How to paint a big flower in line and wash | Oriental Poppy with Seed Pods

In this Mini Class, I’ll take you through my process for creating a large-scale, loose line-and-wash poppy painting, combining bold coloured-pencil outlines, flowing watercolour and expressive splashes.

I'll show you how I build the painting in layers using my 4-Step Watercolour Method, which is 1) mapping out the lightest colours 2) adding the darkest tones 3) uniting them with the midtones and 4) making final adjustments and adding details.

You’ll see how I use loose, directional brushstrokes to capture the delicate folds of the petals, build contrast around the flower centre, and suggest the textures of the stems, leaves and seed heads. To accentuate the style of this painting, I use bold black paint and dark sketchy pencil lines to bring the drama.

For this painting I'm working big at 30 x 22 inches, but you could paint this as small as 16 x 12 inches. You might notice I'm standing as I paint this. For realistic painting, sitting still helps you stay in control of your paintbrush by keeping your movements small. But for a large, loose painting like this, standing up can help to make your marks looser and inject extra energy into your painting.

I hope you'll enjoy this opportunity to explore a free and expressive approach to botanical watercolour while still paying attention to colour, selected details, tone and form.