Painting Hydrangea Flowers Is Easy and Fun Using Bubble Wrap

Making a cheerful hydrangea painting is easy. All you need is bubble wrap and acrylic craft paint.

This tutorial will work for seniors, beginning artists, and kids. I have included instructions for groups, but solo artists can also follow along.

This tutorial also includes directions for adding a hanger to the painting so participants will have a completed, ready-to-hang project when they finish.

Total Project Time: 60 to 90 minutes

Experience Level: Beginner

Materials

Each Participant Needs:

• Acrylic craft paint
• Canvas panel or piece of thick cardboard (9 x 12 inches or 11 x 14 inches in size)
• Piece of small bubble wrap (about 12 x 12 inches)
• Selection of small paintbrushes
• Twine or ribbon for hanging your painting
• Paper towels for blotting
• Paper plates for holding your paint
• Piece of ribbon for making a bow (optional)
• Hot glue gun for adding your bow (optional)

Paint Color Suggestions:

I used a variety of bottled acrylic paint colors that are typical for hydrangeas, as follows:

• Yellow-green background color
• Light lavender
• Medium lavender
• Dark purple
• White
• Light green
• Medium green

How to Make Hanging Holes in Your Canvas

1. Use painting tape on each of the top two corners of your canvas to protect the corners while you create holes for your hanging twine.

2. To make holes, measure a half-inch down from the top and an inch in from each side edge. Mark dots where these intersect.

3. Poke or drill a hole through each dot large enough to accept your twine. Gently remove the tape.

4. Paint each canvas panel with your yellow-green background color.

Steps to Create Your Painting

1. Pour a small puddle of your light lavender acrylic paint color on a paper plate. You want the paint to be a little thin, so you might have to add some water.

If you are doing this activity with a group, you can have two participants share a plate of paint.

2. Fold back the corners of your bubble wrap with the bubbles facing out (see photo above) so that you have a flat circle that is about three to four inches in diameter.

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3. Dip your circle of bubble wrap into the paint, then blot it on a paper towel to remove excess paint.

4. Press your circle of bubble wrap onto the upper left corner of your canvas. Try to make good contact with the canvas surface, but don't smush or smear your paint.

5. Repeat the process of dipping, blotting, and touching the canvas with your bubble wrap to make three (or more) "flowers." A triangular grouping looks nice, and slight overlapping adds a realistic effect.

6. Throw away the plate with your first paint color on it, and pour a puddle of your medium lavender paint on a fresh plate. Again, you can have two participants share paint.

7. Wipe your bubble wrap a little on a paper towel to remove any wet paint.

8. Pull back more of your bubble wrap to make the circle a little smaller.

9. Dip your smaller circle of bubble wrap into the medium paint color. Blot it on a paper towel, then press it onto the center of one of your flowers on your canvas (see photo above). You do not need to let your first paint color dry before adding your second.

10. Repeat Step 9 to add your new color to each of your flowers.

11. Repeat Steps 6 through 10 with your dark purple color.

12. If you are working with a group, you can take this opportunity to clean up all of the plates of paint. This will give you some time for your paint to dry.

13. Pour a small amount of white paint on a new paper plate.

14. Using a small paint brush (or a Q-tip), put a small dot of white paint in the circles of the darkest purple color of your hydrangeas (see photo above). Just a few of these dots will add nice highlights to your flowers.

15. Using light green paint, add some leaves and stems to your flowers. The leaves can be quite loose and impressionistic to match the style of the hydrangeas.

Optional Tips:

• Your flower stems can cross at the bottom to create a place for adding a bow (see photo above).
• You can use a darker green color to add veins to your leaves.

16. Use a scrap of coordinating ribbon to make a bow to complete your painting. (If working with a group, I suggest making the ribbons ahead of time.)

17. Use a dot of hot glue to glue the ribbon in place at the crossing point of your flower stems. (Depending on participants' ages, you may want the group leader to be the only one using the hot glue gun.)

18. String some twine through your hanging holes, and knot it in place to create a hanger for your canvas (see photo above).

Voilà! Your Painting Is Finished

Painting hydrangeas with bubble wrap is a fun and creative activity for artists of all ages, offering an easy method to create an impressionistic image of spring flowers that might be difficult to replicate with brushes.

The finished artwork makes a wonderful wall hanging or gift for someone special.

© 2023 Donna Herron