Artists have a unique way of "tricking" the viewer to see what they want them to see in a painting. As a beginning artist one of the things that brings your art to life is the presence of flowers. It’s not difficult to create the illusion of flowers, especially in backgrounds. Later on as you develop your skills, you may want to use more detail especially in close up views. If you study and really look closely at fine works of art, you will notice that often times flowers are mere dabs of paint scattered about.

One thing that should be noted is that a good artist will not randomly dab color throughout the piece. It is important for color to be strategically placed throughout the painting. For example, if you dab touches of orange exactly equally spaced throughout your background it won’t look very natural. On the other hand if you cluster some small patches in a couple of locations it will be much more effective. You should also make sure that your flower clusters blend into the painting. By this I mean if you are dabbing a cluster of orange and white flowers, you should use some grass color, darken it a bit, and cast a shadow beneath the flower patch. This will "set" it into the painting. You should choose a fairly small bristle brush to dab your wildflowers. Practice first and do not make all of them the same. Its easy to go overboard so every now and then stand back and view your painting from a 6 foot distance. Also know when to stop. Sometimes less is more. This is especially true in painting.

As with all items, keep wildflowers in perspective. Those in the distance will appear smaller. As you work forward you will make the clusters larger. If you want to detail those in the foreground you could paint tiny petals with a dab of color in the center or on top. Don’t worry about too much detail though. Remember it’s about making the viewer believe there are flower there.

A few more tips to use when painting wildflowers is to add a few sprigs of grass or sticks here and there. This is especially effective in the foreground. And of course don’t forget to make things larger in the foreground. When painting wildflowers, daisies, or any flowers, don’t worry about painting stems. Remember illusion, the viewer will automatically assume that the stems are there!

Now I have explained some very simple technique for painting wild flowers. I sincerely hope this article has been useful. If you are just starting out as an acrylic painter – keep it simple, have fun, and enjoy learning to paint.