How I Reworked and Softened My Watercolor Painting
This week, I brought out a flower painting I made three years ago and reworked it. Or I would rather say: softened it.
Here you can see the original version. In it, I had practiced a technique I teach in my course Freely Grown, where you start with watercolors and finish with colored pencils.
At the end of 2023, soon after finishing this piece, I had a clear vision of the kind of watercolors I wanted to start creating.
Expressing Joy and Comfort
I don’t want to bring the grand, worldly feel of my oil paintings into watercolor paintings. Instead, I want my watercolors to tell small, comforting stories about flowers that keep going through windy times—bringing joy to each other and to the viewer.
See more pics: How to Create Comforting Art
The flowers in my oil paintings are like wild beasts, divas, or eccentric characters.
See more pics: Ikigai – Making Intuitive Painting Feel Natural
But the flowers in my watercolors are like fairytale creatures or sweet pets.
See more pics: Emotional Connection with Childhood Novels
With watercolors, I’m not telling an intense story about the birth of the world, but sharing a short bedtime story that lets you fall asleep with a peaceful heart.
Softening the Mood
In this project, I wanted to soften the mood of the original painting, turn the main flower toward the viewer, and remove the colored pencil completely. I started by erasing the pencil marks with an eraser. Then, I soaked the paper in water so the colors would fade. High-quality cotton paper is very durable, so it wasn’t damaged by this process at all. My current favorite brand is Arches.
Then, little by little, I began to paint the flowers into view. I worked slowly, without a clear idea of the exact story yet.
Step by step, the idea grew to add blue and balance it with some smaller red shapes.
I often add small treats to my watercolor pieces, often strawberries.
But they can be other things as well. Here I added a decorative key.
This time, I turned the red spots into raspberries. The raspberries became the main theme of the whole painting: the flowers are serving and eating them, even though autumn has already darkened the sky. I named this watercolor Myöhään kypsyneet (Late ripened).
How to Get the Softened Watercolor Painting
When you want to tell a sweet story and share a soft feeling, bring the elements closer to each other so that they are also directed towards each other.
Make most of the angular shapes rounder. You may first feel that your painting is full of roundness, but that’s not usually true. You may have straight stems, angular or pointy petals, and lots of outlined sharpness that isn’t soft at all. Pick a thin brush and slowly add tiny corrections!
Also, reduce business by removing unnecessary elements. Put most contrast in the middle, not near the edges. See how the atmosphere changed when I softened my painting.
Not All Art Has to Be Soft, but Some Needs to Be
If I paint these sweet little pieces all the time, I get bored and start longing for bigger adventures. But if I don’t paint them at all, the world starts to feel cold, and the only remedy is to come back to my “pets.”
I find it truly lovely when people buy these as gifts. It feels meaningful to be part of that chain of goodness passed from one person to another.
Have you reworked your old watercolor pieces? Would softening work for them?
Abstract Composition in Watercolor
This week, we create geometric and modern art. Pick your supplies, and make an abstract composition!
>> See this painting bigger at the Taiko online art store
Lately, I’ve been exploring the extremes of my own style, especially when it comes to visual language. I’ve been searching for something angular and adventurous for inspiration, as my style has recently drifted perhaps a bit too much toward the organic direction. Quite by chance, I noticed the summer issue of Watercolor Artist magazine in a local shop, which introduced me to an interesting artist named John Salminen.
John Salminen uses photos of urban landscapes as the foundation for his work. He converts the photo into a high-contrast image and sketches an abstract composition from it. He calls this approach “abstracted realism.” I like his paintings a lot. To me, they feel sophisticated yet masculine and go close to one extreme of my own style.
Starting an Abstract Composition
I now wanted to create an abstract watercolor using mainly geometric shapes. Unlike John, I started my work freely without any reference photos. First, I used plenty of water.
In the next layers, I applied less water to make sharper shapes.
Geometrical Abstract Composition
The basic idea is to create both small and large shapes, arranged in an asymmetrical composition on the paper.
You don’t need a ruler for geometric shapes. Thin brushes make lines easy to achieve, and a flat brush is perfect for angular forms.
What Do You See?
When painting abstract art, it’s best to first focus on the shapes themselves and forget about looking for realistic objects in the painting.
In my project, everything was going well until I realized that I was creating yet another flower painting. I’ve painted flower arrangements so many times that their structure is deeply rooted in my subconscious.
I turned my work upside down, hoping it would look different, but the flowers in the vase were staring right back at me! Give me any unfinished or finished painting, and I’ll turn it into a floral arrangement in a moment!
Shifting Direction – Making a Plan
This time, I didn’t want to paint flowers. I wanted a sense of space and adventure. So, I moved from my small painting studio to the computer and opened Photoshop. I planned out the perspective and started looking for shapes to support it.
Then, I designed the composition. I could have worked this out through painting as well, but then the final piece wouldn’t look quite as effortless. You can wipe watercolor away with water, but it’s hard to get the paper completely clean again.
Here are my digital additions created on top of the unfinished painting.
Purity, Clarity, Effortlessness
Lately, I’ve been inspired specifically by purity, clarity, and effortlessness. I’ve been watching a Finnish TV show called “Tähdet, tähdet” (Stars, Stars). It’s a singing competition looking for the country’s best performer. Each season features about ten professional performers, most of whom are musicians. The performers are pushed out of their comfort zones, as each episode focuses on a different musical genre.
In the latest season, one of the performers was the reggae musician Jukka Poika. I had never really paid attention to his vocals before. However, the other musical styles truly brought out the singer in him. His voice emerged pure, direct, and yet full of rich tones (listen to an example on YouTube).
