Beginner Level

How to Paint: Watercolor Banana Wreath

Set aside 20-30 minutes to paint this watercolor banana wreath with me.

Before I get into the tutorial, I want to show you what my banana wreath looked like four years ago when I did the #100daysofwatercolorwreaths challenge.

I had been painting for less than a year when I painted the first watercolor banana wreath. You can clearly make out the sketch of the fruit and leaves and the carefully painted layers. Since this was early on in my watercolor journey, I remember overthinking the painting. I didn’t want to mess up because I wanted the sketch to look perfect. And I didn’t want anything to bleed. And that’s why the wreath looks like it does. While there’s nothing “wrong” with the 2017 wreath, something about it seems too calculated and over-planned to me. 

Looking at the 2021 wreath, I can see how far I’ve come in terms of keeping it loose and letting my confidence and intuition drive me. Trust me, it comes with lots of practice. But try following along with this tutorial so that you can see how these elements came together.

Level of Difficulty: Beginner

Supplies:

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Step 1: Two main bananas to help establish wreath shape

This is usually one of the first steps when I paint a wreath. While I have that small sketched circle to help guide me, I eventually want to erase it because I don’t want to paint over it and then have difficulty erasing it later. So I start with my main elements. In this case, I started out with two bananas, one on each side. 

Step 2: Add lots of leaves!

The next step is to fill out the rest of the space with filler elements. Usually they’re leaves or smaller flowers. In these fruit and vegetable wreaths, I’m using leaves as the main filler element. Other filler elements can include cut slices, seeds, etc. 

Step 3: Add more filler elements

Now I’m starting to add some more filler elements such as more bananas, leaves, and banana slices. Notice how some are peeking out from behind the main elements.

The best advice I can give for painting wreaths is not to be afraid of having elements pointing in opposite directions. Not every wreath is perfectly facing one way. So have a leaf leaning the other way. Trust me, it’ll make your wreath look more organic.

Now, add some banana slices, and with your smaller brush, add tiny details to the center of those slices.

Step 4: Final details

The final details may include a second layer, smaller details on elements, etc. In this banana wreath, I’m adding leaf details and creating some more shadows on the bananas. 

And that’s it! 

Thanks so much for painting with me! I want to see your watercolor banana wreath!

If you use this tutorial, please tag me on social media @AudreyRaDesign and use the hashtag #PaintWithAudrey.