Van Gogh's Sunflowers Quilling Painting

There is no doubt in my love for Van Gogh's art. I have made a tribute to his Starry Night by turning it into a cake and now it is the colorful Sunflowers' turn. In this project I will show you how to turn a painting into a paper quilling.

Let's get started!

1. Colorful Paper
2. Thick Paper
3. Paper trimmer
4. Dotting tool
5. Glue
6. Scissors
7. Pencil
8. Chalk pastels
9. Brush

The first step in this project is to make a rough sketch of the painting. Use a reference photo and start lightly sketching each sunflower and the vase. You can also print the painting and use it as a template.

Next you need to cut the paper into thin strips. I would highly recommend to use a paper trimmer - it makes the process go a lot smoother and faster. Cut 0.5 mm thick strips of each color. Alternatively you can use a ruler and an X-acto knife.

This is where the fun begins.

Using the dotting tool apply small amounts of glue to the outlines of the vase.Take a neutral colored paper strip and glue it down.Fold the paper gently where needed.Once you have the outlines of the vase cut the excess paper.

Repeat the previous step until you have the outlines of the vase.

Begin working on the painting.

To make the brown florets take a lighter brown paper strip and start rolling it tightly in-between your fingers. Once you roll it put a dot of glue at the end of the strip and press gently. You now have the inner floret ready.

To make the outer floret repeat the previous step with a darker brown color.

Next up are the green florets.

Take a darker green paper strip and roll it tightly in-between your fingers. Once rolled,let it loosen up a bit.Apply a small amount of glue to the edge and press down.

Depending on the shape you want to achieve you can press the circle with your fingers on one side to get a teardrop shape or on both sides to get an eye shape.

Repeat the previous step to achieve a teardrop shaped brown petal.

Using a lighter beige paper strips start making rectangular sections inside the vase. Apply a small amount of glue with the dotting tool and press the strips lightly.

Continue making teardrop shaped petals with yellow and orange paper strips. To have a variety of shapes you can press the petals down and make them thinner.

To make smaller petals start the same process: roll the strip in-between your fingers and once you are happy with the size of your circle cut the rest of the strip off. Glue the loosened circle down and press it to achieve the teardrop shape.

Assemble each sunflower - glue down the brown floret first. Next up are the colorful yellow and orange petals.

A tip I have is to assemble them without the glue to see where to position each petal and then proceed to gluing.

When you glue the petals and florets there will be a leftover blank space. To fill it up you can either make more florets or try the method I will be showing you.

Take a beige paper strip and start creating a zigzag shape out of it. Don't worry about it being perfect - the messier the better.

Once it's done glue it down to the blank spaces. Repeat the process with as many strips as you need.

Creating the stems is as easy as creating the petals - roll the paper in-between your fingers, loosen it up and flatten the circle. Pinch the four sides to make a rectangle and glue it.

Using the instructions from the previous steps create as many petals and florets as you need. Start assembling the painting - add the florets first and the petals next.

Repeat the zigzag paper method from step 13 to fill up any blank spaces.

From this point on it's a repeat of the previous steps - make the florets,make the zigzag pattern and glue everything.

Keep assembling the sunflowers.

Make different shades of green florets for the lower flowers and add some beige zigzag strips.

Keep adding more florets and petals until you are happy with the way your painting is looking.

To fill the vase use beige paper strips and make eye shaped pieces. For each rectangle section of the vase you will need three pieces.

Glue them down in alternating directions.

The top and middle flowers don't have any petals so make different shades of beige zigzag strips and glue them down.

Move downwards and keep zigzaging and gluing.

Use the dotting tool to shape each zigzag strip to your liking.

Using the same method fill the upper part of the vase with zigzag strips.

Once you are happy with the quilling painting you can either fill the background with quilled strips using the zigzag method or you can use paints or chalk pastels. I chose to paint it with chalk pastels.

Paint the bottom half with a lighter beige color and smudge everything using your fingers.

Repeat the same process with a bright yellow for the upper part of the painting. To fill the small spaces in-between the quilled petals use a paintbrush.

Hang your work of art and admire it. You have created a stunning piece of paper art!

Thank you for reading this Instructable.

Happy crafting.