I dream of painting and then I paint my dreams
Van Gogh

I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint flowers. I’ve tried painting before and never got the hang of it. This year, I wanted to try to learn so that I could illustrate floral designs, just for myself. To have a small dream and accomplish it.

I decided to paint one page a day in my sketchbook. I could commit to one page a day. I used the small Windsor & Newton travel kit I already had and an empty sketchbook with thick pages I bought by accident when I thought it was a journal.

When I started, I felt really uncomfortable painting shapes. I started by swatching colours with the same brush in small patterns. Each day I’d fill a page in my sketchbook or a small postcard sized block page with bright coloured tiles of paint. I did this for many days, just painted swatches. It was relaxing but also helped me feel more comfortable. I played with different brushes, paints and mixing colours.

Sappy love lyrics for good measure and to practice using a flat tip pen ;)

From tiles and colour swatches, I moved on to abstracts. I played with shapes and wet on wet techniques with watercolour.

After a few weeks of abstract painting, I felt ready to try flowers and plants.

I started small, watching videos online and flipping through some books from the library. My favourite is the pineapple tutorial from Emma Block’s book “The Joy of Watercolour” and simple flower tutorials on Skillshare or Youtube.

I wanted to share my process in the hopes that it inspires you to try something you’ve always wanted to try. Every day when I come home from work, I’m always excited to paint my page of the day. I’ve filled three sketchbooks now.

In the past 4 months, I’ve gone from feeling uncomfortable with a paint brush to feeling relaxed and restored each time I sit down to paint.

I keep it simple, I paint in the same spot every day: my home desk. I keep a large jar for water and my brushes and paints in the same place. All I need to do is show up.