Are you near a Michaels or Joann's store? If not, go online. They have plastic instruction sheets- you paint right on them until you get the hang of it. It's not hard, the big trick is having the right brush and practice, practice, practice.

The one stroke is not a bad way to begin- you can get more detailed after you know your basics and then everything will not look so cookie-cutter. Also- there's no substitute for really observing the thing you want to paint. Look at it with new eyes.

I have cut off a celery stalk almost to the base. This can then be dipped into paint and "stamped" on to whatever and it gives a pretty good impression of a rose.....

Priscilla Hauser is the Grand Dame of Painted Roses. Most of her books have rose instructions. Donna Dewberry roses are ok, but Priscilla's looks a bit more refined. And she has been painting them for more than 34 years (that's 24 years longer than Donna). Good luck.

Donna Dewberry is vastly overrated IMHO. Better to mess around on your own and develope your own style than copy hers. I absolutely will not buy anything that has her style of roses/flowers on it. It's way over done and screams amature!

Mary, I've been on the same quest for the past year! I did buy books, videos, and practice sheets and have taught myself the One Stroke roses. They are pretty and suitable for some things, but I too want an even more romantic rose.

I bought A Romance with Flowers by Pam Childress (She also has one called A Romance with Roses), and I have an old video by Delane Lange that has nice cabbage roses.

You might just go to Artistsclub.com and do a search for roses.

Look at Parellaarts.com for another possibility.

Have you seen Makeminepink.com? There are items there with roses painted on them that just make me drool!

I only check in here once in awhile, so hope you'll come post pics of your painted projects over on the Decorative and Tole Painting forum too. Luvs

Hello, I'm just wandering around the boards tonight and this post caught my eye. I have been doing a lot of painting lately. I have a friend who is an artist and she has shown me some tricks. On suggestion was to go get some fabric that has roses on and copy off them after studying the pattern. I went to Walmart and they have a really nice bolt now that has a green background and in the front area some wonderful roses. Yellow, Pink or red and one other color...I think purple. It has been really helpful to copy the detail from the fabric.
Thanks for the other links. I was late for a meeting to night because I spent so much time surfing!

Sydneydavis, Would love to have you post pics of some of your painted projects over on the Decorative and Tole painting forum. The ladies over there are really talented and nice, and their styles are all so varied. We keep each other motivated. Come check out our gallery when you have time and join in on any of the posts. Luvs

I found a painter on ebay who had painted sort of shabby chic roses on luggage and she was selling three videos of how to paint them. Put in a bid and got them, can't wait for them to arrive in the mail. Should be able to watch, practice and maybe paint some decent roses like hers by Valentine's Day. I'll let you know how it goes. Luvs

Oh, I totally know what you mean about wanting to paint the roses but finding them challenging; I've been taking painting classes and learning to do them from sight, but honestly, I did have some of the best luck with a multiple-layer roses stencil I got at Michaels. The stencil comes in several parts-- do a panel, let it dry, etc. And it tells you which panels to do in lights, darks, etc, to get the shading done. You can see the stencils on my plain Ikea wardrobe at the URL below. I'm sorry I don't recall the name of the company who did the stencil-- thought it might have been Plaid.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Roses Wardrobe Closet

I visited your site Thrift ShopRomantic and love the things you have made. Your wardrobe turned out really nice. I've used a rose stencil for a border above the wainscotting in my guest bathroom. Mine wasn't the multiple layer one--so I went back and added a bit of shading and hilites to them. I've practiced the One Stroke roses enough that they are pretty quick and easy for me now--at least the pink ones are--red ones gave me some difficulty. I sure hope the tapes I ordered are good and easy to follow--I keep watching the mail everyday for them. I have rose items in my guest bedroom, and a few in the living/dining area and a few things outside. Have to be careful not to overdo it. I just love all the things I see roses painted on, so want to b able to do them myself too. Luvs

Oh, thank you-- how nice of you! I have a video for the One Stroke Roses myself but somehow haven't been able to get the technique of it without making them look muddy. Do you have any recommendations on how you make them look defined they way they do on the video?

Since I did my bit of a cheat with the wardrobe closet, I've actually had better luck just trying to "eyeball" them and paint them freehand. But I still seem to get lost a bit in the petals/shading. Practice makes perfect I suppose. But who would imagine something as seemingly simple and lovely as a rose, could actually be so complex to paint properly?

I hope your videos do the trick for you. It sounds like a wonderful winter project.

--Jenn
http://web.mac.com/thriftshopromantic/iWeb/

Jenn, I got the video today. It plays on the computer, and the quality is not the greatest! Actually made me laugh because it is like a home video and the recorder was not on a tripod so sort of jumpy--and there were planes going over so quite a lot of noise too! Certainly not professional quality.

With that said, the lady paints beautiful shabby chic roses. There are three projects, plus 52 pages of instructions, patterns, and photos you can print out if you want. It is very much like the one stroke rose--just more petal strokes and not as uniform. I especially love the way she gets such soft colors for the roses and the leaves.

She likes Apple Barrell paints because they are more watery (I like Folkart because they are NOT watery) She did allot of wet on wet painting to get the colors "soft" too.

