Quick answer: Flowers are the most painted paint by numbers subject of all, and the easiest ones are the simplest shapes: sunflowers (big petals, a dark center, a plain sky), tulips, poppies and lavender fields, where the flowers become rows of soft purple strokes. Roses and peonies are the most beautiful and the most work, because every petal is built from four or five close shades of the same color. A single bloom or a vase on a plain background paints faster than a whole meadow; a meadow is more forgiving because nobody can see where one flower ends. Paint the greens and the background first, the petals next, and every white or yellow petal twice. Expect 15 to 25 hours for a bouquet and 25 to 40 for a field.
There is a reason flowers outsell everything else in the shop: they look good in any room, nobody needs to recognize a face, and a finished bouquet never wilts. But flower designs are not all alike. This guide goes bloom by bloom — roses, sunflowers, peonies, lavender, wildflowers — and explains which paint easily, which take patience, and how to make petals look like petals rather than flat shapes.
What you will find in this guide
Why flowers paint so well
A numbered canvas turns every picture into shapes of flat color, and flowers already are shapes of flat color. A petal is one shape with a lighter edge and a darker base; a leaf is one shape with a vein. The designer does not have to invent much, so the sections stay honest to the picture and the finished canvas looks like the photo on the box.
Flowers are also forgiving in a way that faces and buildings are not. If a petal edge wanders a little, it is still a petal. If a green comes out slightly off, it is still a leaf. That is why the flowers collection is where most people begin, and why many never leave it.
Sunflowers: the easiest place to start
A sunflower is a dark circle, a ring of large yellow petals and a plain background. Three colors do most of the work, the sections are big, and the result is bright enough to hang in a kitchen the day it is finished. The Bee on a Sunflower is a single bloom close up, with the bee as the one small, fun detail. Mariia Sukalova's Bright Sunflower Close-Up on the square 40 × 40 cm canvas is the same idea with a painterly background. For a whole field, her Sunflower Field at Sunset adds a warm sky and rows that get smaller toward the horizon.
Difficulty: easy. Time: 12 to 20 hours for a single bloom, 20 to 30 for a field. If you want the famous version, the Van Gogh sunflowers are covered in our Van Gogh guide.
Roses: beautiful, and the most work
A rose is the opposite of a sunflower. Its petals curl over each other, so each one has a lit side, a shaded side and a rolled edge, and the designer needs four or five reds or pinks to show it. That means more sections, smaller sections, and shades that look nearly identical in the pot. The reward is the richest flower on canvas.
Two ways to make roses easier. First, choose a design with a few large roses rather than a bush of small ones: the Bouquet of Pink Roses has generous blooms and soft, loose edges in the painterly style, and the Ladybug on a Rose is one bloom filling the whole canvas. Second, keep the pots in number order and paint one pink at a time across every rose, so you never have to guess which of three pinks is open. The Valentine Roses and Teacup and Macarons and Roses pair a few roses with simple objects, which gives you restful sections between the petals.
Difficulty: medium to hard. Time: 20 to 35 hours.
Peonies and big soft blooms
Peonies have as many petals as roses but they are rounder and fluffier, and in a painterly design they are drawn as soft clouds of pink rather than individual curls. That makes them easier than they look. Pink Peonies in a Vase is the gentlest of the vase designs: three or four big blooms, a simple vase, a quiet background. The Blue Flowers in a Ceramic Vase works the same way in blue, and Lily of the Valley with Red Bow is small white bells on a plain ground — mostly background, with the detail saved for the end.
Difficulty: medium. Time: 18 to 28 hours.
Lavender and flower fields
Lavender is the field flower that paints best, because a lavender field is really a pattern: long purple rows, a strip of sky, maybe a tree. The sections are long and easy to fill, and the color does the rest. Lavender Fields at Sunset has the classic view, rows running away toward a warm evening sky. Sukalova's Hill of Blue Flowers and Lone Tree and Blue Flowers are the blue cousins, and Windmill in Bloom puts tulip rows in front of a Dutch windmill.
One tip for fields: the rows nearest you are painted with the most colors, the far rows with the fewest. Start at the horizon and work toward yourself, and the picture builds its own depth.
