By Sofia Alvarez 
Arts & Crafts
Knit a Chunky Beginner Scarf
5 steps180 min Beginner
By Sofia Alvarez 4.8
Relax with a loose, forgiving watercolor flower. No drawing skill required: you will learn to wet the paper, load the brush and let the pigment bloom by itself.
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1 Step 1
Tape your paper to a board so it will not buckle. Fill one jar with clean water for mixing and one for rinsing. Squeeze a little pink and a little green into your palette and let them soften for a minute. Good paper does half the work, so choose watercolor paper over printer paper if you can.
Pro tip: Use one jar for rinsing and one for clean water. It keeps your colors bright.
2 Step 2
With a pencil held loosely, sketch a rough circle for the flower head and a curved line for the stem. Do not add petals in detail. Watercolor is about suggestion, and heavy pencil lines show through.
Pro tip: If you can see your pencil clearly after painting, you pressed too hard. Use a light touch.
3 Step 3
Touch clean water to the petal area first, then drop pink pigment into the wet patch and watch it bloom. Add a deeper shade near the center with a more concentrated mix. Work quickly while the paper is shiny wet and resist fixing it. The imperfections are the charm.
Pro tip: More water means paler and softer. More paint means stronger. Test on a scrap first.
4 Step 4
With the tip of the brush, pull a confident stem line in green. Press the brush down and lift it for leaf shapes. Let the leaves overlap the stem, and touch a little yellow into wet green for natural variation. Step back, then stop. Over-painting is the most common beginner mistake.
Pro tip: When you think it is almost done, put the brush down. Walk away for ten minutes.
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Sofia Alvarez
Textile and watercolor artist
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