I think I will watch the videos a few times, then just play around with it a bit to see what I can do. I have several of the One Stroke books and videos and some other rose patterns from magazines. Mostly just need to practice, practice, practice.

You are right, it will give me something to do this Winter. I think our roses will look fine to other people--just hard to please ourselves, right? LOL

Luvs and Jean, I am by no means a master rose painter but since I have been painting them for more than 20 years I would like to share what I have learned. For me there are two types of painted roses, the realistic and the stroke rose. The stroke rose is fun to paint and requires just two colors of paint. I use the angle brush (very cheap at Michael's - $2.99 Soft Grip) and since it is so cheap I use it until it no longer holds its' edge, then I use it for doofer flowers. I am not fond of the One Stroke rose, it always looks the same and I hate the tube in the center. I do agree with Luvs comment on paint, the Folk Art and Americana paints are thicker and more opaque than Apple Barrel. However, Jo Sonja's tube acrylic has the same consistency as oil paints - I love her Plum Pink. I am attaching a few shots of roses I have done in the past, the reason I still have them is because of the mistakes, wrong background color, too many petals, wrong surface (oak is too grainy), etc. They are painted on old boxes, a violin ornament (6 inches long) and a canvas board - love the painting, can't believe I used a canvas board! {{!gwi}}

OK, I guess I do not know yet how to post more than one picture. The above is painted on an old oak box, the lid is very grainy and was hard to float the colors. The roses are not my favorite color, too dark and I had that tube thing going on. This is about 15 years old and I keep old photos in the box. The next picture is painted on an old candle box - I love boxes. The roses are painted with Jo Sonja's Plum pink, but the leaves are a bit bright - not enough contrast. The background is the wrong color on the second box and too many petals on the roses. Too many petals on the old picture frame but I do like the violin ornament I painted for my neice, just simple stroke rose although, not enough contrast in the color which is hard to get with a 1/8 inch angle brush. {{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}

Paintingfool, those are absolutely gorgeous!

Paintingfool, your roses are beautiful--and if these are the "mistakes" I can only imagine how great the others must be. You obviously have a real talent for painting that most of us can only aspire to. I love your scroll work on the piece with the girl. The violn is gorgeous also.

With that said, what I want to be able to paint is a more loose, frilly looking type rose. Sort of shabby chic I guess. Using really soft colors with little contrast and with backgrounds that look sort of antique and worn. Very soft and sort of faded looking. I love the angle brush and was not aware that I could get them so inexpensively. The ones I have came in a set of One Stroke brushes.

For me, part of the fun is in the challenge of trying to get it right. And luckily with the exception of experienced painters like yourself, most people will think mine look pretty good. LOL

I enjoy watching videos because it always seems like magic when I see the painter create a thing of beauty with just brush strokes. I only have a few videos--one by Delane Lange, Donna Speigel and Donna Dewberry. Oh, and the new one I just got that plays on the computer.

I know I would love to watch you paint too--you have a real talent and a mastery of strokework. Hopefully, you do keep some of your creations for your own enjoyment too. Do you ever look at one of your pieces and think "Wow, that looks really good--and I did it!" I've looked at some of mine and still can't believe I painted it--even though I KNOW I did! Ha ha

Thanks for sharing your beautiful work with us.

Luvs

Wow, paintingfool, if those are the bad ones what do the good ones look like? Those are really good.
Blue

For some reason, roses always came easy for me. Luvs, when you talk about the shabby chic type of rose it reminds me of a painter named Trudy Beard, she has several books out. She does a very soft rose. Another is Diane Richards (the girl is her design) and the scroll work is put on first with graphite paper and I simply traced it with paint. The others are all freehand. I must admit I hate taking the time to transfer a design so I do a lot of freehand. For my favorite painting that I have kept is actually a pastel rose done on 600 grit artists sandpaper. I thought the teacher was nuts for wanting to paint on sandpaper but it was the thing to grab the pastel paints and it hangs over my fireplace. My daughter wants it very much and keeps hoping it will be a Christmas present but my husband likes it also - guess I need to paint another one in pink. The second photo is an Elizabeth Pruitt Hayes design. I took a class with her last year and did not finish mine - we took the class in a cabinet warehouse and there was no heat and I nearly froze - but you know how painters are - even with steam coming from our mouths, we stayed to paint. Anyway, her design is a little looser and done in oils to allow more painting time. I love everything I do but I also know the mistakes which is ok. I think anyone who is willing to try something knowing it will take time, patience and practice and do it with passion - what more can I say, whatever they do can not be bad. I have seen your roses and I think you do a marvelous job. When I teach I always tell my students that you have to really see what you are painting and then when you put the brush to the canvas, you have to feel the brush. Most of us look at a rose and just see a rose, but painters will look at it and see the texture,the shapes of the petals, the colors and in our minds we are describing it and breaking it down. My husband once told me he knew when I became a real painter - instead of saying the sky was blue, I said the sky was Kings Blue with a touch of Payne's Gray (I was painting in oils at the time).
Blue, thanks for the kind words. I love it when someone likes a painting so I usually give it away. I paint on just about everything - even my hard hat from my job has roses painted on it!! I didn't have to worry about the contractors borrowing it after I painted it.

