Retro Painted Flowers Tutorial

With nearly every blog post I write, my great-aunt sends me an email letting me know that what I have created “is beautiful … but [she] could never make that!” Well, Aunt Diana, this retro painted flowers tutorial is so simple that — should the urge strike — you can make it. The great thing about it is it looks amazing {and impressively complicated} when you are finished!

To create my flowers, I started with a myriad of acrylic paints.

All of my paints are probably as retro as my painted flowers look … my mom got them for me a couple of years ago at an auction, and they appear to be older than I am {that’s not a joke!}. If you don’t have acrylic paints, don’t let that turn you off from trying out this tutorial. You can get an excellent set for $15 on Amazon {or just purchase some at your local craft store}. Acrylic paint is handy to have around, anyway; and as my set can attest, they last for a considerable amount of time … perhaps decades.

If there is anything you take away from my tutorials, it should be that you don’t have to have fancy equipment to get incredible results. For a palette, I just use an old plastic dinner plate inherited from a college roommate.

Honestly, you can mix your paint on any surface you don’t mind having paint on it … wax paper, an old notebook, an invitation to the wedding of your third cousin twice-removed, whatever.

You’ll also need some brushes.

These are way more than necessary {you really only need a couple}; but I like to have a few of every shape and size on hand. You may ask: “Lindsey, is that electrical tape on one of your brushes?!” Why, yes. Yes, it is. The brush was separating from the shaft, and I am nothing if not resourceful. Like I said, no need for fancy tools.

To get started creating your retro painted flowers, the first thing to do is blend up some colors.

I have chosen blue, green, and white to make a sort of dull teal. A perfect 60’s color.

Just stir up the paints with any brush until your new color surfaces.

Now, it’s time to start painting the simplest flower of your life! I have chosen to use acrylic paper, but that’s just because I had it on hand. You just use any ol’ paper {or surface} you like! Begin with a circle.

Then paint another circle right beside it. Make sure they overlap.

Paint a third circle, making sure it, too, overlaps.

Your fourth circle should make your artwork thus far resemble a four-leaf clover.

Next, use your brush and additional paint to go around the edge of your shape to fill it out a bit.

Congratulations! You’ve created the base of your first flower. And that flower needs a partner, so we’re going to use some brown to paint another flower. Again, start with your circle:

Then add a second circle:

And a third.

Notice I left a tiny bit of white space in between my first and second flower. This is a stylistic thing I have noticed in some vintage acrylic paintings. We’re not trying to realistically represent flowers here {in which case there would be no white between the two}; our goal is just to make cool-looking retro painted flowers.

Next, draw a leaf. I used a color called “Hooker’s Green” to achieve this. {I couldn’t help thinking what a strange name that is.}

I am afraid I neglected to get a good immediate “after” shot of the leaf, but you will see it in subsequent photos.

A token retro color is drab goldenrod. To mix up a shade of that, take some yellow and combine it with a bit of brown.

I am going to use this color to draw a maple leaf-type thing. To achieve this, draw a half heart branching out from your teal flower.

Stack another half heart on top of that.

And top off the two with an almond-shape.

Now, work your way down with another half-heart shape …

… And another half-heart shape, to complete the leaf.

Next, let’s make a branch with leaves {of sorts}. I’m going to have it jutting out under my flowers. To accomplish this, simply paint a slightly curved line.

Paint an almond shape at the end of your line.

Then, proceed to add additional almond shapes to denote leaves.

Next, let’s create a big leaf. To do this, simply outline a large almond shape jutting out from a flower.

Again, try to leave some white space between the flower and the leaf as you fill your shape in.

Now, we’re going to draw a different type of flower; for this flower, I have chosen orange with a little bit of white blended in. Begin with a circle:

Then paint a couple of bent finger shapes off of that circle.

As you can see, here I’m having to paint a continuation of the petal under my small branch and leaves. To accomplish this, I think about what the petal would look like were the branch/leaves not there, then I carefully paint around the branch and leaves to depict that.

One of the great things about using acrylic paint to make these flowers is acrylic dries very quickly. It really depends on how thick you’re laying on your paint, but for me, the acrylic was dry in ~3 minutes. That means it’s easy to go back and add another layer of details!

