This golden poppy watercolor and gouache painting kit contains everything you need to paint this stunning piece in less than an hour! Inspired by my love of my native state California and it’s iconic state flower and my love for gold paint and everything sparkly!
Color Palette:
-Naples Yellow
-Viridian Green
-Hooker’s Green
-Vermillion
-Red
-Gold Gouache
You May Also Want:
-Paper towels
-Paint Palette
-Cup of clean water
-Extra watercolor paper for practice
-Fine tip brush or gold pen
1. Carefully remove the plastic wrapping off of paint dot card making sure to pull directly up. The Hooker’s green doesn’t completely harden on the dot card, so be careful to not pull the paint off and mix it with the other colors. After filling your water brush, dab some clean water on each of the color dots except gold to activate them and soften them. We will add the gold at the end so we don’t need to wet it yet.
2.Starting with the flower centers apply an even wash of Naples Yellow, don’t worry about it being too concentrated, a little see through is great. Once the paint is down don’t fuss with it too much or it will pull a little of the ink of the paper. If that happens, don’t worry this is just the background and will have gold painted over it. Let dry completely.
3. While the flower centers are drying you can paint the leaves. For this painting we are going to paint the stems and the leaves with two different colors; the leaf on the left is painted with two layers of Hooker’s Green and the right stems and leaves are painted with Viridian Green. Hooker’s Green is not super opaque so it helps to add more than one layer, just make sure the previous layer is dry before adding on top! You can see from the pictures above the difference between one and two layers of Hookers Green. Let stems and leaves dry.
4. Going back to the poppies, paint the inside of the petals with a layer of Vermillion Orange and let dry. Next paint the outer edges of the poppy’s petals in Geranium Lake Red and let dry.
4. Now for the best part - the gold!! Add a couple of drops of water to the dried dot of gold gouache and mix well. The more mixed the more gold your painting will be. For this step it may help if you have a fine tipped brush, if not use this waterbrush tip carefully to outline edges of petals, leaves, and stems. Paint a star-shaped pattern in the flower center and then add dots surrounding the center. If you have a fine tipped brush or gold pen you can add fine lines radiating from center to dots surrounding.
5. Step back and admire your work, great job! Give to a friend or family, turn into a card, or frame and hang in your room to add some golden fun to your room!
General Tips:
Always use clean water when laying down a water before adding color. A hint of left over color will change the look of the painting. Use paper towel to make sure brush is clean in between colors.
It is super important to allow elements to fully dry before moving to next step. This is especially important between layers on the leaves with Hookers Green. If you paint the next layer before the first layer is dry it will be hard on the paper and you won’t get a lot added color. You do not need a lot of water or paint and this will allow the elements to dry faster.
Make sure the gold is really well mixed with water before painting. The better the paint is mixed with the water, the more sparkle!