Isn’t that exactly what we all want in visual arts: for our own voice and thoughts to come through pure and clear? “It’s so inspiring to think about the purity, clarity, and effortlessness we can achieve when we know exactly what to do in its simplest form, and have the skills to do it
The plan allowed me to bring beautiful tones and nuances into my watercolor without having to stress about perspective and composition.
Finished Piece – The Portal of Hope
I named this piece “Toivon portaali” (The Portal of Hope). There are situations in life that require going through the darkest of times – through a grey stone, as we say in Finnish. It is risky and requires a fighting spirit, but at the same time, the situation is also exciting as it’s a way to move forward.
Here are some photos of the details.
This was much faster to paint than flower paintings of a similar size. There were fewer layers, and geometric shapes are quick to execute.
I hope this inspires you to try an abstract composition with watercolors or colored pencils—or use a combination of both. My painting was done entirely with watercolors.
P.S. Check also this blog post, with more detailed instructions and for watercolor pencils: Modernistic Style – Create Abstract Art Step by Step!
Abstract Watercolor Flower Card
This week, I invite you to paint with me. Let’s make an abstract watercolor flower card!
Abstract Watercolor Flower Card – Watch the Video!
In this video, you see me both creating and talking about abstract floral art. Watch the video and paint with me!
I hope my love for abstract florals is contagious! Here’s the finished card again.
Watercolor cards are just precious. You can never have too many, and there’s always someone you gan give one to. That’s why the new course Wild Garden has many card projects.
Wild Garden – Paint with Me!
In the upcoming course Wild Garden we will paint flowers freely, intuitively, and expressively in watercolor. Sign up here!
Wild Garden will begin on September 22, 2025. Sign up now!
Selling Watercolor Paintings as Gifts
This week, I talk about making and selling watercolor paintings as gifts. At the same time, we celebrate the playfulness of watercolors.
See more and bigger pics at Taiko (online art store)
I love gift shops. My dream for a long time has been that, in addition to large oil paintings, I could sell smaller pieces as gifts. Recently, this has come true. I have sold many of my watercolor paintings not only directly but also via the Taiko online art store and the Gumbostrand Konst & Form gallery.
Art as Gifts vs. Art for Homes
An art buyer never buys art just for need. The work must appeal to the buyer on a deep level. Still, large paintings are chosen more according to the interior, and smaller ones are purchased as gifts. Sometimes a small painting is a gift to the buyer himself, often to someone else.
As a professional artist, I am more known for oil paintings, but I have dreamt that also my watercolor pieces would be in demand. I love to paint them and the idea of a perfect gift inspires me. However, it has taken time to grow my vision of how they should look.
Because I have grown many of my general painting skills with watercolors, my watercolor paintings have quite a similar style to my oil paintings. But with watercolors, I step in a slightly more illustrative direction. I want my watercolor art not to be too abstract, but approachable and atmospheric. See a collection of my recent watercolor paintings here!
Flower Art But With a Playful Attitude
My watercolor pieces usually have flowers. However, I don’t paint just static and spiritless flower arrangements. I see flowers as adventurous human or animal figures and get playful with them. On the one hand, the flowers are like dolls and teddy bears, and on the other hand, they are imperfectly perfect, feeling natural and real.
When the playfulness really kicks in, painting is fun.
I love to discover plants in the middle of random watercolor spots. I have also a course called Freely Grown about this kind of process.
Taking Several Sessions to Grow the Idea
Usually, the first layers of the painting are fast and only take an hour or two. But that’s when the painting is just a regular flower painting, not a special piece that has a special appeal. Within a couple of hours, there’s not much time to grow the idea further or adjust the details.
I usually paint in several sessions where the first one or two lay the foundation and produce the basic painting, and where the next sessions (usually 2 to 4) grow the story and produce the finished look.
For example, for this painting, I took walks to see flowers and to add some more to the painting. But after a while, that felt too traditional and then decided on the gold mining theme.
The further I go, the smaller the brush strokes become.
Working with a Progress Photo
I find it helpful to take a photo of the unfinished piece, and then use it as a reference. The small-sized picture makes it easier for me to spot the areas that still need adjusting.
Looking at the photo also helps with distancing myself from the actual piece. I can ask: Do I love this? Would I buy this? When selling watercolor paintings as gifts, never underestimate the quality, always try a little higher.
Color over Color
Pigments are very different from each other. Some colors require many layers, and others can be used very thickly. Most artist-quality yellows have good coverage and work well for the finishing touches.
I have recently used smooth (hot press) watercolor paper because it’s best for tiny details.
Gentle Breakthroughs
I want to break boundaries with all my art, but in watercolor, I try to do it more gently than usual. In this painting, the flowers have caught Hokusai’s great wave from Japan and taken it to Lapland to pan for gold. And so it happened that the gold and the flowers started a decorative baroque party and everything small became surprisingly big and grand. Despite all this, this is a flower painting where the viewer can relax and enjoy the joyful atmosphere.
But whatever the story is, I try to express it so that it can evoke different memories and associations in different people. Somehow, the painting must make a gentle breakthrough in the eyes of the viewer – find a soft spot where the immersion can begin.
See more pics of “Kultaa huuhtoneet – Gold Panners” at the Taiko art store!
Freely Grown – Paint Watercolor Flowers with Me!
In the course Freely Grown, I walk you through my watercolor painting process. Because the finishing touches with a small brush are the most challenging, we take the easier route and do them with colored pencils. In Freely Grown, you paint flowers freely without reference photos and create a unique painting from the given techniques and guidelines. >> Buy here!