Watercolor Dahlia Painting Tutorial Step-by-Step

One of the blooming flowers this season is dahlia. When I saw the reference photo on Unsplash, I thought I would paint this lovely dahlia in watercolors. It has a blurry background, and the lovely dahlia is at an interesting angle.

You may see the reference photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash here: https://tinyurl.com/dahliabyericmuhr

You may download the free outline drawing here: https://tinyurl.com/dahliaoutline

THE PROCESS

1. I studied the reference photo for days after downloading it. I looked at the lights and shadows, the details, and the colors.
2. I traced the photo to make an outline drawing on my iPad. I can draw, but I prefer to trace to save a lot of time.
3. I printed the outline drawing and transferred it to the watercolor paper.
4. I masked the dahlia to preserve it while I painted the background. I left the masking fluid to dry naturally.
5. I painted the background on the wet-on-wet technique using Permanent Sap Green from Winsor & Newton Professional and Sepia from Shinhan PWC.
6. I removed the masking fluid using a rubber eraser and I made sure the paper was clean from the masking fluid.
7. I painted the shadows as the first layer with Daniel Smith French Ultramarine in tea consistency.
8. I painted the dahlia with tea consistency mix of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Rose and French Ultramarine. I used New Gamboge for the yellow parts. I painted on the wet-on-wet technique for the big areas and the wet-on-dry technique for small areas. I painted the sepals and stems with the mix of Daniel Smith French Ultramarine and New Gamboge.
9. I painted the dark areas of the petals with milk consistency using a mix of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Rose and French Ultramarine. I painted the dark areas of the sepals and stem with milk consistency using a mix of Daniel Smith French Ultramarine and New Gamboge.
10. I painted the details with a cream consistency of the mix of Daniel Smith Quinacridone Rose and French Ultramarine to define the folds of the petals.

Watch the full tutorial on my YouTube channel.

Materials used in this watercolor dahlia painting tutorial:

1. Baohong Academy cold-pressed 300 gsm 100% cotton watercolor paper
2. Winsor & Newton Professional Permanent Sap Green
3. Shinhan PWC Sepia
4. Daniel Smith French Ultramarine
5. Daniel Smith Quinacridone Rose
6. Daniel Smith New Gamboge
7. Princeton Neptune round size 8 brush
8. Art Secret flat brush 30 mm
9. Heavenly Paintings synthetic round brush size 7
10. Heavenly Paintings synthetic round brush size 4
11. Princeton Select synthetic round brush size 4
12. Graphigum masking fluid
13. Rubber eraser
14. 4H pencil
15. Kneaded eraser
16. 2 jars of clean water
17. Microfabric towel
18. Smudge-proof gloves

OTHER HELPFUL RELATED WATERCOLOR TIPS & TUTORIALS:

5 Tips To Transfer A Clean Drawing To Your Watercolor Paper