37 Sweetest & Simplest Flower Painting Ideas for 2024

Looking for perfect flower painting ideas to welcome the spring season or create a DIY project for a flower-loving friend? Depicting the natural world through swathes of vivid color is one one the best ways to increase your skills and connect with nature and creativity.

Whatever the medium or format you use, flowers and botanicals are some of the easiest and most beautiful subject matter you can find. 

If you're exploring unique flower painting ideas, you may be wondering: What is the easiest flower to paint? What makes a good floral painting?

We’ve rounded up some of the best flower painting ideas, like tips for getting started if you’re a beginner, some cool ideas for diving into the rich history of botanical painting and décor, as well as some perfect ways to introduce young artists to the practice of painting flowers. 

Jump to Section 

• Learn to Paint Flowers Step by Step
• Easy Flower Painting Ideas for Beginners
• Easy Flower Painting Ideas for Kids
• Easy Wall Flower Painting Ideas

Learn to Paint Flowers Step by Step

1. Do a Paint and Sip

A fun and social way to explore flower painting ideas is to partake in a paint and sip session, which offers the chance to create some amazing botanical-inspired artwork with friends while enjoying a few cocktails.

Because flowers are an easy beginning subject matter to master, many paint and sips feature gorgeous florals, lush landscapes and rich still-lifes as their subject matter. Plus, a talented artist will guide you every step of the way!

You can find ample paint and sips in Boston, paint and sips in Portland and paint and sips in Washington, D.C. Wherever you live, you can find paint and sips near you.

2. Take an Art Class

If you’re looking for a bit more guidance and in-depth study of the best flower painting ideas, try enrolling in an art class.

Offered by universities, community centers, art galleries and other organizations, course offerings include watercolor painting for beginners, oil painting for beginners and workshops devoted to various subject matter and paint mediums.

You can find great art classes near you, including art classes in the Bay Area, art classes in NYC and art classes in Houston. 

3. Join Online Artist Tutorials

How do you paint flowers step by step? You can learn by joining some top-rated online painting classes from the comfort of your home.

With an eye toward being beginner-friendly, many artists love showing how to paint by example, with flowers and botanicals often being their favorite subjects. It's the best place to learn tried and true painting tips for beginners.

4. Visit a Botanical Garden

Another great way to find inspiration for your flower painting ideas is to both educate and inspire your endeavor by exploring your subject more deeply.

Botanical gardens and arboretums are common in many areas as a place dedicated purely to plants and flowers. They allow you a chance to both learn about what you want to paint and study blooms up close.

Try spending an afternoon on a cozy bench in a botanical garden sketching out what you see. Better yet, bring along a compact watercolor travel kit to blend and mix colors. You’ll have more flower painting ideas than you know what to do with before the day is over.

5. Visit a Museum

Florals and still-lifes have long been a favorite subject for iconic artists like Monet and Van Gogh. What better way to pay them homage and get a real up-close look at their work than seeing it in person at a museum?

While a digital or printed image can be beautiful, you can learn so much by seeing the pigments and brushstrokes in real life, which often reveals things about the artist’s process, texture and materials. Take a tour and you may find inspiration for your next flower painting idea.

Easy Flower Painting Ideas for Beginners

6. Experiment With Abstract Watercolor

The best advice, if you're looking for easy acrylic flower painting ideas for beginners, is to just dive right in with your brush and start painting.

How do you paint watercolor flowers for beginners? With a small set of watercolors or acrylics, spend some time mixing colors and exploring what shapes you can create on paper or canvas.

Because of their organic shape, simple brush strokes and deepening layers of color can create depth and shadow in completely surprising ways. Experimentation is one of the best ways to learn to paint.

7. Paint a Floral Landscape

Floral landscapes are some of the most gorgeous ways to combine two very popular subject matters, and it's an easy flower painting on canvas idea.

Painting a landscape is one of the easiest beginner-friendly approaches since much can be accomplished with swathes of color, horizontal lines and blending to create the sky and distant trees.

Because the flowers in a landscape are not as detailed as a closeup rendering or still-life, creating a landscape is an easy acrylic flower painting idea for beginners. Consider learning more about the Ophelia painting where John Everett Millais meticulously painted each flower, abundant with symbolism. 

8. Get Up Close and Personal

The opposite of a landscape from a distance is an extreme close-up study. Whether it's poppies or sunflowers, studying the shapes and shadings of a plant or flower up close is an excellent way to get to know it.

Rather than trying to create a photographic representation of the flower as a whole, which can be intimidating for a beginning artist, focus on getting one segment, like a single range of petals, the stem or a single leaf on the canvas or paper. Close focus is a great way to elevate your flower painting ideas.

9. Buy a Botanical Paint by Numbers Set

A great way to start painting flowers with a little guidance and direction is to use a professionally designed art kit.

With all the correct colors and detailed instructions, floral paint-by-numbers kits not only get you primed for freestyling your own flower painting ideas but can also create beautiful works of art you can hang on your wall.

10. Create Abstract or Pop Art-Inspired Blooms

Flower painting ideas need not always render blooms with photographic accuracy. Sometimes, the most beautiful botanicals are candy-colored, abstract or pop-art-inspired.

