How to Create Expressive Floral Abstractions This Spring

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Spring is a wonderful season of rebirth, and there’s nothing quite like florals to allow our creative spirits to bloom in new ways. I’ve recently discovered this magic myself by moving beyond literal representation to capture the emotional essence of a subject. This resulted in an expressive floral abstraction that speaks to the heart.

Alain Picard, L’Essence de L’Amour, 12x12” pastel on UART 400

Here are a few thoughts on my experience so you can explore your own floral abstractions.

The Power of Personal Expression

When you integrate design principles with color knowledge and your own unique touch, something wonderful happens. Your personal artistic voice begins to flourish, allowing you to interpret floral subjects with fresh emotion and perspective. Let your design ideas lead you in this exploration of the abstract. Then layer the poetry of color upon this foundation. 

Soft pastels can offer an ideal medium for this exploration. Their velvety texture creates both delicate subtleties and bold presence that can transform a floral subject like pink peonies into abstract expressions of beauty.


Finding Your Flow

Successful floral abstraction involves listening and responding to what emerges on your surface. The empowering truth is that you can leave as much of the representational aspect behind as you wish. Some of us will hold onto more recognizable elements of our subject while emphasizing abstract qualities. Others will venture into pure abstraction where only color, form, and emotion remain. Each journey into abstraction can be as unique as you are, so be bold and explore.

Consider these approaches to enhance your expressive work:

  • Seeds of Design: Harness the power of value shapes as the seeds of your abstract design 

  • Dynamic Textures: Allow the gritty, intimate qualities of your materials to become part of your expression

  • The Power of Scale: Larger works often bring new power and dimension to your abstractions

  • Multimedia Exploration: Underpaintings in watercolor or acrylic can add exciting and spontaneous new dimensions to your abstraction


Let Your Creativity Blossom

This spring, I invite you to create an expressive floral abstraction that flows from your unique artistic voice. Let your own personal design elements and color choices take root as your expressive side blossoms with new life. Move from observation into heartfelt expression as you allow how you feel about the subject to take priority over the facts set before you.

Whether your creative voice is just beginning to bud or reaching full bloom, we’re all tending this creative garden together. That is a beautiful sight to behold. 

The Secret to Sparkling Pastel Ornaments Revealed

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I'm sharing my painterly technique for creating ethereal, shimmering Christmas ornaments in pastel! Join me for a special painting session where I'll reveal my secrets for capturing that ephemeral holiday sparkle.✨

You know those moments when light catches a delicate ornament just right? In this lesson, we'll learn how to capture that magic with pigment. I'll guide you through each step of creating luminous holiday ornaments in soft pastel that seem to glow from within.

What I'm revealing today:

  • The painterly technique behind that shimmering glow

  • My layering secrets for achieving dreamy, pastel effects

  • The surprisingly simple method for adding mesmerizing highlights

Whether you're a seasoned artist or just beginning your creative journey, these techniques will add a beautiful new dimension to your holiday paintings.


It's the season of wonder, and I want to celebrate with you! So let's create some holiday magic together!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, with abundant creativity and joy in the coming year.🌟

Alain Picard