Table of Contents
Each watercolor flower bouquet here comes as a pair: a finished painting to copy and a clean printable outline to trace, so you never have to draw the bouquet yourself before you can paint it. Print the outline at the size you want, then transfer it to good watercolor paper by holding both sheets against a sunny window or a light pad, or by slipping a sheet of graphite transfer paper between them and tracing the lines through.
Once the lines are on your paper, prop the finished example beside you and work through the colors in the order given for that bouquet. Every shape in these twelve designs is big and simple on purpose, so there is nothing fiddly to trace and nothing fiddly to paint around.
Using these images: free for personal projects such as printing, coloring, cards, journals and gifts. Handmade items that include them may be sold up to 30 pieces per design. More than that is commercial use and is not permitted, and neither is selling or sharing the images themselves or passing them off as your own. Please ask before any other use.
Tulip Bouquet Wrapped in Paper
Wash the paper cone first in a thin wash of raw sienna, leaving the fold lines as a touch of white paper showing through. Paint each tulip head in one flat color, pink, yellow or orange, then drop a slightly deeper shade of the same color into the base of the petal while it is still wet so it blends upward on its own. Add the leaves in sap green with a single stroke per leaf, no need to go back over them. The paper cone’s folded top edge, painted as a few confident straight lines, is the detail that reads as finished.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow,Permanent Rose,Cadmium Orange,Sap Green,Raw Sienna
Three Roses Tied With String
Build each rose from the center out: a small spiral of deep red in the middle, then a looser ring of lighter red-pink petals around it, letting the two shades meet and blend while wet. Keep the three roses slightly different in tone so one reads brighter than the others. Paint the string in a thin line of burnt umber, with a small loop and two trailing ends for the bow. The one touch that finishes it is a tiny unpainted highlight left on the curve of each rose’s outer petal.
Palette: Alizarin Crimson,Permanent Rose,Burnt Umber,Sap Green
Jar of Daisies
Leave the daisy petals as bare white paper and only paint a pale grey-blue shadow along one side of each petal to give them shape. Drop a strong dot of cadmium yellow into each flower center while the paper is dry, so the edge stays crisp. Paint the jar in a very light wash of blue-grey, leaving a vertical strip of white paper near the edge to suggest glass catching the light. This small reserved highlight on the jar is what makes it look like glass rather than a plain shape.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow,Payne’s Grey,Sap Green,Cerulean Blue
Beginners can skip the shadow on the petals entirely and leave them fully white; confident painters can add a second, slightly darker grey to the petals that overlap for more depth.
Peony and Eucalyptus Posy
Wet each peony shape fully with clean water first, then drop in blush pink at the center and let it spread toward the edges on its own, keeping the outer rim the palest. While that dries, paint the eucalyptus leaves in a grey-green mix, varying the amount of grey from leaf to leaf so they are not identical. Once the peonies are dry, add a few short curved strokes of a deeper pink to suggest the ruffled petal edges. This layer of darker strokes over the dry wash is what gives the peonies their soft, full look.
Palette: Quinacridone Pink,Permanent Rose,Payne’s Grey,Sap Green
Sunflower Bunch
Paint the petals in a flat wash of golden yellow first, then while still slightly damp touch a little orange into the base of each petal near the center so the color warms toward the middle. Paint the center in burnt umber with the brush loaded quite dry, stippling lightly rather than brushing smoothly, to suggest the texture of seeds without drawing each one. Add the stems and leaves in a strong sap green. For the full step by step on building up a single sunflower head, the watercolor sunflower tutorial walks through the same petal and center technique in more detail.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow,Cadmium Orange,Burnt Umber,Sap Green
Lavender Bundle
Paint the stems first in a grey-green, long and slightly curved, then load the brush with violet and dab short closed strokes up each stem to build the flower spikes, working from the top down so they taper naturally. Keep the dabs loose and slightly uneven in size rather than lining them up perfectly. Paint the ribbon in a simple flat dusty pink with a small knot. The slight variation in purple tone from spike to spike is what keeps the bundle from looking stiff.
