Painting a Dreamy Magnolia Blossom: A 15-Minute Watercolor Study
A Subscriber Request Inspired by Nature
Hi, I'm Valerie Englehart, and in this video I'm fulfilling a subscriber request to paint a magnolia blossom. We have a tree nearby in one of our neighbor's lawns, and even though it's winter right now, I know it's going to be blooming very soon. While I'm working from a reference image for this study, I've seen these blossoms in person—and gosh, they are so beautiful. I totally understand why someone requested this subject!
Simple Materials for Quick Studies
For this painting, I'm using 1264 Fabriano paper. It's a student-grade paper that's inexpensive and perfect for quick studies where you want to try something new without the stress of using expensive paper. One thing I particularly like about this paper is that it lifts really well, which is essential for the technique I use in this piece.
I'm working with my Rockwell Art Charm watercolor set, using these specific colors:
Peach Fairy (pink)
Landmark (brown)
Fall Story (green)
Blue Enchantress (blue)
If you want to follow along but don't have these exact colors, just grab a pink, a green, a brown, and a blue—any versions will work. As usual, I'm using my trusty size eight round brush by Silver Black Velvet.
This entire painting was completed in roughly 15 minutes, done in one continuous session. I didn't leave to let things dry naturally or use a blow dryer—I just painted it through and called it quits.
Starting with Delicate Petals
I began by putting in pink at the base of the magnolia petals. To separate the petals, I used a lifting technique—removing paint while it was still wet to create soft transitions. This is crucial because magnolia petals are really soft and silky, and I want to translate how something feels through the way I paint it.
The key to painting magnolias is understanding that they're all about delicacy and softness. Your brush work should reflect that quality.
Contrasting Texture: The Branch
While the petals are soft and smooth, the branch has a very rough and bumpy appearance. I translated this contrast with my brush strokes, using jagged marks and varying amounts of pressure to create an organic shape. This textural difference between the smooth petals and rough bark helps tell the complete story of the magnolia.
While everything was still wet, I dropped in green for the little buds. Working wet allows colors to merge naturally and creates that dreamy, ethereal quality I'm after.
The Art of Lifting
Throughout this painting, I continued lifting areas to lighten them as I worked. This is one reason I love this particular paper—it's very forgiving and allows me to adjust values on the fly. Lifting isn't just about correcting mistakes; it's an active painting technique that helps create dimension and softness.
For the branch, I dropped in a darker value of brown by using more paint than water on my brush. Remember: a lot of water gives you a light value, while a lot of paint with less water deepens your value. This is one of the fundamental principles of watercolor painting.
Painting White in Watercolor: The Negative Painting Technique
Here's the challenge: how do you paint white in watercolor? The answer is that you use the white of the paper itself, which means you have to paint around your subject. This is called negative painting.
I brought in Blue Enchantress (similar to French Ultramarine—really any blue will work) to represent the sky. Since I don't typically sketch before I paint, I used my imagination and reference image to guide the shapes and orientations of the petals.
I painted the sky in an upward diagonal direction, following the angle of the branch. And I didn't aim for a flat wash—I'm not that kind of painter! I love texture in my work. I like things to look dreamy and almost ethereal, and I definitely paint loose.
Strategic Color Placement
I pulled some sky pigment into the blossom to separate one petal from another, but I did so very lightly. I didn't want those white petals getting heavy with blue—I wanted to maintain their light, silky, smooth appearance.
Because I had the sky on one side of the magnolia, I brought it down to the lower part of the flower and around the branch area. After all, you would see the sky through the branches. Even though I was careful, there are places where I allowed pigment to skip through the branch area. That's fine—this is a study, and it keeps things from getting too stiff.
Creating Depth with Values
When painting white in watercolor using negative painting, putting a darker value against a lighter value helps that lighter value pop. I strategically placed stronger blue in certain areas so that specific petals really jump off the page.
Since a magnolia blossom grows on a tree with many blossoms, I threw some pink into the wet wash of blue background. This suggests out-of-focus blossoms in the background. In my reference image, one blossom was very clear in the foreground while others were hazy and out of focus, so I captured that composition.
Lost and Found Edges
Notice that I didn't create a hard cutout around the entire flower. The treatment varies—some edges where petals meet the background are nice and hard, while others are soft and fade away. Soft and hard, lost and found—if you've been following my work, you know this is one of my signature approaches.
I pulled out more brown and very lightly suggested branches in a few areas to help tell the story that this is an entire tree. But I did it lightly and quickly. The branch in focus—the one that matters—has attention to texture and values, whereas the suggestion off to the side helps complete the story without competing for attention. It's not the main course.
Final Touches and Focal Point Contrast
At this point, I decided I wanted greater value at the base of my magnolia. I mixed a thicker concentration of Peach Fairy and deepened the value in that area. This is an important principle: when painting your subject, you want the focal point to have the greatest contrast of values.
Since the magnolia blossom is my subject, that area has both the lightest value in my painting (the white of the paper) as well as the darkest (or roughly the darkest) value. This contrast naturally draws the viewer's eye to where you want it to go.
The Beauty of Quick Studies
This entire painting was completed in 15 minutes. Quick studies like this are perfect for:
Experimenting without pressure
Practicing specific techniques (like negative painting or lifting)
Capturing the essence of a subject without getting bogged down in details
Building confidence in your brushwork
Using inexpensive materials so you can paint freely
Translating Feeling Through Paint
One of my goals in every painting is to translate how something feels through the way I paint it. For magnolias, that means:
Soft, delicate brushwork for the silky petals
Rough, jagged strokes for the bumpy bark
Loose, dreamy washes for the ethereal quality
Strategic value placement for dimension
Lost and found edges for a natural, organic feel
These aren't just technical choices—they're ways of communicating the essence of the subject to the viewer.
Key Techniques Recap
Here are the main techniques used in this magnolia study:
Lifting: Removing wet paint to create soft transitions and dimension
Negative painting: Painting around white subjects to let the paper show through
Value contrast: Using dark against light to make elements pop
Textural variation: Different brush strokes for different surfaces
Wet-in-wet: Dropping colors into wet washes for soft blending
Lost and found edges: Varying edge quality for natural appearance
Compositional depth: Suggesting background elements out of focus
Your Turn to Paint
Magnolias are wonderful subjects for practicing loose watercolor techniques. Their simple form makes them accessible for beginners, while their subtle beauty offers plenty of challenges for more experienced painters. Grab your supplies and give this study a try—remember, it's only 15 minutes!
Thanks so much for painting with me today. Happy painting!