Drawing the Blossoms

• Create your line art before painting the blossoms.
  
  Before you can begin painting your blossoms you must decide on a style and a particular blossom. You can decide to create a realistic painting of a blossom from a photograph. Another idea is to create an Oriental painting of blossoms. Many traditional Japanese paintings feature the sakura, or cherry blossom in the background.
  
  If you are drawing a realistic blossom, simply take note of the general shape of the blossom and mark this out on your canvas or paper with a soft pencil. Add the stem with two curved parallel lines. You can create the small petals with soft curved lines inside your blossom guideline.
  
  If you are creating a more Oriental-inspired painting, the blossoms can have patterned look about them. Draw out the tree with small thin lines and scatter circles across the branches to create a pleasing array of blossom patterns.
  
  

Deciding on a Medium and Painting the Background

• Color the background with colors complementary to the blossoms.
  
  Most traditional Western paintings of flower blossoms are done in oils. Oil paint allows for easy blending and rich colors but can also be very expensive. An alternative to oil paint is acrylic paint which dries quicker than oil. Acrylics are water based, easy to use and inexpensive. If you are painting in a more-traditional Oriental style, you might want to consider using watercolors.
  
  Regardless of what medium you are using, it is always wise to lay down a complementary background color. For instance, if the flowers are light pink or orange, a cool color such as blue will work well in the background. If the flowers themselves are a cool color, a warm color such as red or sunset orange will work well. If you are using watercolors, avoid painting the background over the flower and leave the flower itself blank.
  
  

Painting the Blossom

• Add highlights and shadows to your blossom paintings.
  
  It is generally a wise idea to lay down a mid-tone color on the blossoms. Pick a color that represents a sort of average of the colors in the blossom.
  
  If you are doing this in watercolor, you will need to add a small amount of color to the darkest areas of each petal and slowly pull the paint across the petal. The absence of paint will create highlights.
  
  To create highlights on your blossoms with acrylics or oils, you can add lighter colors to the areas that are directly exposed to light. This is generally the tips and the outer edges of each petal. You can create shadows in any medium by adding a darker hue to the areas less exposed to the light. These can be the inside of the blossom or underneath a petal.