How To Paint Grapes and Grape Leaves

While I’m debating what to create with my new paints by Martha and Plaid I thought I’d share a tutorial for how to paint grapes and grape leaves. Because guess what? Fall is right around the corner! Not that grapes are only for Fall. At least, not in my book. To me, they’re timeless, great décor for any time of the year.

A lot of people think painting grapes and grape leaves is difficult but it doesn’t have to be.

They’re just a bunch of circles or ovals.

I wrote the step-by-step instructions on each photo for those of you who don’t read all of my dribble, ok?

For anyone else, you can use this painting tutorial with any color, really. Purple, red, blue, even green.

You’ll also need White for highlighting and a darker shade of your basecoat for shading. Or brown.

Pretty simple, right?

1. Transfer the pattern
2. Basecoat the cluster
3. Highlight with semi-circles
4. Topcoat with original basecoat

And voila – grapes. But you really need some leaves too, don’t you think?

I’ll be honest, painting grape leaves used to puzzle me. They always wound up looking like ivy leaves. Until my ‘patron saints’ gave me actual grape leaves from their vineyard to reference for their wine room mural. Now they’re easy-peasy.

You can just print my template if you want, but if you read the steps, you can make any size grape leaf in any direction.

And while I think about it, you can also use these templates for things other than painting.

Patterns for fabric cut-outs, maybe.

Add some fusible web to the leaf cut-out and your can iron them on to just about anything.

Tablecloth, napkins, table runner, aprons, totebags, to name a few.

And if you do one of those projects, can you let me know? I always have big plans to do it but just wind up painting more tutorials.

Oh. Are we done drawing leaves? Let’s paint!

Two colors, folks! Green & Yellow, that’s it.

Use any green and any yellow you want.

You know, you could add some shading too, in a darker green, if you wanted. It’s up to you.

Done! How to paint grapes & grape leaves.

Consider this my first Fall painting tutorial. Which implies there will be more. Which will happen if all goes well in my life.

Huh. That’ll be a first. Nah, just kidding {not really}.

But if everything goes according to plan I’ll post a weekly Fall painting tutorial AND start Santa’s Workshop in September. Santa’s Workshop will be everything from painted gift ideas to painted home décor. Simple stuff, trust me.

And if everything goes really, really well, I might even do some blog buttons for Fall, Halloween & Santa’s Workshop.

I just might be pushing my luck with that one.