Cherry Blossom Inspired Painting

With cherry blossoms in full bloom from mid March to Mid April, it inspired me to offer cherry blossom painting during this month's Art Masterpiece. The transcendent beauty of the cherry blossoms have inspired many artists, including Japanese artist Ohara Koson, who was famous for his flower and bird paintings.

Cherry Blossom by Allessanra

We painted our own cherry blossoms using a fun and creative technique using drinking straws. I'm all about using inexpensive or recycled materials, and everyday items found around our home. It doesn’t get any easier – painting using a drinking straw! 

Set out some straws (I had the bendy ones), sheets of block print paper, and some black tempera paint that is thinned out with water and pink tempera for the cherry blossoms. The paint needs to be thin (about the consistency of milk) so that it will move across the page when blown with the straw.

 

Video by victoriarestrepo.com

Drop a small amount of paint onto your paper, next position your straw close to the paint and blow. Move the straw upwards and outwards moving the paint into different directions to create tree branches.

Cherry Blossoms by Brooke

Cherry Blossoms by Annika

CHerry Blossoms by Sarah

Cherry Blossom by Yibo

It was a lot of fun watching students try to maneuver the paint. Some got the hang of it, while others couldn't quite figure out that they had to continuously blow through the straw while moving upwards to keep the paint moving.

Visiting Washington, DC during cherry blossom festival is something I highly recomend. How about you? Have you seen cherry blossoms in person?