In this beginner-friendly acrylic painting lesson, I take you through a simple, step-by-step cherry blossom tree inspired by the energy and movement you see in Van Gogh’s work. I keep it really approachable: an easy drawing to get you started, then we build the painting in layers so you can see exactly where the texture and brushstrokes come from. The big takeaway is that you don’t need loads of colours to make something lively—just a bit of confidence in mixing. I paint this using Liquitex soft-bodied acrylic on card, and I limit the palette to the three primaries plus white. That restriction is intentional, because it forces you to learn colour mixing properly (and it stops the overwhelm that can happen when you’re new to acrylics). By the end, you’ll have a bright, impressionistic tree with plenty of movement in the marks—plus you’ll understand how to mix your own greens, pinks, and shadow tones from a tiny set of paints.