If you’ve got a green thumb, you know the joys of watching your summer garden grow. But there’s also a joy in turning your garden into a loveable piece of art that will always remind you of the fruits and vegetables or flowers of your backyard labors.

You might be wondering why a backyard garden? In these times of pandemic, people need to stay home and find activities that will not get them bored. On our previous topics, we have given tips on how to paint.

Running Out of Painting Ideas? Here are 5 Tips!

Gather your pencils, basic paint colors, and paintbrushes and of course a sweet summer day to set the tone. Keep reading for the tips below on how to paint a garden, including some of the flowers, vegetables and a few other garden details to create your summer masterpiece.

No backyard garden? Don’t worry because you won’t have trouble finding inspiration. You can find a lot of great garden photos in books, magazines, and even on the internet!

Running Out of Painting Ideas? Here are 5 Tips!  #1 Sunflowers

Sunflowers are very easy to draw and to paint. Here is a simple formula to make a lovely little sunflower painting.

Draw a rough-edged circle. This will be the brown center of the flower. Then, draw a stem with a few large heart-shaped leaves. Leave a little gap between the flower center and the stem — this is where you will be drawing petals.

Draw the sunflower petals. Overlap some and draw a few just showing the tops from behind.

Then, draw in the stem/vein lines on the leaves and add a crisscross pattern in the flower’s center.

Paint the flower and stem the shades of yellow and green you like.

In order to paint the center, wet some of the little diamond shapes you crisscrossed and dab a darker shade of the same hue into them. Only do this to a few of them to bring out the pattern and create the effect of reflecting light.

Wet between the veins of the leaves and dab in a darker shade to give relief to the veins.

Running Out of Painting Ideas? Here are 5 Tips!  #2 Lettuce

There are so many varieties of lettuce, choose the one that you like most and the one that inspires you to draw and paint.

You need to draw your lettuce slowly. Try shaping one section or piece at a time. You don’t have to draw it perfectly. Just aim for a pleasing shape that mirrors your reference. Lettuce can be tricky to draw, but you’re drawing skills will benefit from this practice.

Wet the whole lettuce and paint it lighter in some places and darker in others. Paint the leaves with green watercolor. Adding a little yellow or blue will create more dynamic shades to work with.

When nearly dry, dab in a little darker saturation under the folds and where one leaf shadows another.

Running Out of Painting Ideas? Here are 5 Tips!  #3 Radish

Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, being mostly eaten raw as a crunchy salad vegetable with bite. Who wouldn’t love to eat them, so if its your favorite, painting them could be fun!

Drawing a radish will help you learn to draw any of the other root vegetables, like beets, turnips, carrots, and so on.

Draw a partial shape of the radish only partly because the leaves will cover some of the radishes. Add three stems where the leaves attach. Draw the radish bottom unevenly to make it look like it’s emerging from the soil.

Using your reference photo or garden, add the leaves. Different radish varieties can have different leaf formations; I am following the photo above.

Clean up and refine your sketch. Paint the soil with a nice brown shade.

Paint the radish. Deepen this color around the top and side for shading. Then paint the leaves a nice bright green shade. It helps to paint the leaves unevenly to create the effect of light hitting the leaves. Lastly, shade the soil around the sides of the radish and under the leaves to add depth.

Running Out of Painting Ideas? Here are 5 Tips!  #4 Flowerpots 

Garden pots that have wonderful flowers look lovely as a subject. There’s no doubt that this makes a perfect still life subject!  

You can create many add on to it, you can add it with some dirt hugging the bottom as well. Also, add some shading on the sides and bottom of the flower pot to add perspective. You can do your own add-ons! Be creative.

Running Out of Painting Ideas? Here are 5 Tips!  #5 Chives

Chives are an herb and they are related to onions and garlic. They have long green stems and a mild, not too pungent flavor. The green stems are the part of the chives that are used as an herb. Chives when in a group looks great in painting
A series of vertical, curvy lines that meet in a point at the top make drawing chives an easy practice.

The flower is a series of flower petal shapes heaped one on top of the others.

Sometimes it’s nice to just make a piece of art from a portion of a plant. The one little flower that catches your eye or the perfectly formed vegetable might be all you need for inspiration. 

If you are looking for more painting ideas, our website offers a wide range of tips, ideas and techniques in painting different subjects! Topic-desire offers a wide array of painting ideas that beginners and pro alike will be amazed.