Try creating poppies from circles and concentric rings on a stem. Or floral bouquets through broad swatches of color or pour painting methods. The unique shapes and colors that hint at real flowers make colorful abstracts great trippy painting ideas.

11. Make Some Nature Prints

For a mixed media flower painting idea, make beautiful prints with some paper, some real stems and blooms cut from your garden, and paint or printmaking ink.

Dip or roll the organic matter through the paint of ink, then press on to your paper. You can also roll over it with a rolling pin or a brayer to get a detailed print. Try grouping pieces of the garden together for beautiful bouquets.  

12. Create Your Own Botanical Coloring Book

You can find downloadable detailed flower painting ideas for free and inexpensively on sites like Etsy. They usually feature intricate configurations of blooms that are perfect for beginners with paints or markers.

Try using a set of watercolor paint markers or watercolor pencils instead of a brush, which often give you a soft and blendable painting effect with a little more control over your strokes.

13. Create Some Painted Pottery

A great way to learn about applying botanicals to surfaces other than paper is to take a pottery class near you.

You will learn all about clay, glazing and painting ceramics, including how to finish your pieces off with beautiful botanical details before firing the finished product. Plan your project with these cute flower pot painting ideas.

14. Make a Collage

Another beautiful way to incorporate real flowers and organic matter into your flower painting ideas is with collages and assemblages. Create a mixed media work that incorporates fragments of ephemera, watercolor, rubber stamps and other mediums.

This flower painting idea will create a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork. It can also be used in art journaling or as a scrapbook spread.

15. Send Scenic Painted Postcard

A unique variation on "Wish You Were Here" sentiments is carrying a set of sturdy blank postcards wherever you go. Watercolor paper works best, but any thicker cardstock will work.

Even if the renderings are abstract or delightfully imperfect, this flower painting idea is far more of a keepsake than a traditional store-bought postcard. Capture a new location’s greenery and floral delights to send to someone you miss. 

16. Print Some Floral Tattoos

You can buy tattoo paper from many art stores and online retailers and that will allow you to print on your home printer.

If you’re looking for a fun temporary botanical tattoo for a summer outing or music festival, try creating your own botanical image using an online artist program like Adobe Illustrator or Canva.

Print out the results to create your own unique pieces of floral body art. This is a perfect art ideas for teens.

17. Doodle

Popular tutorials and activity books in recent years have included "zentangles" and other techniques for doodling away the hours, creating intricate patterns and shapes in marker.

If you’re looking for ways to decrease stress, meditate on art and improve concentration skills, starting with some doodle action may be the perfect recipe for exploring the unique and natural shapes of flowers and plant life. It will likely inspire your next flower painting idea!

18. Stamp It

Rubber stamps are a great way to guide you as you create your floral masterpiece, particularly since flower stamps are available in infinity varieties online and in craft stores in all sizes.

Try using a stamp to get your main outline for your flower, then fill in the color and shading with soft watercolors. Combine stamps, paint and other elements to make your flower painting ideas pop.

19. Use Alcohol Inks 

Alcohol-based inks can be one of the prettiest ways to create colorful and interesting flower painting ideas for beginners.

While they are slightly pricer than other paints or inks, the alcohol inks will spread out into the areas you have wetted with an alcohol solution only, which can be manipulated with a brush or by moving the paper to achieve beautiful effects. 

21. Create Handmade Cards

Create a memento the recipient will treasure and put your flower painting ideas and drawing skills to the test. Cut out your beautiful painted flowers and apply them to cards, stationary and envelopes for a special touch.

They also work as embellishments for art journaling and scrapbooking your memories. With a Cricut or vinyl cutter, you can also create adhesive stickers of your designs. 

21. Lovely Lavender Fields 

Lavender fields and blooms are some of the prettiest and most heavenly scented flowers in nature. While their profusion of tiny petals and buds might seem intimidating for a flower painting idea, a great hack for creating perfect lavender involves an unusual paint application tool — a cotton swab! 

Dip the swab into a shade of lavender or purple, the apply, slowly forming the shape of a conical lavender bloom. You can mix varying shades of lavender, gray and blue to get the subtle color variations seen in nature.

Easy Flower Painting Ideas for Kids

22. Paint Your Clothes 

Puffy fabric paints are some of the easiest paints to use and some of the easiest to clean up, making them a great medium for small and messy hands.

Buy a selection of paints and let children apply their flower painting ideas on t-shirts, jeans and sneakers with colorful flowers and leaves.

23. Make Sponge Stamps

For younger kids, an easy flower painting idea is to create a series of small-petal and leaf-shaped stamps from everyday kitchen sponges with a pair of scissors.

They can be dipped in water-based paints like poster paint and acrylics and used to create adorable flower scenes by even the youngest and clumsiest hands. Sponge stamping is a great acrylic painting idea for beginners

24. Turn Your Sidewalk Into a Garden

Chalking the sidewalk is always a fun summertime activity. The range of bold and vivid colors in many chalk sets invites a slew of botanicals, which can turn a boring gray sidewalk into a flower-lined path.

