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Hi everyone,

Here is a watercolour Tulip tutorial for you. 

It's a small painting that shouldn't take that long to complete - for those who don't want to paint anything too involved. 

The files you need to paint this are attached below.

 Dom and I lived in Sydney for a few years and every year at the start of spring we visited a Tulip festival in a town called Bowral in the Southern Highlands west of Sydney.

I always took my camera and would spend a few hours taking photos (when the tourists got out of the way.) Poor Dom would wander along beside me waiting patiently for me to get all my photos. I always rewarded him with a yummy lunch at one of the local cafes so he enjoyed that. After lunch we'd venture into some art galleries before visiting the chocolate shop. It was an annual trip and as a result I have hundreds of photos of tulips. 

Happy Anzac day to all my Australian and New Zealand patrons. Lest we forget.

Have a lovely weekend.

Louise

💕

Files

Tulip for Patreon

Louise De Masi©

Comments

Anne Watman

I did this, and my tulip is absolutely beautiful! I can’t believe how well it turned out, because I felt like I was off to a shaky start. I definitely made mistakes, but I found ways to fix them. There’s one small one that kind of bugs me, but I don’t think most people would notice it. I stretched my paper for the first time, and it really did make a difference. And I usually avoid frisket, but I went ahead, and that worked fine. I never realized that it could take so many layers of wash, and how much that would impact the vibrancy. It almost glows. And it helped a lot when you kept pointing out where there was too big a difference in the light vs darker areas. Mine isn’t exactly like yours, but when I started to see that I had spots that needed another layer, that’s when things began coming together. The one thing I haven’t done yet is the stem and leaves! I haven’t put any paint on them, but I was so excited about my flower I couldn’t wait. (I’m planning on doing that today.) As always, thank you so much, Louise. I can’t believe I did this!!

Louise De Masi

This makes me so happy to read! Thank you Anne. It's wonderful that you are making progress. 💖

Anne Watman

I finished the stem and leaves. I love my painting, and now I’m excited to do more, make mistakes, and learn!

Jodie Ginn

Thanks for having the reference photo in the screen while you paint! Beautiful!!

Surana Van Alstine

Thank you for offering this tulip. I am unable to open the line drawing. I am not having a problem. Opening other line drawings. In other tutorials of yours. Thanks for your comment.

Louise De Masi

It's Dom here Joy. I'm not sure why you can't open it. It's working from our end. I'll send you a copy by email. Let me know how it goes.

Fiona Bateman

Thanks for this tip Louise! I had the same question

Hotflash Vickie

I just LOVE tulips, and it's for BEGINNERS, yay!!! Your painting, as always, is beautiful..... uh, as is someone's LUNCH. I'm debating using that instead of the tulip painting as my screen background while I paint. Well, maybe I'd better not; afraid I'd put some lettuce or a tomato in the painting, and I already make enough mistakes with flower petals as it is. Thanks again for what I'm sure will be another amazing tutorial that I should be able to do in a day but will over-fuss with for three days :)

Melissa

You two are so cute. The tulips are beautiful.

Jennifer Abbott

What a wonderful outing for you two! The flowers are absolutely gorgeous!! Oh boy, talk about inspiration plus. Even lunch looked beautiful. I'm so glad to see that the tutorialfor the tulip is for beginners today. I don't think you can get much more of a "beginner" than me! I do so enjoy your artwork and all the tutorials I've been watching have been truly helpful and informative. I'm sure this tutorial will be no different. I'm looking forward to diving into this project. Not so sure about what the result will be BUT it will definitely be loads of fun! :)

Monika Hale

Lovely photos. I grew up in the Illawarra region but have lived in New Zealand since the late 70s. We are still in lockdown and starting to wonder how long it will be before I can visit family in Australia again. We remembered Anzac Day this morning by standing at our letterboxes at 6.00 a.m, it was very different but also extremely touching to see all the neighbours out and hearing bagpipes in the distance. I'm looking forward to trying the tulips, they're a beautiful flower.

Louise De Masi

Thanks Monika. I grew up in Wollongong too. That would have been a special moment. We did the same thing here this morning.

who4

Such a lovely painting! I always have trouble with values, i end up with sections that are too light & too dark. This helps a lot, thank you

Chantelle Venter

This is just what I was looking for to do for my daughter's room. I've been having such bad headaches lately due to stress that I haven't been able to paint. Something a bit less strenuous will do just the trick to get me back into the swing of things. Thank you for spoiling us with all these beautiful and amazing tutorials ❤️

Nancy Larson

I am so waiting for spring. Thank you for these beautiful pictures and lesson. Everything is still brown in Minnesota.

Sharon E Toombs

The tutorial and the photos are fabulous!

Lydia Shemain

Love the tulip, so beautiful, great info for beginners, learnt a lot about the importance of values — almost feel the soft velvety petals. Thanks Louise for yet another fantastic tutorial.

