Painting Ideas to Inspire You
Are you looking for easy to paint ideas? You are in the right place.
No matter you are at home painting with friends or by yourself, we have lots of ideas for painting. Painting ideas start with what we like and enjoy. Ideas to paint may be something that inspires you or is motivating. A painting party idea will feel positive and you will connect with it. Below I have different categories of ideas to paint that should inspire you for a place to start.
Don’t forget to buy acrylic paints, paint on a canvas or other materials and get some brushes. Our paint and sip supplies page can help there.
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Check out so many painting ideas below:
Table of Contents
Don’t hesitate to check out more painting ideas on canvas here after you review this page.
Be sure to buy the paint supplies, canvas, paints, and brushes before you start your project.
Landscape Painting Ideas
Paint a Landscape
Landscapes are one of our most popular ideas to paint our classes. Can you guess why? There is so much beauty around us.
No matter what part of the country you live in, you are likely inspired by our own unique landscape or views. Check out our photo to the left or find your own.
It could be the environment, mother nature, the forms of trees – all of these things we appreciate and want to paint! That is why this is an easy to paint idea.
No matter the paint colors, you can come up with any paint party idea easy for you to enjoy. Paint a landscape you will love it.
Landscape Paint Colors
- Primary colors: Red, blue, yellow
- Secondary paint colors: Brown, Orange, Green
- White and Black are helpful to have to create depth.
Acrylic Paint Blends for Landscapes
- Seasonal Blends of Acrylic Paints
- Winter – White, Grey, Blues
- Spring – Green, Yellow, White
- Summer – Green, Blue Yellow
- Fall – Yellow, Green, Red, Black
Different Landscape Themes
Landscapes mean different things to different artists. As I stated above, many us of are inspired by our own surroundings. Now, as an artist, you are in charge of what you paint. Many paint and sip classes will have an inspiration, but each participants should feel empowered to evolve their art work from wherever they start.
Painting a landscape is empowering and energetic – it could reflect your favorite field, a memorable tree, perhaps a range of mountains. A landscape can contain a single object or multiple items to create a scene. Mountains in the distance, painting fields in the mid-ground and wildflowers in the foreground.
If you have a teacher for your paint party, they can help you come up with ideas and a solid inspiration to focus on if you need it. We like to embrace landscapes and encourage painters to immerse themselves in the experience.
Easy Painting Tips for Landscapes
Think about the composition of your painting – what elements are in your landscape painting? Do you have a sky, clouds, mountains, hills, water features, trees, flowers, rocks, animals? It is helpful to brainstorm and perhaps sketch the scene lightly ( take 5-10 minutes ) before you get started painting. It will help you brainstorm your vision for the painting a landscape.
Once you have an idea, start with the background and work your way to the foreground.
Mountain Painting Ideas
Paint a Mountain
Painter’s love to create mountains because they are all different sizes and shapes. Believe it or not, artist have their own art style when painting mountains and it is a blast to see.
Mountains can be tall, pointy – like Western United States or they can be more rounded with different distinctive shapes on top like the east coast.
Everyone loves painting mountains and we highly suggest it as a painting idea for your party.
Our photo to the left showcases a Kanken Backpack we painted.
Mountain Paint Colors
- The base acrylic paint colors for mountains are purple, blue and green tones. It is important to have white and black paints on hand, so you can create light and shadow depths for the mountain ranges.
Acrylic Paint Blends for Mountain paintings
- Purple and Blues
- Blues and Greens
- 3 Different Tones of a Blue
- 3 Different Tones of a Purple ( lighter in the distance )
Painting Techniques for Mountains
- Identify the type of mountain you want to paint. Think rocky ridge mountains or more rolling hills. This will help with your painting techniques.
- Mountain ranges can be a single layer or single range. You can also layer 2-3-4 layers on mountains on top of each other. The mountain in the distance is a little higher up on the painting, then would you add another layering it on top a little below. Complete this technique with a slightly darker color – bringing the mountain painting closer to you. Play with this technique. If you have an art instructor for your party they will walk you through if it you are interested.
Sunset Painting Ideas
Paint a Sunset
Sunset Paint Colors
- Red, yellow, orange, white, black, pink, blue paints
Acrylic Paint Blends for Sunsets
- Blue will add a purple tone to red / oranges
- A touch of black paint can add depth of shading and create a darker hue
- Including white paint with a red, yellow, pink, or orange can create brightness and highlights
- Using a dry wide brush can help blend the colors seamlessly into one another, so you don’t see any brush marks
Painting Techniques for Sunsets
- Experimentation at its best. Lighter and brighter hues could come up from the horizon line.
- Add clouds in your sky and try to create brightness coming from behind the clouds
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Easy Painting Tips for Sunsets
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Flower Painting Ideas
Painting a flower is also enjoy by many because there are so many size, style and expanded variety. Below we have listed many different types of flower you can paint – so get inspired! Which is your favorite? It may be hard to choose, as you consider different art styles.