I forgot to post the photos. {{!gwi}}{{!gwi}}

Absolutely beautiful! The first one is on sandpaper? The second one looks like a photo it's so defined, I love the grapes too.
Blue

Blue, can you believe it? Sandpaper! I just knew I would have no skin left on my fingers but once you apply the pastel chalk and pencils, it is very smooth. The pink roses are by Elizabeth Hayes, mine is not finished, I still have some work on the roses to do but the way she taught it was so we would not be so tight when trying to define the petals. And the silver was unbelievably easy - of course I don't know if I could do it again. I love painting with oils to get a realistic affect and acrylic is for my cute Santas and stroke roses. I wish everyone would post more pictures, I get inspired by what others are doing.

Paintingfool, those two paintings are just AWESOME! You do BEAUTIFUL work.

I do believe these need to be posted on the gallery at the Painting forum--some painters might not see them over here.

I think I will be totally afraid to show pics of any of my feeble attempts at roses now! Ha ha

Not really--I know my limitations and am happy just to paint because I enjoy it. I enjoy quick and easy projects that are fun to paint. I'll leave the more complicated things to the experts like you--and just Ooh and Ahh over your's.

Luvs

KayJones - I have a good friend with the same name, how funny. Thanks for your nice words.
Luvs, You have the right attitude, paint because you enjoy it. I do some things well and others not so well. There is always room for improvement. Sure wish you lived near me, I think we would have a good time painting.

I agree, we could chat and paint up a storm. I don't have anyone here that paints. I should have taken classes before our last little painting store closed so that I would have met some other painters. Was working full time plus then, and just didn't make the time to do it. It is always more fun with a friend. You sort of motivate and encourage each other. Now it helps just to know that the group on the forum look forward to pics of any projects we paint. It is so fun to see what everyone has been working on. Happy New Year. Luvs

Gorgeous roses-- absolutely amazing! Wow! You've achieved on canvas (and sandpaper?!!) what I can only see in my mind.

And-- Luvstocraft-- interesting about the videos. It sounds a bit like the one video I have. I hope, in spite of the filming quality, they help.

Our local flower conservatory does offer botanical painting classes and I've considered taking a class there if the schedule permits. It likely would be more scientific than artistic, but I think it might at least give me some structure, and I could go more "artistic" from there later.

-Jenn
http://web.mac.com/thriftshopromantic/iWeb/

Jenn, I've watched the videos twice now--they are okay even if not professional quality. Sort of fun actually since their one eyed cat even makes an appearance! LOL The lady is painting on luggage and it comes out very nice, and she makes it look easy. Guess what? I started out to go help a friend with her checkbook today and had some extra time to kill--stopped at a local TS and found a hard sided small piece of luggage for only 99 cents! Will be fun to see if I can make it look similar to the ones on the video! I'll have to take before and after pics and post them on here for all of you to see. Might be awhile--got another project to do for Valentine's first. Just love it when things work out this way. Luvs

Luvstocraft-
What a neat idea, painting on luggage... Did she do a topcoat over it when she was done, and if so, what kind? I'd be kind of afraid it would crack/rub off otherwise due to handling...

Your thrift store deal on your luggage was terrific. Don't ya love it when craft projects are both fun and inexpensive? Oh, I hope you'll post pics when you're done.

--Jenn
http://web.mac.com/thriftshopromantic/iWeb/

Jenn, She cleans the luggage then sprays a coat of Kilz on it. Then uses acrylics to paint a multi-colored background just by "dabbing" paint on with a good sized cheap brush. Then she paints on the roses, and uses a few coats of spray on sealer. Some of them, she then adds new fabrics to the insides to make prettier. These are more for decorations in the house--not for using for travel. I would love to find a couple of the old cosmetic cases--would be fun to paint and not take up so much space to display. Guess I'll keep my eyes open for them at GS and TS this year. Yes, I love fun, inexpensive projects--only kind I am willing to do. LOL

Interesting! I see! Oh, that would be really lovely in a cottage or shabby chic room...Good for general storage and everything. Clever.

I can't seem to see all of the pictures on the website. I've never posted, only visited. Anyone know why I might not be able to see them?
Thanks

can someone tell me how you are seeing the pics, i cant see any of them roses that are shown in the pictures :(

I believe once the original poster deletes the pix, it cannot be viewed.

yeh i believe they have been deleted, im so new here, looking for ways to learn the soft roses, ive learned several ways but still not where i want to be with a natural soft look, so im on the hunt for new ideas and artist that may be sharing thier secrets . love looking at others work on roses, i love a nice soft plamp pink rose.just makes my day !

bcbuttery ~~ Welcome to Gardenweb!

Well this thread has convinced me. I've been considering doing patterns for realistic roses for a while and haven't acted upon it. I think I will, I really may.
Of course this was posted a loooong time ago - so I'm really behind. There is a book I recommend that helped me bunches on my site. I'll include the link. Book is upper right corner
But I just found this site and I love it!

Devonia

Here is a link that might be useful: Many Shades of Shabby by Devonia