Learn to paint simple flowers with alcohol inks!
For beginning inkers, flowers can seem formidable. I hear all of the time, “I can’t paint flowers”. Well, yes you can learn to paint simple flowers with alcohol inks. If you’ve never painted before, flowers are simple shapes put together. Take a look at these reference images I found on pixabay.com. What shapes do you see?
Photo Courtesy of Manfred Richter on Pixabay.com
Image Courtesy of Minka2507 on Pixabay.com
Photo Courtesy of RI Butov on Pixabay.com
Image Courtesy of Pixel2013 on Pixabay.com
Identifying Shapes
Think of stems as straight or slightly curved lines, and leaves and flowers as circles and ovals. The lavender is circles clustered together along the stem. On the other hand, the daisy is oval petals surrounding a circle center. Next, hydrangea is bunches of circles while the leaves are oval. Last, a bird of paradise is simply elongated ovals. Breaking down the flowers into shapes will help you to paint them.
Controlling the Inks:
The next step is controlling the inks. If you want to learn to paint representational paintings, pour your inks in a palette and let the alcohol evaporate. I like to let my inks sit overnight, and in the morning, the ink is dried out. Next, take a brush and wet it in some alcohol or blending solution, and pick up some dried ink from your palette. The amount of blossom from your ink will depend on how much alcohol is in your brush. So, the less alcohol, the thicker the inks are.
I like to keep a piece of scrap paper next to me when I am painting. I can test the inks with my brush to make sure they are the consistency I am looking for, before I commit to adding them to my painting.
Enjoy this quick how to video, and start experimenting with painting simple flowers today!
You may also enjoy creating flowers with an ink blower: