Sketching a bunch of flowers and plants can be a bit daunting. The main reason is that we forget the adage, “sketch what you see, not what you think you see”- we over think it. So here is a quick way to sketch these flowers that were on the terrace at our BnB last night.

First loosely sketch in the flowers. Don’t worry about being precise as the flowers are really just roundish shapes, a few have a dot in the center. Don’t worry about getting every flower, just approximate placements.

Next, put in a few of the leaves and stems. Looking at the photo you realize that you actually only see a few leaf shapes, the rest is a green blur, so don’t try to put them all in, just suggest a few. Once you paint it, a persons mind will will fill in the details when they look at the sketch.

Then sketch in the shape of the pot, no detail needed. I added a few stone lines so it would not look like the pot was floating in the air.

After the ink has dried, paint in the flowers, It is good if they are not all exactly the same color, darkness etc.

Now paint in the green, again make it varied, better to do a light first coat, then a bit darker second coat, than too dark all over. It is OK to have white areas, they act as highlights. It is important that you let the flower paint dry first otherwise it will all run together.

Then paint the pot. Note that you don’t have to fill it all in like a child’s coloring book. And note that the front is lighter than the right side, since the right side is in the shade.

I added a bit of gray to show the walkway. And added a step just for depth.

This makes for a very nice travel sketch, enjoy.