How to paint expressionist flowers

Bring your own expressionist flower painting to life with this quick lesson that anyone can try.

Step 1. Drawing up the outline

Refer to the image on page 6 and draw it onto the surface with a pencil. Use the following steps:

1) Use a ruler to draw a line for the base of the table.

2) Draw a rectangle for the vase and put curves in for the corners.

3) Use a ruler to draw in the back line of the table top.

4) Draw in the rough shape of where the foliage will lie.

Step 2. Painting the flowers

Put the Dimension acrylic colours listed on page 2 onto an easy clean palette. To apply the paint I use a large brush and scoop up the paint and apply it in big dollops. Keep brushes in colour groups to avoid excess contamination. For example, use a different brush for the whites, reds, greens, and blues and purples. When changing colours just wipe the excess paint off the brush and charge the brush. In this type of painting style, a little colour contamination actually adds interest. There isn't really any order to follow regarding how and when to apply the colours, but I put the greens in first to suggest the leaves near the top of the vase. I then applied the lighter tones like whites, followed by yellows to reds, and then purples to the dark blues. Keep randomly applying the colours until the area is filled. The vase contains the same colours as the flowers but the paint is applied in thinner strokes and there is more greens and blues. Check out the accompanying the video for more tips on colour application.

Step 3. Painting the background

The background is made up of 3 blocks of colour; the front of the table, the top of the table and the wall behind the flowers. Start with the front of the table. Lay on some Paynes Grey and mix Titanium White into the grey on the canvas. Leave it slightly unmixed to give some interest. This will be the darkest grey.

Next scrub some Paynes Grey into the tabletop area to suggest some shadow cast from the vase. While this is drying, create a medium grey from Paynes Grey, a touch of Olive Green and Titanium White. Scrub this into the background around the flowers. Move across the canvas from left to right and add more white to lighten it as you go.

Lastly create a medium grey and paint this onto the table top. Don’t take it into the shadow instead just dry brush the edges.