Paint a Simple Flower
Flowers Paint Colors – All paint colors work well
Painting Techniques for Flowers
- Scale – How big or small the flower is
- Quantity – Consider how many flowers
- Variety – In a given flower paint and sip, you can do many of the same flower or you can bring in 2-3 varietals like the photo to the right.
Continue reading below for more flower painting ideas – different flower colors, styles and scale options for you to consider for your paint class.
Paint a Wildflower
Flowers Paint Colors
- Flowers are all different types of colors. Consider, blue, purple, pink, yellow, orange and more.
Acrylic Paint Blends for Flowers
- Blending flower paint colors is incredibly fun. Try making a dark pink using red and pink. Consider making a lighter yellow using white and yellow. Blending new colors will inspire you.
Painting Techniques
- Select 2-5 different types of flowers to create your painting. You can keep it as simple or complex as you like.
- Start with a sky, perhaps a blue gradiant – dark to light and add in green grass in the background.
- Then you can layer your flowers on top. You can always add in more grass texture.
- As you paint flowers, grass and other details, be sure to use darker and lighter tones of a given color to create depth. Example: pink flowers, use a light, medium and dark pink paint tones to create brightness and shading.
Paint a Zinnia
Painting a Zinnia flower looks incredibly easy, but it is more difficult than it looks. The most important part is patience.
These flowers have lots of petals and a specific shape. Anyone can paint these flowers, you just need to go slow and take your time.
It will be worth it – embrace the flower party.
The Zinnia flowers in the photo highlight easy contrasting colors and smooth shapes. You can make this!
Zinnia Paint Colors
- The most common colors for zinnias are red, yellow, orange and pink. That doesn’t mean you can’t explore other colors.
Acrylic Paint Blends for Zinnias
- Using more than one color on a single flower is very inspiring when painting this flower.
- A red zinnia flower could have pink hues
- A yellow zinnia painting could have shading of green
- Orange petals could have light orange highlights
Painting Techniques
- When painting zinnia flowers, focus on the petals and their unique shapes
- Paint the petal the darkest or base shade acrylic paint color first
- Then use a lighter tone to highlight the petals. The paint and sip instructor can help you with these techniques in the paint class.
Paint a Sunflower
If you are looking for paint idea easy and approachable, sunflowers are a great choice for any art project.
Sunflowers are big and small. Some of the petals are long and some are short. Do you know the commonality between all sunflowers?
The big brown and dark center and there are lots of petals. There are layers of petals, so painting a sunflower(s) can be easy, very relaxing and also requires patience.
You could paint sunflowers on their own or in a field – which would you choose?
Sunflowers Paint Colors
- Sunflowers range can includes a range of base colors: yellow, orange, red, greens
- You will see dark oranges, mild red tones and event purple accents
Acrylic Paint Blends for Sunflowers
- Yellow tones – light yellow, using white and yellow, a base yellow paint, then mix yellow and orange for another shaded tone
- Orange tones – mixing yellow and orange together will give you a rich color to start. Then play with adding a little white to brighten the color. Try adding a touch of black to create a shaded tone. By using a range of paint colors on your sunflowers, it will create depth and bring your sunflower painting to life.
Sunflower Painting Techniques
- Paint the sunflower petals first using the base color – that could be a yellow, yellow/orange blend or event a orange / red blend.
- Then add a lighter tone to create brightness, as you can see in the photo
- Then try adding a darker tone to create shading.
- Don’t forget to add green petals with similar shading techniques – have fun with it!
Paint a Rose or Peony
What is the difficulty level of painting roses?
They can be more difficult to paint than other flowers because the shape and the direction of each petal is important for the composition.
It is possible, but we suggest you discuss this with your paint and sip teacher before selecting the painting idea.
You can use acrylic paints or watercolors when painting roses.
The composition and the number of roses is also up for consideration. This is a beautiful painting idea for any art class at home. Difficultly is 7 of 10.
Rose & Peony Paint Colors
- White, soft pink
- Red, bright pink
- Yellow, Orange Rose colors are welcoming
Acrylic Paint Blends for Roses
- Rose and Peony petals are a base single color; perhaps white, a soft pink or a light yellow
- Shading is important for petals because it grounds the underside of the shape. You can mix a grey tone of the base color or a dark tone of the color.
Paint a Daisy
If you are looking for something easy to paint – you can paint a daisy. Daisies are all types of colors if you use your imagination.
Daises in nature are white with a dark green center, but when you are painting and think abstract a daisy painting can be any colors.
The art inspiration to the right is a great example of that. You can use multiple colors to bring this simple flower to life.
Difficulty level – 2 of 10 – you got this! Easy painting idea for any skill level to make.
Daisy Paint Colors – any colors for your paint party can be used
Acrylic Paint Blends for Daisies – the blending options are unlimited
Trees Painting Ideas
Paint a Tree
Tree Paint Colors
- The base paint colors you will find for natural trees are green, brown, blue, orange and yellow
- Accent and depth colors like black and white can be used to change the tones.
- Leaves can be red, yellow, orange and green. The fun part is blending these colors to come up with more tones. I talk about that further down the page.
