat green.

4.  Add a whisper of a shadow on the stem, just below each flower
5. To show that one stem is in front of another, deepen the colour of the stem at the back
 

 

Step 6. Final touches

 

Add the finishing touches.

  • Strengthen a few petal shadows for contrast if necessary.

  • Reinforce the jar rim and base with a delicate grey line.

  • Add very light hints of green and pink around the jar
     

Avoid overworking — freshness is part of the charm
 

Tips for Success

​

  • Work light to dark in layers.

  • Let colours blend naturally rather than over-brushing.

  • Preserve highlights by leaving white paper.

  • Keep the glass jar soft and understated so the flowers remain the focus.

  • Less is more

Book Your Spot

bottom of page