20+ Best Watercolor Flowers Tutorials & Videos

20+ best step by step easy watercolor flowers tutorials & videos on how to paint roses, peonies, hydrangeas, sunflowers, lavender bouquets, & more!

Want to learn how to paint watercolor flowers? You are in for a treat!

We have selected 20+ of our favorite watercolor flower painting tutorials and videos to help you learn to paint a wide variety of beautiful and easy watercolor flowers, even if you have never painted before!

We will start with beginner friendly tutorials with basic watercolor techniques, and move on to more challenging intermediate level tutorials for a wider range of creative expressions. 

Materials and tools to paint watercolor flowers

• watercolor paper : Strathmore watercolor papers are my favorite to use. I like the cold press 300 or 400 series.
• brushes: I like using soft watercolor brushes with a nice pointed tip like these , and this set. They are great for watercolor washes, and for finer details.
• watercolor paints:  this is a good basic set, and this is a fabulous artist grade set with really concentrated pigment and gorgeous colors, and a palette that can be used to mix colors. This palette with lid is a great choice too.

Easy watercolor rose for beginners

In this tutorial you will learn some essential watercolor techniques such as brush strokes (how to use thicker strokes to paint larger petals starting from the center of the rose) wet on wet, and wet on dry techniques, and 3 ways to paint a watercolor rose. Full tutorial here.

Another important part when you learn to paint watercolor flowers is how to paint watercolor leaves. Here’s a collection of 12 great tutorials on how to paint watercolor leaves!

How to paint watercolor flowers with transparent layers

This is a great exercise to practice mixing watercolor with water in different ratios, and use one color to create different effect with many transparent shades and layers.

How to paint watercolor tulips: great tutorial for beginners

Watercolor tulips are some of the easiest flowers to paint. It’s also a great opportunity to practice using lots of new colors and how to use white spaces in a watercolor painting. 

Easy watercolor poppy flowers with wet on wet technique

The wet in wet watercolor technique is perfect for painting large free form flowers such as poppies. There’s something magical about how the colors flow and blend in organic ways, and how the random splatters and dots add more textures to a painting.

Watercolor poppies for beginners

You can incorporate the wet on wet technique with the layering technique to paint these beautiful watercolor poppy flowers. Just by changing how much water to use when mixing watercolor pigments, you can create such different effects with even just one color!

How to paint peonies in watercolor

Peonies are such beautiful showy flowers that are popular subjects in art throughout history.

To paint watercolor peonies, it’s very helpful to use large soft brushes like these, and practice the wet in wet technique and a variety of brush strokes. These soft watercolor brushes with a nice pointed tips are great for creating nice brush strokes!

Painting watercolor Anemone flowers

One of the challenges for beginners when learning watercolor is the fear of using dark colors.

This watercolor anemone is a beautiful example of how to use dark colors and light washes to create contrasts in a painting. The large flower petals are painted with wet paint and the stamens are painted with dark color dots.

Loose floral watercolor tutorial

When you paint multiple flowers, it’s helpful to have an idea of basic compositions, so each element feels natural in the finished painting. 

Mixed bouquet watercolor flowers tutorials

When painting loose floral watercolor, I find it easier to paint the larger flowers first, followed by the smaller flowers, branches and leaves. Full step-by-step tutorial here!

How to paint watercolor wildflowers

Once you learn to paint some simple watercolor flowers, it is a great idea to paint from nature sometimes.

There are so many beautiful wild flowers that are unique to our environments and waiting to be discovered through our art!

Mixed watercolor flowers tutorials

When you paint watercolor loose florals, practice mixing different shades of greens to paint the leaves. This will maybe the painting look much richer in color.

Painting watercolor sunflowers 

There are many different ways to paint the same flowers. Experiment and find which style you like better.

For example you can paint sunflowers in a more free and painterly style, or a more realistic style like below.

How to paint realistic sunflowers

Realistic style watercolor paintings are usually created with a light pencil line sketch, followed by layers of dry brush watercolor.

Realistic watercolor rose tutorial

If you like a more photo realistic painting style, this tutorial will show you how to layer shades of paint to create depth and details.

Watercolor Hydrangea flowers tutorials

Hydrangeas are lovely garden flowers. They may look challenging to paint, but with a little patience and practice, they are not difficult at all.

Let’s explore some different ways to paint watercolor hydrangeas. The first tutorial compares the wet on wet vs wet on dry technique, both are important foundations in watercolor painting.

A really helpful tip when painting watercolor Hydrangeas is to keep the overall rounded shape of the flower, while you fill in details of the smaller 4-petal flowers.

This pink Hydrangea watercolor is a great example of how to keep the larger shape accurate, and be more free when painting the smaller details.

Special watercolor techniques: bubble paint Hydrangeas

It is fun to try some unusual techniques. If you can blow soap bubbles, you can create this bubble Hydrangea painting! It’s also a great activity for kids. Recipe and tutorial here!

Paint watercolor Forsythia flowers with a straw

Forsythias are some of the first flowers to bloom in spring. Check out our easy and fun tutorial on how to paint watercolor Forsythia flowers with the help of a drinking straw!

Painting watercolor flowers in a mason jar or vase

We all love flowers, and it is hard to resist a beautiful bouquet in a vase or glass mason jar. 

In these two video tutorials by Ellen Crimi-Trent, you can learn different ways to paint glass jars filled with water.

The key to paint glass jars filled with water is to mix a few shades of bluish gray colors that are not too saturated, and use your brush strokes to mimic the reflections on the glass.

All these watercolor paintings would make such beautiful wall art, or greeting cards for birthdays and Mother’s Day.