Every time I make a tutorial like this watercolor cactus + quote artwork, I wonder why I don’t make more watercolor pieces. There’s a certain satisfaction in watching a blank piece of paper transform into a vibrant, eye-catching work of art! I know that many people find watercolors to be intimidating, but there’s a secret to using them: embrace mistakes and run with them! Watercolor seems to have a mind of its own, and that’s the basis of its beauty. Understand that, and you’ll enjoy making artwork like this. Here’s how to do it:
1. Cut Out a Piece of 5″ x 7″ Watercolor Paper
Start by taking your favorite watercolor paper and cutting it down to 5″ x 7″ (127 mm x 178 mm). If you don’t have any watercolor paper handy, drawing paper should work!
If you would prefer to make this quote artwork project in your sketchbook journal, you can skip this step!
2. Trace Around the Printable Cactus Template
I wanted the focus of this quote artwork tutorial to be on the watercolor and the lettering rather than illustration. For that reason, I drew the cactus for you! You can find the printable cactus template for free by clicking here.
You can print out this template on whatever paper you have in your printer right now!
Once you download the template, print it out. Line up your 5″ x 7″ piece of watercolor paper with the guidelines on the template. Then, put the template and the watercolor paper against a sunny window or a light box. You should be able to see the template through the watercolor paper, allowing you trace over it with a pencil!
If you don’t have a printer, you can always use your computer screen as a DIY light box! You can see an example of how to do that in the Do You Need a Light Box? post.
Once you’re finished, your watercolor paper should look something like this:
Use your pencil to trace as lightly as you can! You don’t want dark pencil lines to show through your watercolor in the finished piece.
3. Paint the Cactus
Now that you’ve got your cactus outline, it’s time to bring it to life with watercolors! Start by moistening two shades of green: one light green and one dark green.
I’m using the “Adventure Set” from Greenleaf & Blueberry for this tutorial I love its earthy, vibrant colors.
Use the light green tone and a medium-sized paintbrush (size 2 would be good) to fill in the entire cactus.
Don’t paint the flowers yet! We’re just working on the green parts of the cactus for now.
While the green paint is still wet, use the dark green paint to fill out the left edge of each part of the cactus. Making the left edge darker implies that we have light coming from the right, resulting in shadows.
See the large piece of the cactus in the background that’s the second from the right? Try to use your dark green paint to make that entire piece a little bit darker than the rest of the pieces.
Okay, now, this is my favorite botanical watercolor trick: use a dark, earthy purple for shadows! Again, try to make sure your dark green paint is still moist, and add a purple edge everywhere that you added dark green. The deep purple shadows will help to give the cactus dimension! If you don’t have a purple, feel free to experiment with a dark brown or a black tone.
In addition to adding purple to the left edges of the cactus, you may want to add it in other places. Feel free to experiment! If you don’t understand how to blend watercolors, try reading Painting with Watercolors for Beginners.
Wait for your paint to dry to the touch (~5 minutes), then use a small paintbrush to add little triangles of your dark green tone to random parts of the cactus. The triangles represent spines!
I used a size 1 brush to paint these spines, but any small paintbrush you have on hand will work!
4. Paint the Flowers
Once you’ve painted the cactus’ spines, you can move on to painting its flowers. Start by filling in the bottom half of each flower with a golden yellow tone.
This sunny yellow complements the elegant greens in the cactus. We’ll repeat this tone again in the pot!
Before the yellow dries, fill in the rest of the flower with a vivid red.
Try to blend the red into the yellow!
5. Paint the Pot
At this point, you’re going to tie together the colors that you used in the cactus by using them to paint the pot. Start by using the same yellow from the flowers to paint a solid “W” shape like the one shown below:
This solid “W” shape should start at the left side of the pot and extend almost all the way to the right side.
For this next step, you’ll want to work fast! While the yellow is still moist, fill in the blank triangle on the bottom left side of the pot with the vivid red that you used for the flowers. While that red is still wet, blend your earthy purple into it. Then, use the purple to fill in the entire right side of the pot and some of the top edge.
It’s easiest to paint the pot with a medium-large paintbrush, like a size 3.