Acrylic Color Blends for Trees
- When Painting Foliage – you can play with 3-5 colors of leaves by blending yellow, orange and reds. Bring in a little white or black to add shading and depth. There are many color blends you can make.
- Keep in mind your art style will be different from others. It’s okay just embrace and evolve your own artist style.
- We do have video tutorial options available if interested.
Green leaves you can use similar blending techniques. Start with a base color and then add your depth. That is where it is helpful to blend new or similar paints to create brightness.
Allow yourself to experiment here, whether you are painting along or having a sip and paint party. Art is mean’t to be curious and make something that reflects your own style and personality.
There are many ways to paint a tree, because there are so many varietals. The most important thing to keep in mind it is takes practice to get a sense of style when you paint. You may paint one style tree by default, then you may experience with different painting techniques and try another.
Be patient, go slow and enjoy the process. Don’t over think it. Keep in mind the form ( style ) and scale ( how big or small on the canvas ).
Paint a Pine Tree
Painting a pine tree is a lot of fun, because they are all so different.
It is an great place to start and experience with height of the tree and how full your branches are.
Now, we are not going to lie – painting trees can be difficult. The most important part is to be patient with yourself. When we guide in a tutorial, we teach simple forms for you to make the tree texture and pay attention to your brush tip.
Listen to your instructor and focus on painting the entire tree as a form, not just each branch.
Read on for more tree painting tips! Landscape art ideas are very popular and you will love it. We also have many tutorials available, if you are interested.
You can make your art on a canvas, paper or wood. You name it.
Pine Tree Paint Colors
Color Paint Blends for Pine Trees
One of the things I love most about painting pine trees is all the varieties. You will start to paint pine trees using your own style naturally – another fun component is letting your skills expand and trying to paint different styles. Don’t over think it – just give it a try. You will surprise yourself. Painting pines trees is a party favorite.
Paint a Birch Tree
Birch Tree Paint Colors
– The scene itself will be blues, greens and perhaps yellows.
Painting a birch tree – you should have 3-5 tones of grey, black and white to create different tints, while added character to the trees.
There are a few exciting elements of painting birch trees:
1) The scale – how big or how small are your trees. Are they in the distance or are the big and up close? You get to determine these details at the artist. Tip! We encourage you to lightly sketch the scene to get your placement and composition right to match your vision.
2) Quantity- How many birch trees will you paint? Will they be different sizes? In the inspiration and painting idea about you will notice there are smaller birch trees in the distance and bigger trees in the foreground. This creates a beautiful scene. As you draw and sketch, play with the idea of depth in your painting.
3) Texture and Character – Birch trees, as a base color are white / gray, but then you can add different vertical and horizontal textures to the tree to bring it to life. Use nature and other inspiration around you to get inspired on this step.
Painting a Snowy Tree
The colors are primarily white, black and grey.
The white acrylic paint is used to brighten and great highlighting on the tree. The base on the tree is a light gray color. You could also use a green – you decide!
For shading or shadow element, you want a darker ton of the tree. If the tree is gray – use a darker gray for the shading. If the tree is green – use a darker shade of green for the shading.
Where is the light source? If the light is coming from the left – the left side of the tree should be brighter and the right more shaded.
A light source isn’t complex, so don’t sweat – just pick a space that you call your light source and us that ‘direction’ on all your elements for the brightness and shadow effects. You can do ti!
Galactic Painting Ideas
I have gotten many requests from customers to paint a starry night or a galactic scene. It is the ‘unknown’ for many of us, so there is a lot of creative ideas to paint in this space.
Paint a Galaxy
When you consider painting a galaxy – you must proceed with an open mind and allow yourself to get lost in the elements.
Galaxies are full of elements, stars and movement. Be open to the process and see what happens!
Paint Stars
There is something about painting a star scene that is so calming. The inspiration shown is a great example using simple colors and basic forms. A round moon, contrasting blue / black gray background with gray clouds layering in.
My advice for such a similar scene is start with the background colors and work your way forward.
Add the white or light grey detail last on the moon, cloud detailing and stars. That will really bring your painting to life. Be patient and enjoy the process.
Paint Planets
Painting planets is a blast, because they can be any shape or dimension that you please.
Many team building paint and sip party groups love this idea, because it is different and the colors are ‘out of this world’. See what I did there.
If you want to paint at home and DIY your own creative design, go for it. We encourage you to explore the background colors of purples and blues and try different sizes for your planets.
Don’t over think it. This is a great idea for paintings on a canvas or other board.
Paint Wine Party Theme
Who doesn’t love to paint and enjoy a nice glass of wine. Many sip and paint party ideas are incorporated, because there are so many takes.
– Wine Glass with a Design inside
– Wine Glass with wine pouring out of a wine bottle
– A Van Gogh Design inside of a wine glass
– 2 wine glasses cheers
One way to bring your friends together for a creative night is to BYOB and do a wine theme!
They will not be disappointed.
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How can we help you?
If you need a little extra support with an inspiration or narrowing down on an idea, please let us know. We are happy to help.