How to Paint Water Lilies

Gather images of water lilies and note their shape and size. Use these images as guides as you do this exercise. Another good idea is to look at famous water lily paintings from Claude Monet for inspiration. Note how he focused more on the colors in the painting rather than on the specific shape of the water lily.

Load your paintbrush with a mixture of light yellow, green and white. Paint the shape of the lily pad flat with the surface of the water so it appears as it is floating in the water. The shape of this plant slightly resembles a lima bean and a kidney bean.

Repeat the technique in step 3 to create more lily pad shapes. Remember that the closer they are to you, the larger they need to become so your painting has a sense of distance. You can find most water lilies clustered in the water.

Load your brush with gold or light yellow to outline the edges of your lily pad. These highlights will make it appear as if there is a light source in your painting and will help the lily pad stand out in the water.

Paint blue or green lines in the center of the shape with a liner brush to give your lily pad a sense of texture.

Choose the color that you want to use for your water lily. Place white paint besides this color and load a flat brush with these two colors. You want part of your brush to have white and the rest of it to be the color that you have chosen.

Hold the paintbrush vertically so that the part of the brush that is loaded with colored paint is facing up and the white paint is facing down. Use one sweeping motion to create a petal, working from the bottom up. Turn the paint brush slightly once you get towards the end so that you create a point at the tip of the lily petal. Repeat this technique to create the rest of the flower petals. Check the water lily image frequently as you create your water lily.

Paint with varying shades of the color you used to create the petal to give the petals depth. Use medium to dark shade of colors to paint shadows towards the bottom of the flower petal. Use lighter colors toward the top of the petal so it appears as if they are illuminated by light.

Paint with a deep golden yellow paint and the liner paint brush to create the stamens of the water lily. These are the long narrow stick like parts of the flower that can be seen in the center of the water lily. Use a light yellow to highlight the tips of the stamens.