Welcome to my lesson in painting a Fall Bouquet! I'm so pleased you have joined our course and I hope you will enjoy painting with us. Since the actual bouquet for this lesson was at Jill's house in Texas, I painted it from photos. I most often paint from live flowers, but sometimes I find photos that are so beautiful they just have to be painted.

Also, I always take photos of the bouquets that I'm painting in case I lose a few flowers before I finish the painting. It's important to remember that a reference like a bouquet or photo is just a "reference." Since we are not painting realistically, we are not bound to painting exactly what we see--that's the fun of expressive painting! Take a look at the attached photo below which was the inspiration bouquet and then the painting that I completed--can you see where inspiration led me?

This is the "Lone Star Living" Bouquet from the HEB store near Jill in Texas and which we will be painting--isn't it gorgeous? I used this image on my iPad to start my painting and then decided to print it on plain photo paper and hang is next to me while I painted.

You can choose to paint from the photograph as I did or purchasing your own Lone Star Living bouquet (if you are in Texas) or if you are somewhere else create your own bouquet and follow along. The lessons will apply to however you decide to paint.

*This photo is available for you to download below.

And this is where I ended up! Can you see where the inspiration led me? As you watch the videos and follow along with me as I paint I will explain my thinking. You will find that your painting looks different from mine or Jill's because in expressive painting we are free to take inspirations wherever they lead!