How to Paint Loose Goldenrod in Watercolor

I don’t know about you, but I’m severely allergic to Goldenrod. There’s nothing prettier than seeing a field of Goldenrod in bloom, bobbing in the breeze. And nothing scarier when you have seasonal allergies 😂

Below, I’m going to show you how to paint a pretty watercolor goldenrod with clear step-by-step instructions. Goldenrod lends itself really well to a loose, flowing watercolor style, and I’m excited to teach you how to paint it!

Loose watercolor painting is such a fantastic style for watercolor beginners. It’s relaxing and fun, but most importantly, it’s extremely forgiving! This is the perfect way to let go of perfectionism and tap into the joy of watercolor painting.

Grab your favorite watercolor supplies, and get ready for a fun step-by-step watercolor tutorial!

Supplies

Before getting started, here are a few of my favorite supplies to have readily available for when it comes time for you to paint along with me. You can find my full list of supply recommendations here.

This post contains affiliate links which means if you purchase something using one of the links I’ve shared, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

Want to dive deeper into all things watercolor? Download my free eBook, The Ultimate Watercolor Guide! This book will walk you through everything you need to know to start your watercolor journey off on the right foot! From supply recommendations to techniques, it’s all in this book!

Here is a reference photo of Goldenrod so you have an idea of what you’ll be painting.

Painting Yellow Goldenrod Flowers

Goldenrod is made up of clusters of little yellow flowers that branch off of the main stem of the flower. We’ll be learning how to paint the individual branches in this section.

The cool part about painting in a loose style is that we don’t have to be meticulously detailed to get the point across. Loose painting is all about making marks that represent what we’re painting without being too realistic. We want the viewer to be able to recognize what we’re painting without having all the tiny details present.

While looking at the reference photo, start by lightly dabbing small droplets of clean water on the paper where you want the clusters of goldenrod flowers to be. Keep the general shape of the flower in mind as you place the droplets. You also want to make sure that you leave white space between the droplets to give definition to the cluster of flowers. You want some of these droplets to be touching and others to be a bit separate. Remember, as soon as you touch the paint to the wet droplets, it’ll spread through the water.

Load your brush with yellow watercolor paint and gently drop it into the water droplets. Use a variety of yellows for natural variation. My go-to pigments for goldenrod are a bright Lemon Yellow and a darker Nickel Azo Yellow.

The cool thing with this technique is that you don’t have to overthink the pigment placement. The different shades of yellow will mix naturally within the water droplets. This creates a soft, blended effect characteristic of the wet-in-wet technique. Just relax and enjoy watching the pigments blend together!

Continue this process following the general shape of the goldenrod's flower clusters. It might help if you lightly sketch the stem and branch placement first. Don’t forget to leave plenty of whitespace! This helps the viewer understand that these are individual flowers. It’s also where we will add hints of green later on to show the branches poking through.

For a more realistic feel, add darker shades of yellow to the lower parts of the clusters to indicate that less light is reaching these areas. Drop in this darker pigment while the clusters are still wet to create a natural gradient from light to dark. Continue the process creating multiple loose branches of floral clusters.

Painting The Stems and Leaves

Painting the Stems

Mixing your own green pigment tends to produce a more complex color compared to manufactured paint. Feel free to use any green you’d like, whether it’s a pre-mixed one, or one you mix yourself.

In my example, I mixed my own green by combining Ultramarine Blue, Lemon Yellow, and Nickel Azo Yellow from my favorite QoR watercolor set.

Once you’ve mixed your green, lightly paint the stems of the goldenrod using the tip of your brush. Paint the stem on the underside of the branches of the flower clusters leaving white space and irregularities in your lines for a more organic look.

Painting the Leaves

The leaves of a goldenrod are loose and floppy. Hold your brush lightly while creating the leaf shapes to give it the perfectly imperfect look you find in nature. You can add variety to your leaf shapes by wiggling the brush and changing the angle and pressure.

The organic, abundant leaves of a goldenrod come out in a variety of directions. If you want to dive deeper into learning perspective, you can watch how I add perspective to my paintings on YouTube here.

Adding Final Details

Start by adding darker greens to the stems and leaves to add an extra pop of contrast to the painting. This will help elevate your work and give it extra dimension.

Next, add some details to the flower clusters. Adding dots of darker pigment will help define the flowers further and add extra visual appeal.

Here’s a fun close up showing my brushstrokes and the ways that the colors blended in my painting.

One thing to be aware of is not to overwork your painting. It can be very easy to get caught up in the meditative brushstrokes and color blending, but the end result can look muddy when you keep working and blending with reckless abandon.

My rule of thumb is that when it generally looks done, stop. After all, you can always move on to a new painting afterwards!

I hope you enjoyed immersing yourself in this fun, loose wildflower painting. This is a painting technique that you can use with any flower that has these tiny clusters of flowers - Queen Anne’s Lace and Crespaedia are great examples! And the best part? No sneezing or itchy eyes!

If you want to learn to paint a different flower in a similar style, check out this bluebonnet blog tutorial next!

Happy painting,

Alex