How to Paint a Sunflower in Pastel: Bold, Loose & Expressive

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Sunflowers can be intimidating. All those petals make it tempting to paint every single one, and before you know it, the painting feels stiff and overworked.

Join me as we paint a bold, loose sunflower in soft pastel!
Capturing the glow of a golden sunflower is an exciting experience. Keeping it bold and loose, with an impressionistic approach, is pure joy. We'll use strong color contrast and expressive marks to capture the energy of this beautiful flower.

Looking Our Way, 9x11” soft pastel on UART

In this painting demo, you'll see:

  • How to tone the surface and set a bold color contrast for the sunflower

  • How to simplify a complex flower into big, painterly shapes

  • How to keep your marks loose and confident, so the painting feels fresh and alive

  • How to use contrasting color to make your sunflower glow


Grab your pastels and paint along, or just watch and enjoy. I look forward to sharing the beauty of sunflowers with you.

PAINT WITH ME

Love painting still life subjects like this one? The Painterly Still Life Self-Study Course is releasing soon! Join the waitlist here.

This isn't really a flower painting

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I’ve got a question for you:

When you look at a flower arrangement, what do you see? 

Petals and leaves… or shapes?

Pink Blossoms in a Bottle, 12x9" pastel

Look at this painting for a moment.

Yes, there are two pink peonies in a glass bottle. But step back and squint. Suddenly the petals disappear and you're left with something much simpler: two bold pink masses above a cool glass shape. Dark background, light tabletop, pink spheres.

That's the whole painting.

The marks are bold and free, the color is vibrant and expressive, but it all starts with those three simple shapes working together. Once you see the design hiding inside the subject, everything changes. You stop asking "how do I paint a peony?" and start asking "how do I want to arrange these shapes?"

That shift in thinking is where bold, confident still life painting begins.

And it works on any subject. Fruit, flowers, a simple cup on a table. When you train your eye to see shapes first, your compositions become stronger, your color decisions become clearer, and your marks become more purposeful and free.

This is exactly the kind of thinking we’ll bring to our still life painting during the free Still Life Workshop.

Save your seat now for the free Bold & Loose: 3 Keys to Painting Still Life in Pastel workshop and paint along with us. I think you’re going to love it.

SAVE MY SEAT