How to Paint Loose Water Lilies in Watercolor on Canvas
Painting water lilies in watercolor is already a delightful challenge, but taking that technique to a gessoed canvas adds a whole new level of excitement. Unlike traditional watercolor paper, canvas offers a forgiving surface, allowing you to lift and adjust elements as needed. In this post, I’ll walk you through my process of painting a loose and expressive water lily scene, complete with tips on lifting techniques, color layering, and adding finishing touches with gouache.
1. Prepping Your Canvas
Before diving into the painting, it’s essential to prepare your canvas. I use a gessoed canvas as the base for my watercolor paintings. This creates a non-porous surface that allows the paint to sit on top rather than soaking in, making it easy to lift and rework areas.
Pro Tip: Use a synthetic brush with moderate stiffness for lifting highlights and refining edges.
2. Planning Your Composition
I started with a loose idea for my composition—a large water lily as the focal point, with a hint of a second lily and a few buds to create visual balance. Placement is key. Odd numbers often create a more dynamic and natural look, so I opted for three buds and two lilies.
To block out shapes, I lightly scrubbed the canvas to lift highlights and establish the general placement of petals and pads. This process not only helps map out the painting but also creates a “roadmap” for adding details later.
3. Building Layers with Color
For the water lilies, I used Daniel Smith Opera Pink, an incredibly vibrant color that brings life to the scene. Since the petals are often brighter at the base, I concentrated the pink there and let it fade outward. When I felt the color was too bold, I lifted some paint to soften the look.
For the centers of the flowers, I layered cadmium yellow with touches of quinacridone gold to add warmth and depth.
Pro Tip: Use a damp paper towel or synthetic brush to lift paint gently. This is particularly effective on gessoed canvas, where the paint remains more malleable than on paper.
4. Adding Lily Pads
To balance the light, dreamy look of the flowers, I introduced darker tones for the lily pads. I used Danial Smith Undersea Green and Windsor & Newton Perylene Green, applying them in negative shapes to create contrast. The dark pads made the lighter areas of the water appear luminous, enhancing the overall depth of the painting.
Remember, watercolor is all about playing with light and shadow. Let your background watercolors bloom and flow naturally to create an organic, fluid look.
5. Incorporating Mixed Media
While this is primarily a watercolor piece, I’m not a purist. To add highlights and refine petal edges, I used white gouache. I find freshly squeezed gouache to be the most effective for achieving opacity. For a cohesive look, I blended the gouache slightly with the existing watercolor layers, allowing the colors to interact naturally.
6. Finishing Touches
No painting feels complete without a little sparkle. I used Holbein Brilliant Gold Gouache for a final flourish, flicking it onto the canvas with a toothbrush. This added a touch of magic to the piece, mimicking sunlight glinting off the water.
Pro Tip: If you’re nervous about overdoing it with metallics, test your flicking technique on a scrap piece of paper first!
Final Thoughts
This loose watercolor water lily painting was as much about enjoying the process as it was about the finished piece. Painting on canvas offers flexibility and freedom to experiment, lift, and rework areas without the pressure of permanence.
If you’re looking to break out of the traditional watercolor-on-paper mold, give canvas a try! The possibilities are endless, and the results can be breathtaking.
If you found this tutorial helpful, let me know in the comments! For more tips and painting techniques, check out my YouTube channel, where I share weekly videos to inspire and guide your artistic journey. You can also get my subscriber-only step-by-step wisteria on canvas watercolor painting tutorial here. Happy painting!