Feel free to use any colors you like for the background! For a darker, more dramatic painting, use rich brown and gold. Want a minimalist painting? It’s totally fine to leave your background white. There’s no need to wait for the background paint to dry before you paint the table.
If you want a different table color, go for it. Try using gray with a touch of black to make your table look metallic, for instance.
Play around with the shape of your vase. You might make your vase wider near the top or cylindrical, for instance. It’s totally up to you where you place the vase in your painting. Position it in the center for a bold look or place it off to one side for a dramatic effect.
For example, sketch your roses so they’re rough circles, make ovals where you want to put tulips, or make 2 concentric circles for sunflowers. If you’d rather paint the flowers freehand, you can skip this step. You can paint a vase that’s full of a single type of flower or go for a mix.
For example, fill in a rose with light pink paint. Then, mix in a little dark purple to make the petals. If you want more of an impressionist style, keep your brush strokes short and choppy instead of blending them together. Use more shades of paint to add highlights and shadows.
For a little variation, give your tulips pointed or frilly tips. Don’t outline the edges—they should be thin.
Some sunflowers have darker centers, especially if they have black seeds. To make a darker center, dip your brush in a little black paint and blend it with the orange. Avoid using pure black, because it looks unnatural.
If your vase is going to be clear, make the stems cross each other as though the flowers have been pushed down into the glass.
The type of brush you use is totally up to you! A flat brush might be useful for stiff tulip leaves while a round brush may be better for rose leaves, for instance.
To make a colorful vase look realistic, decide where light would be hitting the vase. Then, mix a little white into the color you used for the vase and brush it onto that area.
If you painted the table a metallic color instead, you can skip the detail, but do paint the shadow from the vase.
Want to place it on a table? Set the canvas on a tabletop easel or display stand. You can find beautiful easels or stands that match the decor of your room.