When you’re finished, you can wash it off with the hose, making clean-up easy for this fun flower painting idea. 

25. Floral Face Painting

A great flower painting idea for a kid's party or barbecue, round up some face paint and create fun florals for your guests of all ages. Daisies, sunflowers and violets are easy shapes for cheeks and foreheads no matter the age of the artist doing the application.

26. Paint a Mural

A fun activity for a kid’s birthday décor, let your little ones imagine their own flower-filled fields and lush forests by creating large-scale pieces of art.

You can cover the walls in large format kraft paper available in rolls or apply easy peel-and-stick sheets of removable vinyl for more permanent installations. A custom mural courtesy of kids also makes a great Mother's or Father's Day painting idea. 

27. Paper Cup Flowers

A fun craft and flower painting idea is to create large 3D paper flowers from paper cups. Begin by cutting vertical strips from the top of the cup to the base and then spreading out the strips/petals from the center round.

You can use acrylic and poster paints to make them any color. You can also mount them with a dab of glue to a straw for a full garden of paper. It makes a perfect activity for a children’s birthday party.

28. Use Everyday Objects

Another easy flower painting idea for kids is to use a straw to get a stamping effect with paint. Use a brush to draw stems, then make several cuts into the bottom of the straw. Fan out the strips to create petals.

Dip the end into paint and you will have the perfect daisies. You can also get larger blooms by other cylindrical items cut in a similar way, including paper towels and toilet paper rolls. Plastic fork tines, when dipped in paint, make the perfect tulip shape. 

29. Paint With Leaves

What better way to capture beautiful blooms than by using them as a brush to create real-life impressions on paper? A fun and easy flower painting idea for kids is to collect a range of blooms and allow kids to dip the flower’s petals into acrylic paints.

Use the flower itself as a brush to make impressions. Try varying the colors and flower shapes for a sea of blooming buds.

30. Create Non-Toxic Paint From Food Coloring

If you’re looking for safe and easy cleanup flower painting ideas for little artists, try creating your own colors by mixing food color with 1 1/2 cups of baking soda, 1/3 cup of vinegar and one tablespoon of corn syrup.

Add food coloring to the mixture in whatever color combinations you would like to execute your flower painting ideas in a unique medium.

31. Flower Cupcake Painting Station

For a pretty flower painting idea that is also edible, create a cupcake flower station at your next kid's event. Let your guests decorate cupcakes, which provide a perfect medium for creating beautiful blooms on the round top.

Just provide a batch of unfrosted cupcakes, colored frosting and sprinkles or other decorative elements for embellishment. You can even supply paintbrushes to paint on edible shimmer. 

Easy Wall Flower Painting Ideas

32. Make a Stencil Border

Wall flower painting ideas can be a challenge to freehand. If you're looking for an easy way to create a beautiful unique result without balancing haphazardly on a ladder for hours, try using a pre-made stencil.

You can make your own in the floral shape you desire or buy a pre-made one at craft and hardware stores. Use a stencil brush to apply paint for perfect results.

33. Paint a Bookish Accent Mural

For a great flower painting idea for a kid’s room or nursery, consider painting a rich botanical forest of flower scenes on the room walls pulled straight from the pages of a favorite children’s book like Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan.

You can even hide small surprise elements like characters and objects amid the flowers and greenery for your children to find. 

34. Create Painted Wallpaper

If you haven't quite found the right floral for decking your walls out in wallpaper, consider painting a simple daisy print or tulip painting on the wall with a brush in a repeating pattern.

It can be work intensive but pays off in uniqueness. Try this wall flower painting idea in smaller spaces like hallways, foyers and bathrooms to add visual interest.

35. Paint a Ceiling Medallion

Long prized in beautiful old buildings, ceiling medallions, available new or as architectural salvage, are having a moment in contemporary design.

You can use them as they were intended to flank light fixtures or add them to walls and mantles for a dose of old-world charm.

Usually unfinished in a variety of woods and plasters, try painting them a vivid and unusual color as an accent pop. Many feature beautiful intricate leaves and botanical details that look stunning with a coat of paint. 

36. Jazz Up Your Bathroom Tiles

If your shower tiles look a little drab, consider turning them into your next flower painting idea. The end result will make you feel a little like you are showering in a field or forest.

You can free-hand or use a stencil. Use a paint designed specifically to repel water and adhere to tile and ceramic surfaces for best results.

37. DIY Your Wall Mirror

Another way to punch up your bathroom décor is to paint a floral border around your bathroom mirror. With this flower painting idea, you can create an intricate floral border that will instantly transform your bathroom space.

Paints designed for glass and craft enamel give the best results and will survive the moisture and humidity in most bathrooms. For rental spaces, try floral vinyl decals as an alternative to paint.

Floral paintings can provide a wealth of fun and gorgeous botanical art ideas to suit any age or skill level. Whether you are just starting to paint or looking to increase existing skills, these flower painting ideas are a great way to beautify everything from party décor to the walls of your home.

For even more fun art ideas, check out other experiences happening on Classpop!