First, let’s go back to our teal flower. I’m using some blue blended with a smidge of white to put a dot in the center.

Make some quick strokes outward from that middle dot.

You’ll end up with something that looks like this:

Next, add some yellow to the center of your orange-y flower. I made a heart of sorts …

… And I supplemented that shape with little half-hearts.

Use some {vivid} yellow to add drama to your green leaf.

And, conversely, use some of that dark green to add a dark spine to your maple-ish leaf.

And, hey, while you’re at it, why not add some spines to those leaves on the little branch? I decided to add some green brush strokes to my goldenrod-colored regular leaf, as well.

As you can see below, I also painted a dark brown circle over my teal flower to make the center. I love the contrast of dark brown and turquoise!

Add a dark brown circle to your brown flower, as well. You’ll just layer it right on top of there!

To further create contrast between the blue and brown flower, you can add a different pattern to your brown flower. To achieve this, make loose “C’s” resonating out from the center.

To finish spiffying up the appearance of your flora, add some white strokes to your yellow flower.

To give more visual interest and make the paint stroke a little easier, I mixed the white with a teensy bit of water to achieve the light supplement strokes shown in the photo below.

Next, let’s make an interesting piece of botanical whatever-ness. Begin by drawing a clove shape.

Then continue to draw clove shapes until you have a sprig of sorts.

The last thing I’m going to add to this cluster is another little sprig of something. Remember, you can easily paint over dried acrylic to add some dimension. So, first, let’s draw a yellow line with several little shoots:

And then, make a wide “U” shape at the end of your shoots.

Paint a “V” shape within your “U” shape, and you have a cool plant that I have never seen in nature; but it exists in this context!

Now, you know the process, so I’ll quickly walk you through what to do for subsequent clusters of flora. I wanted to add some pink, so I mixed up some red and white; then I made my simple circle flower in a lower corner. If you care about the surface you are working on, slip a piece of scrap paper under your artwork so you don’t get acrylic paint on said surface when you are painting to the edges.

Then, add a leaf to the mix. Again, you’ll outline a big almond shape and then fill it in.

And why not paint in another brown flower?

While you’re waiting for your lower cluster to dry, you can begin painting another cluster. I situated mine at the top right of the paper.

… Then add in the usual elements. Repetition in art is beautiful, which is why I keep repeating shapes and colors.

Now, utilize your teal color to make a big teal flower on the right side of your artwork. Again, use the four circle method; when you reach the edge of the page, try to imagine what the flower would look like if the page didn’t end, and paint it accordingly.

While the color is still on your brush, you might as well add some turquoise to another cluster.

While everything continues to dry, paint in some more leaves.

You can also paint three pink ovals to denote little flower buds {we’ll add stems to these shortly}.

Because everything is now dry, you can now paint the dark centers of your flowers …

… and layer on some color!

Return to your flower buds in order to dab some green on their bases …

… And add a stem.

Then, throw another circle/clove/unknown sprig into the mix!

And keep painting until you like what you have!

I really love how these retro painted flowers turned out. As I painted, I thought of many ways I could use the final product — ways that you could use your painting, as well!

You could:

• Send it as a postcard
• Use it as a fabric design via a website like spoonflower.com
• Use it as part of your business card or calling card design
• Make a series and frame them on your wall
• Use it to make anything on a site like Zazzle.com {retro chic smartphone case, anyone?}

… And I’m sure you can think of other, more creative ways to use such a neat design!

You know I’m all about the gifs lately, so here’s one that showcases the process from start to finish:

As you probably noticed, I took about a gazillion photos while creating these retro painted flowers. Had I not paused to do so every two seconds, this project would have probably taken around 20 minutes. Now that’s instant gratification! The whole thing is really just a series of shapes and simple strokes. I honestly have to say that this is one of the most fun projects I have created in a while … painting with acrylics can be nearly therapeutic, especially when you don’t have to worry about blending colors together on the surface you’re painting on to make something that looks hyper-realistic.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that you make some awesome retro painted flowers of your own this weekend! Maybe you should watch Mad Men while you’re doing it, to really put yourself in “the zone”, or listen to some old music. Or, do as I did, and watch a documentary over Henry VIII. It’s whatever, really. It’s your project, so have fun with it!

Have a great weekend; thanks again for reading!

XO,

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