Difficulty: easy to medium. Time: 20 to 30 hours.
Wildflowers, meadows and mountain trails
A wildflower meadow looks like the hardest flower design and is in fact one of the most relaxing, because nothing in it has to be exact. The flowers are dots and dashes of color scattered across green, and the design turns them into small, scattered sections you fill in whenever you like. The Mountain Wildflower Trail and Honey and Wildflowers are the realistic versions; Sukalova's Blooming Meadow at Sunset, Alpine Ridge with Blooming Meadow and Pink Flower Field in the Mountains are the painterly ones, with mountains and lakes behind the flowers. Her Coastal Cliffs with Pink Flowers adds the sea, which brings us to our ocean and beach guide.
Difficulty: medium, but very forgiving. Time: 25 to 40 hours, because there are many small sections.
Vase or field: which to choose
| Design type | What it is like to paint | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Single bloom close up | Few colors, large sections, quick | First canvas, a bright kitchen picture |
| Bouquet or vase | Medium sections, several shades per flower, calm background | A dining room or bedroom, a gift |
| Lavender or tulip rows | Long easy sections, strong pattern | Anyone who likes order and color |
| Wildflower meadow | Many small sections, nothing has to be exact | Long winter evenings, people who dislike edges |
| Six mini paintings | Six small flower pictures, one or two hours each | A gallery wall, short sessions |
For the small format, the Flowers in Vintage Teacups set and the Simple Wildflower Rounds hang well as a group; our mini paintings guide explains how. If you would rather send a flower than hang one, the Blooming Florals postcards are painted and mailed.
Painting petals, greens and whites
- Greens first. Leaves and stems are usually the largest areas and the darkest, and petals look brighter once the green is around them. Paint the background and all the greens before you open a single flower color.
- One shade across every flower. Flower designs use three to five close shades of one color. Open the darkest, paint it everywhere it appears, close it, then the next. You will never mix up two pinks that look the same in the pot.
- Whites and yellows get two coats. Pale petals are thin over the printed numbers. Paint them once, let them dry while you do something else, and paint them again. Do them after the darker neighbors so the edges stay clean.
- Brush in the direction of the petal. From the base of the petal outward, in one stroke if the section allows. Nobody will see the strokes from across the room, but the surface catches the light more naturally.
- Leave the centers for last. Stamens, dewdrops and the dark heart of a sunflower are tiny sections. Save them for a fresh evening and the smallest brush, as our techniques guide suggests.
- A matte varnish suits flowers. Gloss can make petals look plastic. Our sealing guide explains the choice.
Frequently asked questions
Which flower paint by numbers is easiest for a beginner?
A single sunflower, tulip or poppy close up: big petals, a plain background and only a handful of colors. A lavender field is the easiest of the landscapes.
Are roses hard to paint by numbers?
They are the most demanding flower, because each petal uses several close shades. Choose a design with a few large roses, paint one shade at a time across all of them, and they come out beautifully.
How long does a flower canvas take?
A single bloom 12 to 20 hours, a bouquet 18 to 30, a wildflower meadow 25 to 40. Most people finish a standard 16 × 20 inch canvas in two to four weeks of evenings.
Why do my white petals look patchy?
White is thin and the printed numbers show through. Give pale colors a second coat once the first is dry, and paint them after the darker colors next to them.
Should I paint the background or the flowers first?
Background and greens first. They are the biggest areas, they give quick progress, and the flower colors look brighter once they are surrounded.
Do flower kits come with a frame?
Every standard canvas is offered with or without a wooden frame. The painterly Mariia Sukalova designs come on 40 × 40 or 40 × 50 cm canvas; see our framing guide for the options after painting.
Pick a bloom
Start with a sunflower if you want it finished by the weekend, a lavender field if you want calm rows to fill, and a bouquet of roses or peonies if you want the picture you will keep longest. The whole range is in the flowers collection, the painterly canvases are under Mariia Sukalova, and the smaller sets are in mini paint by numbers. If this is your first kit, our first evening guide takes you from the box to the first petal.
