Wall art makes a room, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. You can very easily create your DIY flower stencil painting. Art is fun, and there are no mistakes! Just because you aren’t a Monet or Van Gough doesn’t mean you can’t create some great artwork. What I love about abstract art is that it creates a feeling. It’s like looking at a child’s drawing and seeing a bird because you see a triangle for the beak and squiggly lines for the wings and sticks for legs. Let’s face it; you probably are saying, “That’s how I draw now, and I’m grown.” Don’t be too hard on yourself because that’s all you need to make great art! Not the bird drawing…the basic outlines of an object is enough that a person’s brain can interpret what you are making. I am going to walk you through this easy floral design below:
Materials & Tools
- Canvas board – any size you’d like but I used a 16×24 canvas board)
- 2oz white acrylic paint -this will be your base color to make the application smoother
- Large foam paintbrush
- Roll of painter’s tape
- Flower stencil- I used a FolkArt “succulent motif”.
- 6 acrylic paints:
Choosing Your DIY Flower Stencil Painting Color Scheme
Color #1 – a light, a medium and a dark
Color #2 – a light , a medium and a dark
Choose two colors. I chose gray and yellow. Color #1 will be your background color and Color #2 will be your flower color. You can review my post Learn How to Mix and Match Colors to determine what two colors will look good together.
There is no formula in choosing the light, dark and medium shades, just make sure that you can tell a difference in each shade.
I purchased all of my supplies at Michael’s. The stencil is roughly $6.00 and there are always sales on canvases so stock up when there is a B2G1 free! You can find 2oz bottles of acrylic paints for less than a dollar. I pretty much spent $20 (using my coupons and buying on sale of course) on all my supplies!
Now the magic!….
Prepping the Canvas
First, you want to take your white (base) and paint the whole canvas. This will be the easiest part of the project. You may want to wet your brush (not soaking wet, just damp) for a real smooth application. Don’t let the canvas dry as we are going to move on to the next step, which will be to apply the three shades of Color #1.
You will paint your shades on the board starting with the lightest at the top and the darkest at the bottom.
Put down three dime-sized drops of each color in a line from the top of the canvas to the bottom. Then with a light left to right swooping motion, begin at the top at spread the colors.
Add more paint as needed. When you are done, you should have a nice gradient of Color #1 on your canvas. You did it! It’s okay if it doesn’t look perfect. Just make sure the whole canvas is covered, and the shading goes from light to dark. Now let this layer dry, and then we will move on to the flowers. Woo hoo!
Adding the Flower Stencil
So here is probably the scary part. I don’t know what I’m doing. Neither did I when I created this DIY flower stencil painting, and remember there are no mistakes because.. guess what? If you mess up or don’t like the way it looks, you can let it dry and start all over again by painting over the canvas with your white base. Yes, it’s that easy! I do it all the time. I paint something that I don’t like, and then I paint over it. So, let’s get to it.
Step One
Take your stencil and place it anywhere (yes anywhere) on your dried canvas. I like to start in the corner with the largest flower stencil. I was feeling that corner no real rhyme or reason. However, I do like to focus on my larger shapes and then fill the smaller forms in second.
Now we tape the stencil down with painter’s tape for a firm hold that won’t destroy our lovely backdrop.
Step Two
Okay, here is where the fear comes in, but I am going to make this as easy as possible. You will take the three shades of Color #2 and start painting over the stencil. My rule of thumb is dark in the center, moving to light on the edges.
To make it more technical, put a drop of the dark color in the center, 4-5 drops of the medium, and 4-5 drops of the lighter color. If you add too few or too many drops, it’s okay; it’s abstract art; it doesn’t have to look exactly like mine, nor does it have to look exactly like a real-life flower….trust the process!
Step Three
Take your sponge brush and swirl it around like the hands of a clock with one end stuck in the center dark color so that the colors stay in their range.
It should look like this with a dark center, a medium color, and then the light color on the edges. See, that was easy! And when you remove the stencil it looks like this:
So, you did it! Now wipe the back of your stencil off (in case the paint bled through) and do a few more the same way. How many? Well, I did four on my canvas size, but you may need to do more or less for your canvas. Just make sure they are at least 2 inches apart (they can be further apart) and don’t overlap them. Do as many as you can fit or until you get bored and want to go on to the smaller stencil. Make sure to let each flower dry so that your stencil doesn’t mess up all your work as you move it around on the canvas. To speed up drying, don’t use a lot of paint, just enough to fill the stencil. And go to the opposite sides of the canvas so you can still work while your other flowers dry.
Let It Dry!
In the meantime, while your flowers dry, take a break, get a snack, marinate some food, make sure the kids haven’t destroyed the house, check your email, rewind that part of your show you just missed because you were reading this part.
Filling In The Gaps With A Smaller Flower Stencil
When your large flowers are all dry (Mine took about 10 minutes), you can move on to the small flowers. You’re a pro at this DIY flower stencil painting now, so this next step is super easy! With the small flowers, because these can overlap, use your dark and medium shades of Color #2 and only use one color per flower.
If you use the light color, it will blend in with the tips of your large flowers, which happened on some of mine, as you can see, but I kept it because I kind of like it. Fill in the spaces in your canvas with small flowers until you like it. I added nine smaller stenciled flowers, and I could have added more, but I got bored. Sometimes it’s okay to have negative space (blank areas of your canvas). Just go with your feeling. Does your canvas look full to you? Does it look too bare? Do you need to be done in the next ten minutes because you have to cook dinner? These questions will let you know if you need more to your DIY flower stencil painting! I had to go pick up my kids, so I stopped here (it’s that simple). But I felt like it was missing something….stems!
Adding the Stems
You can go straight down to the bottom of the canvas stems, or you can do a vine type of branch. I chose vines. I was worried that my straight stems wouldn’t line up because I had flowers everywhere with no real pattern.
How do you draw stems? Just tip the edge of your sponge brush in your dark shade of Color #2 and make some lines connecting the flowers. The lines don’t have to touch the flower, nor do they have to be straight (see how I messed up that stem to the left of the large flower? It looks like a swoosh). They have to give the illusion of connecting. Make sure each flower has a least one stem where possible. I didn’t add a branch between the two top small flowers because it is too small a space. Again, you can’t “mess” this up. Just follow my example.
Adding Leaves
Next, we add some leaves (I’m calling them leaves, but they hardly look like leaves). Do you notice that my stem isn’t centered on my flower in the second picture? It works! Okay, back to my “leaves.” Dip your brush in the dark color and then press one end of the edge into the stem heavy while the other side should be slightly lifted, barely touching the canvas. You will end up with a triangle shape…kind of. Even if your leaf looks nothing like mine, keep going! Do this where you have space on your flower stencil art canvas to add leaves to your stems. It doesn’t have to be every stem.
And there you have your DIY flower stencil painting! And yes, it is a masterpiece because you created it, and it tells a story! I call mine I don’t have time for too many flowers, I need to pick up the kids. That’s long and doesn’t sound sophisticated, but like all true art, it tells a story! I could also call it I’m My Sister’s Painter because I crafted this piece for my sister. She is part of the reason why I am writing this blog. What story does your picture tell? Is it funny? Is it frustration? Is it defeat? Is it love? Any emotion means that you have succeeded in creating an excellent piece of abstract art! Just don’t cut off your ear and gift it to your husband (Van Gough reference)….Happy Crafting!
