How to Paint Golden Wattle Flowers

Do you want to learn how to paint Australia’s national flower? In this easy-to-follow painting tutorial, you’ll learn steps in colour mixing, brush techniques and paint layering to create a beautiful wattle still life created with Atelier Interactive Acrylics. It’s a perfect project for beginners!

List of Colours & Mediums:

• Napthol Crimson
• Arylamide Yellow Light
• Yellow Ochre
• French Ultramarine Blue
• Pthalo Green
• Permanent Green Light
• Titanium White
• Atelier Middle Medium
• Atelier Thick Painting Medium
• Atelier Gesso Primer

The first thing to do is set up your painting space. Ensure that it is a peaceful environment with good lighting. Springtime is the perfect season for outdoor (plein air) painting, so why not sit on the lawn and enjoy the sunshine at the same time? Once you have your spot set up and all materials ready, you can get started.

Step One:

Prepare your surface. If you are reusing an old canvas, painting on paper, the side of cereal box or a wooden surface, you will need to apply a coat of Atelier Gesso Primer. Apply in even brush strokes with a large brush. Set aside to dry. Note: You cannot paint with acrylic mediums on a surface that previously had oil paint on it, so gessoing your surface sets you up for success.

Step Two:

Mix Titanium White with a dash (very small amount) of Napthol Crimson to create a very light pink. Be sure to mix a large quantity of this colour. Extend your colour with Atelier Middle Medium. This will increase the flow and coverage of your paint. Using a large brush, coat the whole canvas with this colour.

Step Three:

Using a medium-size brush and Yellow Ochre, sketch out your subject. Start with the vase as a rectangle in the lower right quadrant of the canvas. Draw a horizontal line for the edge of the table to ensure that it is higher than the base of your vase. Draw the basic structural lines for the stems of the wattle foliage.

Step Four:

Mix Permanent Green Light with equal parts Ultramarine Blue and add Titanium White to lighten slightly. Paint this colour in dashes to block in the foliage. Create a lighter variation with more Titanium White, and a darker variation with more French Ultramarine Blue. Place the light and dark variation overlapping the green areas to create highlights and shadows.

Step Five:

Mix Napthol Crimson and a small amount of French Ultramarine Blue to create a purple. Add in Titanium White to lighten the colour, then fill in the vase in that block colour. Create a lighter version for a highlight and dabble the lighter highlight colour on the vase, concentrating on the left side only.

Step Six:

Mix Pthalo Green with a lot of Titanium White to create an ultra-light turquoise colour. Mix in a large amount of Thick Painting Medium and with a light pressure apply broken marks to fill in the table.

Step Seven:

Mix an ultralight pink with lots of Titanium White and the smallest amount of Napthol Crimson. Add in a lot of Thick Painting Medium and block in the background around the wattle, in a similar way as the table.

Step Eight:

Using a small round brush and Yellow Ochre, dab on the wattle “puff balls” in little zig-zag lines through the green foliage. Once happy with the quantity of flowers, use Arylamide Yellow Light to highlight them. Lastly, create an ultralight yellow with Arylamide Yellow Light and Titanium White, and place this light highlight overlapping and concentrating on the top and left side wattle blooms.

Step Nine:

Let your paint dry and pat yourself on the back! You have finished the painting!