The secret to making the pot is to work while the paint is wet. You’ll notice that colors bloom and bleed into each other, and that’s exactly what you want! Don’t be afraid to add a little more yellow here, or touch of red or purple there. Overall, you want the pot to be fairly dark so white text will show up well over it.
6. Paint the Soil
Your last step here is to add color to the soil! First, start by filling it in with a gray tone.
If you don’t have a gray tone, you can make one by mixing a high ratio of water to a black tone.
Wait for the gray to dry slightly (~3 minutes), then use a small paintbrush to add dots of black to the gray. Since the gray is semi-moist, the black should blend in just the right amount!
The combination of gray and black here serves to resemble soil!
7. Add Your Quote
The last thing missing in this quote artwork is, of course, an inspirational quote! I think that “Bloom where you are planted” is appropriate here. It goes with the blooming cactus theme, and it conveys a nice, optimistic message!
I used Roman Style hand-lettering for “BLOOM” and “PLANTED” and Kaitlin Style calligraphy for “where you are”.
Once your piece has dried completely (~10 minutes), I’d recommend drawing a light draft of your quote with a pencil (or — preferably — a white mechanical pencil) directly over the watercolor. Then, grab some opaque white ink like Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White. Use a block lettering style like Roman for “BLOOM” and “PLANTED”, and use whimsical all-lowercase Kaitlin Style calligraphy for “where you are”. The lettering and calligraphy doesn’t have to be meticulous: in fact, imperfection will add to the artistic feel of the piece!
What you do with the artwork now is up to you! You can frame it for display in your home, put it on a bulletin board, send it as a card, or give it to a loved one as a gift! No matter what you choose to do with it, be proud of the work and creativity that went in to making it.
I hope that you enjoyed this watercolor cactus + quote artwork tutorial. Of course, if you have any questions about it, you should feel free to ask in the comments! Don’t forget, too, that the giveaway for the Ultimate Modern Calligraphy Kit ($75 value) is running until April 2nd. If you haven’t entered yet, you can visit the giveaways page to do so!
Thanks very much for reading, and have an amazing, artistic weekend!
Warmly,
Thank- you for the best tutorials for the best card ideas and th best gift ideas that will certainly be treasured for years to come!
Hi, Lindsey!
Thanks for sharing! I love this card!! I am having trouble with getting my formation correct for my letters… do you have any tips?I don’t know if it has something to do with the pen I’m using. Thanks a lot!!
Hi Liz! Have you tried making a pencil draft of the letters first? That could really help! If that’s not the problem, I’ll be glad to answer if I have more details — what do you mean by you can’t get the formation correct? 🙂
I made this Card for my daughter, she liked it very much. Thank you I am also in your beginner class, The letters are very hard for me but love the drawing.
Thanks for such a beautiful tutorial! I have several small cacti that I can’t wait to paint!
Thanks for this guide to paint the cactus. It’s really nice. I’ve just started to work with watercolor, so this tutorial is very helpfull!.
Oh my gosh… LOVE LOVE LOVE! So cute and elegant. The step-by-step applications and specifics on blending and timing is super helpful. Thank you! 🙂
Such a nice work! I’ll try to paint it on my own when I’ll have more free time.
I want to try this soon!!!
The lettering here is so beautiful! I love the contrast between that brown-red pot and the white ink, great work!
Great tutorial, especially the hint about using dark purple in the green shadows of the cactus, looks really organic!
I love this tutorial. I can’t wait to send a note to my kids and they can discover that their mom’s into art again.
I love this! I’m planning on trying this out with my kids this weekend!
Thanks for a great tutorial! I especially like the watercolor part.
I’m going to share this with my future daughter-in-law! I gave her a little travel watercolor set last week and I know she would love your easy instructions and she adores cacti!! Thanks for sharing!
I love this tutorial!! Seems so easy to follow i’m defently going to try it!!! Thanks for the inspiration!! 🙂
What a great tutorial. Definitely inspired me to start painting with calligraphy added to it.
Thank you for the clear tutorial!
I love watercolour plants: these cacti are amazing!
I am looking forward to trying this. I love your watercolor tutorials as much as the calligraphy!