Palette: Ultramarine Violet,Payne’s Grey,Sap Green,Quinacridone Pink
Wildflower Bouquet in a Milk Bottle
Give each wildflower its own flat color, pale pink, soft blue, white left as paper, so the mix reads as varied without any single bloom needing detail. Paint the milk bottle in a thin wash of pale blue-grey, leaving the neck and one edge as bare white paper for the glass highlight. Add stems in a light green that is slightly different between flowers so the bunch does not look too uniform. For more small, uncomplicated flower shapes like these to borrow from, the delicate field flower ideas are a useful reference.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Quinacridone Pink,Sap Green,Payne’s Grey
Hydrangea in a Jug
Instead of painting each tiny petal, work wet-in-wet across the whole flower head: lay in patches of blue and lilac side by side and let them bleed softly into one another while the paper stays damp. Once dry, flick in a few short darker blue strokes here and there to suggest the gaps between petal clusters without drawing them individually. Paint the jug in pale grey with one deeper grey line along its shaded side for form. This loose blending is what makes a hydrangea quick to paint despite looking full of detail.
Palette: Cerulean Blue,Ultramarine Violet,Payne’s Grey,Sap Green
Try tilting the paper slightly right after laying in the wet colors so they drift and merge on their own; it gives the hydrangea head a softer, more natural blend than brushing the colors together by hand.
Bridal Posy of White Roses
Leave the rose petals almost entirely as white paper and paint only the shadows between petals in a very pale grey-blue, following the curved lines of the outline so each rose keeps its layered shape. Work rose by rose rather than all at once, so the shadow wash stays soft and does not dry with hard edges. Paint the small leaves at the base in a muted green and the ribbon as a flat warm white with grey folds. Because nearly the whole bouquet relies on restraint rather than color, keep the grey shadow washes thin and let the white paper do most of the work.
Palette: Payne’s Grey,Sap Green,Naples Yellow
Cone of Spring Flowers
Give the cone itself a pale wash of dusty pink or kraft tan, then move through the flowers one color at a time rather than one flower at a time: all the yellow daffodils first, then the pink tulips, then the lilac blossoms, so each color stays clean while you work. Keep every flower shape flat with no shading, since the variety of colors is what carries the bouquet. Finish with a few short green strokes for stems peeking just above the cone’s rim. If you want more mixed spring flower shapes to pull from for a bouquet like this, the watercolor spring flower ideas are worth a look.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow,Permanent Rose,Ultramarine Violet,Sap Green,Raw Sienna
Poppy and Wheat Bunch
Paint the poppy petals in a bold flat red, letting the edges stay a little uneven rather than perfectly round, then once dry add a small black center with a few short radiating lines for the stamens. Paint the wheat heads with the brush held almost dry, dragging short upward strokes in golden ochre to suggest the bristled texture without drawing each grain. Add thin green stems tying the two together at the base. The dry-brush texture on the wheat next to the smooth flat poppies is what gives the bunch its contrast.
You Will Need
- a nearly dry brush for the wheat texture
Palette: Cadmium Red,Ivory Black,Yellow Ochre,Sap Green
Mug of Sweet Peas
Each sweet pea is just two or three overlapping curved petal shapes, so paint them loosely in pink, lavender and cream, letting a little of each color bleed into its neighbor while still wet for soft edges. Keep the stems and small curling tendrils thin, painted last in a light green with the tip of the brush. Paint the mug in a flat solid color of your choice with one reserved white highlight down one side. For a few more gentle, small-scale flower subjects in this same loose style, the loose watercolor flowers collection pairs well with this one.
Palette: Quinacridone Pink,Ultramarine Violet,Naples Yellow,Sap Green
What to Do Next
Pick one bouquet, print its outline, transfer it to your paper and work through the colors with the finished example propped beside you. Once it feels comfortable, move on to the next design and build a small set of framed bouquets from this one collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size should I print the outlines at?
Print at standard letter or A4 size for a bouquet that fits comfortably on a quarter or half sheet of watercolor paper. Scale up on a photocopier if you want a larger painting with more room for loose brushwork.
What paper works best for these bouquets?
Cold press watercolor paper of at least 140lb weight handles washes and blending without buckling. Hot press paper also works if you prefer smoother petals with crisper edges.
How do I transfer the outline without a light pad?
Tape the printed outline and your watercolor paper together against a sunny window and trace the lines through with a pencil. A sheet of graphite transfer paper underneath the printout works just as well on a flat table.
Can I color these with pencils or markers instead of paint?
Yes, every outline works just as well with colored pencils or markers. Build petal color in light layers with pencils, or let marker colors sit side by side and blend slightly while still wet for a watercolor-like look.
Do I need to copy the exact colors shown?
No, the palettes given are a starting point, not a rule. Swap in any colors you like, since the bouquet shapes stay the same no matter what colors fill them.
Have any thoughts?
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