Sharon R Altman

Thank you, Louise. I am looking forward to beginning this lesson on the tulip. Your tutorials have been so helpful. I appreciate your step by step explanations and your attention to detail without going overboard. Each of your teaching contributions have been magnificent!

Debra Sullivan

Thanks, Louise! No matter how simple or complex, every single one of your paintings are like perfect little jewels. I love the colours you use.

Sara McKiernan

Hi Louise! Im so excited to try this tutorial, the colors are so beautiful! What pencil do you use to make your sketches? The pencil that I use goes on too dark and can be hard to erase. Thank you!

Louise De Masi

Hi Sara, thank you!. I usually use an HB pencil. What I like to do is make the drawing on another piece of paper and then I'll scribble graphite all over the back of it. Then I tape that drawing to my watercolour paper with the scribbled graphite side against the watercolour paper. Then I lightly trace over it to get it onto the watercolour paper. If it's too dark I'll erase a lot of it- so I can just see it - before I start painting.

Sara McKiernan

Thank you so much, I'll definitely try this for my next painting! :)

Annabelle Zamora

Thanks for the beautiful pictures and for the tulips tutorial, tulips are may favorite flowers that I´ve painted several times, but with your orientation, for sure I will improve the subject. You make a beautiful couple, you look amazing in these pictures.

Mary Jacobson

Loved the tulip. It is so much fun watching you paint. Have not tried the tulip yet.

Lisa Adcock

The pictures are beautiful!

Renee Howard Cassese

I love this tutorial! I do not have two shades of magenta to paint the two values in this flower. Can you recommend any other two colors.? I do have a magenta which is close to the lighter magenta you used. I like tutorials like this so I can paint from the same sketch but in different colors. Your teaching is so precise and easy to follow. I so appreciate all you share with us.

Louise De Masi

Thank you Renee. You could try mixing one of your blues into the Magenta you have to see if you can get a darker version of it. Then use it as it is in the lighter areas and use it mixed with blue in the darker areas.

Renee Howard Cassese

Ok thank you!!! I have some sense of color mixing but not completely there yet. 😊

Sue Kostick

Thank you Louise - my second try - waiting for it to dry - but I think it is a ton better! Still on Studio paper - so will try it soon on good paper! This time I used your exact colors - and also took 2 nights instead of just 1. Made it much more fun. And I left all the paint out in my mini palette - so all i had to do was re wet the palette and paint. OK So Bean, Pepper, Tulip and Daisy Complete - What would you suggest I tackle for my next few? Thanks again for the amazing quality teaching! Love the picture of you guys spending the day Tulip hopping, Sue

Louise De Masi

Thank you Sue. I love your enthusiasm - it's infectious! Have you tried the dragonflies? They are fun to paint and not difficult at all.

Sue Kostick

Louise... No dragonflies yet, but I will try them soon!

Cinthia Teague

My tulip looks very over done. So many washes, idk. For all the difficult things I have done on your site, this was the hardest for some reason. It looks very contrived and the washes look pasty instead of sheer. What have I done wrong, or is it just because I used Strathmore 140 student paper instead of my good Arches paper. I should like to try it again but I don't want to make the same mistakes. The sunflower and daisy I painted was absolutely beautiful.

Louise De Masi

It could be your paper (paper really makes a difference) or it might have just been one of those days. I find about 50% of my paintings fail. So for every painting that works out ok there's another one that failed.

Maria Paz Day

I'm in the same boat. My second try with this tulip but I did it again on my practice paper because I am still learning the techniques. My wet on wet method just does not come out the way it looks on tutorial. Slightly better than the first. I will do my third try on the 100% cotton Arches. I have a long way to go but I'll keep on doing it. I also find it difficult but difficult is suppose to be good for the brain to train it.

Joyce C

Thanks for sharing your experiences with this painting. My painting lost all transparency. I wondered if I started too dark. Recently, I think Louise said, always try to see the paper through the wash”. That is my guiding thought as I begin again. I also might try a different palette. Paint on, friends!

Patty Shaw

United States Loved your photos of you and your husband the tulips are beautiful

Nancy Guenther

I really enjoyed this tutorial! I think my water control is getting better. 🙂

Wendy Kelcey

Beautiful pictures! I’ve just joined Patreon with you and finished the koala on Skillshare. Now it’s on to Patreon! You have so many wonderful paintings and I really admire how you explain everything. Sometimes what might appear as a stumbling block, you explain without being asked! Thank you! Greetings to you and Dom from Ontario, Canada!

Shasta

I finally got this one finished. It was tricky for some weird reason. I don’t know maybe it was all my kitties vying for my attention and walking over my desk lol. When I finished it I felt frustrated with it but it wasn’t until I walked away and saw it from a distance I could see how the shadows and lights were working together. I’m really enjoying your tutorials Louise, thank you for all your efforts

Ashley B

I have done more difficult tutorials on here and for some reason this one is more complicated… I got it done though! Thanks!

Deborah L Shehane

All I can say is that tulip#2 looks better than tulip #1, but both looked overworked. However, I am learning many things, so - thank you!