How to paint Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree painting!

Hello! I am so excited to finally share my step by step painting with you. By following this post, you should be able to paint your own Japanese Cherry Blossom Tree! It really is easy and the break down of each step helped me recreate my painting when I got home that night. My friend Marla, and I always wanted to try painting. We had heard about the easy painting nights friends had had, but this was our first one. It is amazing how a few lines, some blobs, and blending created this beautiful painting.
Supplies: Ready made Canvas, a medium and a large paint brush, hot pink, red, cobalt blue, black, gold, jade green, and white acrylic paints. Brushes were cheap and they work just fine!  Here's how you get started, paint three black lines with the large brush. One at the top, one near the bottom, and one at the very bottom They should not be perfect. Mine certainly are not!

Here is the painting we are recreating on the left and the instructor painting with us.

Here's my friend Marla painting while baby Natalie sleeps in her snuggy.

Step 2: Paint a blue line under the top black line and above the bottom two lines with the large paintbrush.

Step 2 Paint white on the white areas of your canvas. Go to where the blue lines where painted and blend that in with the white. This will make the sky and the water. Use lots of white paint! We tried to make wiggles in the water to look more like waves and ripples. Feel free to add more blue if you want. I did. I added lots of blue because the sample we started with had blue on the sides and I liked that better than the more white the instructor was doing.

Marla was going for a more of a impressionism look. It was girl's night out, hence the crowns! The most important step throughout this process to have fun! Her technique really made that water come to life!

Step 3: Now add gold to the bottom of the middle black line and in the water with the large paint brush

Step 4: Add gold lines short then longer to each side of the water and some in the water.

Step 5: starting at the bottom of your canvas paint a slanted line up towards the left of the canvas. This becomes the tree trunk. Then paint branches with the smaller brush.

Using some gold paint, add lines of gold to the base of the tree trunk and on the top of all the branches.

I know it looks like quite the challenge, but it was very easy. The next part was the most fun. You start with red paint on your medium brush and you just put dabs of paint on the branches in clusters. Then you go down to the bottom of the painting and add dots of the red over the gold and green you created. Those dots become the petals of the tree. Then you will go back in with hot pink and dab over the red and add new patches of pink to the branches and to the land below. Then you go in with white and you do the same dabbing technique until you get the tree as full of petals as you want. You might do like me and think you have way too much white and go back in with the red and the pink until you have it the way you like it. It is your painting and you should have fun with it! I also used the back of my brush and wadded up paper towels to make more interesting petals. I also tried to add as much paint as possible so the canvas had texture like in an oil painting.

Here is Marla beginning to fill in her tree.

After I finished my petals, I felt like my painting was way too white. I went back in and added more blue to the sides of the painting and to the water. Here's Marla standing by our paintings.

Here's the finished painting the Artist was painting along with us. 

Here is Marla and I proudly behind our first painting ever!

Here is my painting after it had dried and a better close up of it:

I went home two days later and used my painting and these step by step pictures to paint three mini paintings and I painted a card for Mother's day gifts.

The card was 5x7 regular white card stock. I painted right on the card and had no trouble. The only thing I did different was to add glossy mod podge to the tree truck and the petals of the tree to make it stand out. That made the cheap acrylic paint I used more vibrant. I didn't add the mod podge until the painting s were completely dry. I signed my name in black sharpie at the bottom. The paints were a huge hit! Mom wants to have here painting framed. The little canvases I found at Michaels and they are 8x10 I think. The paint i used was apple barn ones brought a long time ago at Walmart. It goes to show you can have good results even with cheap paint and you don't have to have any special training to make a masterpiece (or 5). I hope you will attempt this painting, and if you do please share a photo! I would love to see it. Thank you for stopping by!! Have you ever tried any of these painting parties? I'd love it if you shared your experience and the painting you made!