Christine Mercer-Vernon Fine Art

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10 Tips for Painting Spring Flowers from Life

Painting from life, especially tulips, can be a workout.

Extending Vase Life is Key

Painting spring flowers from life is like running a marathon… in five minutes. Extending their vase life to keep them in the stage you want as long as possible affords you more time to work on your painting..

With the methods below, I can keep a fresh supply of flowers and extend their vase life for weeks or months depending on the variety. The spring flowers that work best for these methods are:

  • Varieties that make good cut flowers,

  • Varieties that thrive in cooler temperatures.

The one’s that work best for me are:

Daffodils • Tulips • Peonies • Ranunculus • Anemones • Irises

I paint these the most, but you can experiment with other varieties to see how they hold up.

These methods won’t completely stop your flowers from blooming, moving, or changing but it will slow the process down and prolong their vase life so you can complete your painting. If you think ahead and cut stems that are mature buds, you’ll have flowers well past when they have finished blooming outside.


Spring Flowers: My Top 10 Tips for Painting from Life

1.Thumbnail a few ideas and have a rough concept of how you want to set your flowers up for painting.

This seems like a no brainer, but I cannot emphasize this enough. You’ll want a few ideas because spring flowers have a mind of their own, but this step will save you valuable time with your floral stems.

2. Cut them in bud stage, before they’ve opened.

It’s a little different for each variety, but generally, once the bud has matured and you see some color you can harvest your stems. Cut more than you will need so you have a few to spare that can be used for preliminary color mixing and getting set up.

3. Immediately place your flowers into cold water and into the refrigerator.

Make room in your fridge because they’re going to be spending a lot of time in there. The dark and cold of the refrigerator will slow down the blooming process. I’ve kept daffodils, peonies, and tulips up to three months in the refrigerator! Fill the vase/container that will be used for your painting with water and pre-chill that as well. (So I have a variety to work from, I’ll cut stems in varying stages of bud to fully open blooms.)

5. Arrange your flowers as fast as possible.

You don’t need to be frantic, but you want to work quickly. Once they warm up they’ll start to open, shift, and change depending on how close they are to blooming. When you’ve settled on an arrangement, mark the vase position and put everything back in the fridge to cool down while you make any last preparations

6. Tie your buds closed.

If your arrangement includes buds that have not opened yet or are partially open, you’ll want to tie them closed using some string or ribbon. I prefer thin cotton crocheting twine, but usually I grab whatever is laying around. Tie them gently but tight enough to keep from opening.

Tulips are like toddlers, they will pop the strings off and spring open. It’s fine. Gently gather the petals back up and close the flower then tie it closed again. Put them back in the fridge for a while if they really start opening.

Painters tape works well too depending on the type of petals. (it doesn’t stick to petals that are waxy) Tape doesn’t hold long term, but it will keep a blossom from opening long enough so you can paint it.

7. Alternate between working and cooling your flowers.

Once you’re ready, bring your vase out and alternate between working and refrigerating your flowers in short periods of time. I’ll work for about 30 minutes at a time, but if I reach a point where it looks like they are starting to change, they immediately go back in the fridge for 1-2 hours to really cool back down.

8. Brace stems that move.

Spring flowers will move and grow towards the light. If you need a stem to stay straight or in a specific position, you’ll want to brace it somehow. For stems I want to keep straight I use knitting needles or thin dowel rods that extend all the way down into the vase. Tape or tie the stem firmly against your brace to keep them exactly where you want them.

9. Paint the buds first, then the fully open flowers.

Always paint first, what is most likely to change the fastest. I paint partially open buds first, because they will open quickly and there’s just no stopping the process (tying with string will hold them back for a little bit). Then paint the closed buds, then the fully open flowers.

10. Paint the stems and any leaves last.

These will last for a few weeks, even after the flowers have started to fade, so save them for last. You can always cut more stems to use in their place if needed.


Here are a few additional tips to extend the vase life of your spring flowers:

3. Keep your arrangement out of direct sunlight and keep an eye on how much heat your lighting puts off. That heat will warm them up and cause them to shift, change, and open rather quickly. I use LED lighting for my still life table.

4. Turn off, or block off, any additional lighting that they might try to grow towards that isn’t the direction you want them to face.

5. If you have an old refrigerator, take the shelves out so you can store vases of flowers of any size. Ideally 40-45 degrees (f) is perfect for storing spring flowers.


So here’s to a wonderful spring of painting all the beauty she has waiting for us. If these tips helped you out, please share this article and drop me a comment.