I absolutely love this! Ive been really trying to work on my watercolor skills.
This is so charming! And so easy. Thanks for the tip.
I’m living for watercolor tutorials! Have you done/could you do one with the water brush pens that hold a water reservoir? I’ve been trying and haven’t been able to figure out the best use.
I have four of those water brushes, but haven’t really used them! I should give it a shot and write a tutorial — good suggestion! 🙂
Thank you for the tutorial. Looks like fun to try!
Love this! It’s been a super long winter here in MT! I love all things cacti and succulents! Thanks for the inspiration!
I love Greenleaf and Blueberry watercolours. Just got Jess’s Explorer’s set. Loved the personalized note attached. I’m so excited to try out my calligraphy with Violet Hematite!!
The calligraphy looks amazing! Love this tutorial, will defiantly try it!
Thanks so much for the printable! Until today I had never tried to “light box” through water colour paper because I just didn’t think it would be possible. Can’t wait to give this one a go 🙂
It’s a simple but great idea, and you’ve explained it well.
Hi Lindsey Your water color Cactus is so nice!!!!! I just love the colors. I do not have a printer so how do I get your template?? Water color painting is new for me but i am enjoying everything I am learning especially the calligraphy, very exciting!!!!! I know how to draw and paint so this is nice. Let me know how I can get your template ok?? Thank you for your wonderful work and I enjoy learning from you!!!! :):) Thank you Sue B.
Hi Sue! You can download the template by clicking here and going through the checkout process. Then, open the file, and put your piece of paper directly over the cactus on your computer screen. The computer screen will act as a makeshift lightbox, as shown in one of the last photos in this blog post!
Thanks for the Cactus Tutorial! You make this look so easy!
Your instructions in this tutorial are so easy to understand. I appreciate knowing the why I am doing something and the knowledge of when to work quickly to leverage the wet paint bleeds and bending. I can’t wait to try this!
I had never thought to use a window instead of a light box.
This cactus right here is so pretty! Thanks for the step by step tutorial. Hope to be able to try it out soon!
With the light on the cactus from the RIGHT, I was surprised at your putting the DARKER paints on the pot’s RIGHT side. It works, because the yellow on the left pops the eye to the begining of the quote, but I was surprised. VERY surprised, in fact. Were you working from an actual pot with that color pattern or did you just invent it from your memory and artistic understanding?
Hi Nancy; what an astute observation! I actually didn’t add the darker paint on the right of the pot to signify a shadow. 🙂 The look that I was going for is one of a glazed pot with blended hues that happens to have its darker color on the right side! The only thing I really did to give the pot dimension was to honor its circular contour. Good eye!
I am new to calligraphy but I love water color. I can’t wait to try this project.
Love this!!! Definitely going to try this out sometime! 😉
As usual, this is a lovely blog post… and fun project. Thanks.
Awesome painting!
So cute!
I can’t quite remember how I found TPK but this is the best and finest blog for art stuff I have come across. I know it is all relevant and depends on what you like doing but writing has always been something I love – the actual putting pen to paper and making words or letters. And calligraphy has been something I’ve wanted to do/learn for a long time. So to find someone who is passionate about pens (stationery cupboard!) and ink and cursive writing (joined up writing which so many people don’t do anymore or perhaps never learned) combined with making it beautiful has been a wonderful thing for me. I spend happy hours though not enough of them writing and copying and trying to make my lettering look something like yours, Lindsey, and I’m a long way off it looking anything as good as yours but the process is wonderful and I love it. Thank you so much for this blog. You have made an Aussie girl very happy.
You always do such beautiful artwork! Thanks for the tutorial!
Aaaah, I love it! How I wish the Bleedproof miracle was available in Chile! (or the mailing fares weren’t so ridiculously high XD)
Your work is beautiful, thank you for the step by step. I cannot wait to try this !!!
I love these fun little tutorials you post! Your instructions are great and easy to follow. My cactus came out great and I did paint the pot a little lighter because I don’t have white ink right now and so will need to use a darker color on this first card for the lettering. Thanks for a nice rainy Saturday project!
Painted cactus now to letter it, Then i will send a picture of it.
The hardest part is the lettering for me.
Dot