How to Paint: Watercolor Pomegranate Wreath

Have you ever seen a Watercolor Pomegranate Wreath? Whenever it came to painting pomegranates, I’ll be honest, I dreaded the idea of having to paint all those tiny little seeds. Not because I have trypophobia or anything. But because it looked intimidating!

Not anymore! After years of painting, I finally felt ready enough to try them out. Here are some quick tips on how I approached this pomegranate wreath:

Simplify the shapes: Instead of trying to paint each individual seed, visualize the overall shape and fill in with brushstrokes
Add highlights and shadows: You’ll see how I implemented this in the tutorial below
It’s about the essence: Painting loosely (aka without a sketch) is not about being accurate at all. It’s about giving the impression of the subject. In this case with the pomegranate seeds, as long as you have the general shape, the tight cluster of seeds, that’s all you need. The rest is about the colors you choose, how you add highlights, etc.

Feel free to watch the real-time painting video above, and follow along with the tutorial below!

Level of Difficulty: Beginner

Supplies:

Paint: LUKAS Aquarell 1862 Watercolor
Brush(es): Creative Mark’s Mimik Kolinsky Watercolor Brush, round size 1 and 3
Paper: Grumbacher Watercolor Paper, 8″x8″
White opaque medium (gouache, acrylic, white-out) I’m using the Molotow white acrylic pen
Jars of water
Paper towel or cotton rag
Pencil and eraser
All of my favorite supplies here

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Step 1: Place 5 pomegranates around circle

Establish the wreath shape with five pomegranates. You can certainly add more if you’d like. Try to show the fruit in different ways: cut, wedge, whole, etc.

Watercolor Pomegranate Wreath-Audrey Ra Design

Step 2: Fill in open fruit shapes

For the pomegranates that are sliced open, fill in with a light yellow wash. Don’t be afraid is the red paint bleeds a little. Go with the flow!

Once that layer is dry, use a lighter value of the original red color and paint the seeds.

Step 3: Add leaves and tops of pomegranates

Step 4: Seed details on the watercolor pomegranate wreath

This is where it gets more fun! Once the seeds layer is dry, use a smaller round brush (size 1 or smaller) and a darker value of the red color, and outline each seed. Simply trace each seed. It doesn’t have to be perfect outlines. A little messy is better!

Then with the opaque white medium of choice, add a small dot o each seed for the highlight. If you think your seeds need a little bit more depth, do another light wash of a medium value of the red color. But then add the highlight again if necessary.