Create this beautiful lily painting and learn how easy it is to paint lilies in this step by step tutorial. All you need are some basic acrylic paint colors, a canvas, some brushes and your creativity! In this tutorial you’ll learn the basics of the shape of each lily flower petals and how to create dimension. You’ll also learn to mix the perfect punchy pink color to bring those white and pink lilies to life!

If you like dramatic paintings, then you’ll love the simple trick of painting on a black canvas, using the concept of color contrast. This trick will elevate the lily flowers to another level and is quite dramatic.

If you’re looking for more painting ideas, then you love this 53 flower painting ideas post and this best flower painting techniques for beginners post. For more flower painting tutorials on Feeling Nifty, check out this flower painting tutorials page.

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Lily Flower: Painting From Real Life

Before painting anything, I like to study the real thing so that my paintings look as close to reality as possible. I was out for a walk with my kids and I found a beautiful orange lily on the ground, so I picked it up and brought it home. I showed the kids and we made our first observation: the lily has only 6 petals!

Here’s a picture of the lily we found.

Another thing we noticed is that the overall shape of the lily flower is reminiscent of a star shape with 6 vertices.

My daughter then observed something very interesting. She said “mom look at the overlapping petals”. I looked down at the flower and saw what she was talking about.

The petals were in a layered pattern! There were 3 outer petals which were overlapped with another 3 inner petals.

We then did a bit of googling and found out that the outer and inner petals on a lily are called tepals.

My son then noticed one last thing about this interesting flower. He said “Lily’s kinda look like a trumpet, mom!”. My daughter and I took a look and he was absolutely 100% right! The lily flower looks like the horn portion of the trumpet with long, narrow and spear-like peals and a tall stem.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to paint a pink and white stargazer lily, but if you’re looking to paint an orange lily check out Pamela’s wonderful tutorial.

Now let’s get to it!

How To Paint A Lily Flower Step By Step

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How To Paint A Lily Step By Step

Learn how to make a stunning and easy lily painting in this step by step tutorial. You'll need some basic acrylic paints, a canvas and some bushes to paint it. Get ready to dive into the world of lilies.

Active Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Difficulty Beginner

Materials

12x12 canvas (either black canvas or white one)
Titanium White
Mars Black
Cadmium Red Medium Hue
Fluorescent Pink
Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue
Ultramarine Blue
3/4" flat wash brush
1/4" flat brush
Size 1 detailing brush (round)
Size 5 round brush (medium size)

Instructions

Paint the canvas black using your 3/4” flat brush and mars black paint. If you already have a black canvas then you can skip to the next step. You’ll post likely need 2 coats of black to get the best coverage. Let the first layer dry completely before applying the second layer. Also to get a streak-free application use horizontal, back and forth strokes.
Sketch the lily flowers using a pencil or piece of chalk. Notice that each Lilly flower has 3 petals that are long, narrow and spear shape. They also bend outward at the tip, so make sure the draw that also. The petals are in a layered pattern: 3 outer petals of equal distance, and 3 inner petal of equal distance. The outer petals will be smaller and inner petals will be bigger to give the illusion of depth.
Paint the outer 3 petals of the lily flower using white paint and your 1/4” flat brush.
Without drying completely, paint the inner 3 petals using the same white paint and brush
Repeat painting the outer then inner petals of your second lily flower.
Paint the lily buds with white paint. The buds will be a wide spear-like shape.
Mix your stargazer Lilly pink paint by mixing 2 parts fluorescent pink to 1 part cadmium red
Paint the inner part of each lily petal with the pink paint mixture. Use your 1/4” flat brush. Make sure the flat brush is as dry as possible so we can use the brush brushing technique. Dip the chiseled edge of brush into the paint. Wipe off excess paint, we don’t want too much paint on the brush. Sweep the chiseled edge of the brush starting from the centre of the flower outward to the tip of each petal. Ensure that you leave a border of white around the petal. Repeat for all petals.
Once pink paint is dry, dip the chiseled edge of the 1/4” flat brush into white paint. Starting from the tip of each petal, sweep some white paint over the pink until half way on the petal.
Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the other flower and the flower buds. Wait for all flowers and buds dry to the touch.
Take some pure cadmium red paint and your smallest detailing brush and paint a thin red line down each flower petal and bud.
Draw tiny dots with the same red paint and detailing brush on the lily petals. Focus most of the dots in the centre of the flower and less towards to the centre of the petal. Wait for the paint to dry
Take your detailing brush and white paint and draw a thin white border around the inner 3 petals. Wait for paint to dry
Paint the flower’s stamens with some cadmium yellow paint and your detailing brush. You can alternatively use a fine tip paint marker (Like Posca markers) to paint in the stamens. Paint markers make it easier to paint fine lines and details.
Mix some green paint with 2 part cadmium yellow and 1 part ultramarine blue. Use your medium size round brush and paint in the Lily flower stems and leaves. If you’ d like you can also add some highlights to your stems by mixing a lighter green by mixing in some white with the green paint.