I was supposed to experience my first cherry blossom season this year but we all know what happened. And since I’m also practicing painting florals, why not start with sakuras?

I started painting faint outlines of the sakuras’ petals with a shade of light pink. After that, I added another layer to make the center of the flower darker.

Next, I added the branches using brown/sepia.

Here, I layered the branches to make some shadows so it would be more “realistic” and have that 3D effect. And then, I added very thin branches using a darker shade of pink.

In these little branches, I added some sakura bulbs to make a variation in flower sizes.

Next, I added red paint to the center of the flowers and the lower part of the bulbs.

It might not be noticeable but in this step, I added some white highlights in the petals.

And in the next step, shadows. To make this color hue, I combined the original pink paint with a little bit of gray.

After adding highlights and shadows, you’ll notice that the flowers are now more real and alive. The last step is to add some stamens, which are the very thin lines in the center of the flower with little dots on each end.

Here’s a closer view: I used white for the thin lines (filaments) and yellow for the small dots at the tip (anthers).

And that’s how I painted this Sakura piece!

Let me know in the comments if you have questions or suggestions for my next art post.