How to Paint Watercolor Pansies

There’s something I just LOVE about pansies! I think it’s their little smiling faces. I always plant them in our window boxes for spring and was inspired to paint a few. I’m sharing how to paint watercolor pansies and a step by step tutorial along with a video.

This post is great if you’re new to watercolor or an intermediate painter. I find painting pansies really really relaxing.

How to Paint Watercolor Pansies

Today I’m sharing not one but two different pansies. I hope you enjoy painting them as much as I do. I think it helps to have either a reference photo or some real pansies in front of you whilst your painting.

I’m using a wet on wet technique in both paintings and I find that it works nicely to give a very organic feel to the flowers. Wet on wet is when you apply water to the paper and while it’s still wet you add paint. My favorite part is to watch the paint hitting the wet surface!

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Materials – What You’ll Need

These are the materials I used for this painting:

• Watercolor paper (I’m using Fluid 6″ x 6″ block)
• Pencil (I like using a mechanical pencil or Blackwing)
• Plastic Eraser
• Round Brushes (sizes 6, 4, and 2 – I like Princeton Velvetouch, I also really like the daVinci Series 11 Maestro which are sable and more expensive)
• Script Liner Brush Size 1 for details
• Clean water (I use recycled glass yogurt pots)
• Scrap watercolor paper to test out colors on the side. I also have a piece of kitchen roll to blot my brush
• Watercolor Palette ( I like this one because it closes)
• Watercolor Paints (colors I used mostly by Daniel Smith but some our Winsor and Newton)
  • Winsor Violet Dioxazine
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Quinacridone Rose
  • Sap Green
  • New Gamboge
  • Gray Titanium
  • Lemon Yellow

Don’t feel like you have to go out and buy all these paints. This is just what I used. You can mix your own paints together to get the same color ranges.

Some Tips Using Watercolor

Watercolor dries ten percent lighter so you want to be aware of that when painting. It might look perfect when it’s wet but it will dry lighter.

Work in layers going from lights to dark. Try not to overwork areas. Less often is more with watercolor!

You can speed up drying time by using a hair dryer or if you want to let it dry naturally it’s a great time to take a tea break.

Sometimes the watercolor can trap pencil lines in so I always draw lightly with pencil. I share more tips in the video below. Often times yellow traps pencil lines

Video Tutorial for Painting Watercolor Pansies

I’m a visual learner and always do better with videos. I created a video of the process. My painting is sped up a bit and I’ve done a voice over to narrate the process.

Displaying Your Watercolor Pansies

If you’re looking for an affordable way to display your art, I really like these frames from Ikea. They actually have a deep inset so you can add a shell or rock on the outside. I really love using nature in my displays. I love how the matte really frames the painting and the 6″ x 6″ size works great for this.

I also use The Frame Center for framing. They do amazing custom framing but they have ready made frames for standard sizes, too!

More Watercolor Posts You Might Enjoy

If you’re new to watercolor these posts may be helpful:

• Must Have Watercolor Materials
• Favorite Watercolor Papers
• Favorite Watercolor Brushes
• For the Creative Entrepreneur
• Free Printables
• How to Paint Watercolor Bookmarks
• How to Paint Mini Seascapes
• My Favorite Creative Tools
• How to Paint a Winter Boot

More Watercolor Pansies

I have painted a lot of pansies and violas! I just love them! I have them available in my Spoonflower shop as fabric and wallpaper with a navy background and white background.

I also have a bunch of pansy and viola free printables.

Let me know what other posts you might enjoy – either as tutorials or the more technical side of making products from your creations.

Let’s Stay in Touch

Did you enjoy learning how to paint watercolor pansies? I’d love to hear if this post and video were helpful. What other things would you enjoy painting together? Share your paintings with me! I’d love to see what you create!

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