The glass reflections are coming along.

I apply paint to damp paper. After it dried, I scrubbed off the lightest areas.

Darks on the petals were added.

"Tree Peony"  - 7 1/2"x 10"

I was slaving over another small painting when I had enough of struggling with details. So I grabbed a sharpie, went looking for a sharp contrasted photo (found this one), and aimed for "more PASSION and less PERFECTION": a lot more fun than sweating over details.

watercolor on damp paper

I lifted off some of the highlighted flower tops and cleaned up the yellow petals where the reds ran into them.

Echinacea
I cropped the paper slightly to the image size 6 1/4" x 8 3/4"
I added some gouache to the yellow petals and the lime green in the background.

I painted this on Crescent illustration board. The color soaked in more than on Arches paper and I wasn't sure that I could lift off the whites. In this stage, I thought it was a failure. (The Failure Stage usually comes later).

I noticed that the background leaves got a grainy texture when I scrubbed the paint off.  The white petals were cleaned up easily from adding chinese white to them before painting.

I started adding the darkest darks to help me judge other values easier.  A goal of mine is to paint 2 or 3 layers of color - maximum. The less layers, the fresher/ less overworked a painting looks. I definitely did not meet that goal this time.

White Violets - Image Size 9" x 11"
Original available on my Etsy site HERE.

Tranquility - Image size 7 1/2" x 10"
I tried painting the foreground with "more passion, and less perfection." The areas of white paper showing through means that self-control was used to stop painting before all the paper was covered with green. (Takes practice)
Original available at my Etsy store HERE.

My "God sighting"; While painting yesterday, with my supplies sitting on the short black organizer, I thought how it'd be nice to have a taller one so that my supplies would be level to my painting table.

Guess what my neighbor across the street put out for FREE today!! And as I'm lugging it home, I'm thinking, "I don't even remember asking."    Wow God, Thank You!

introducing my Etsy site:https://www.etsy.com/shop/DebSmithWatercolors?ref=search_shop_redirect

Watercolor on damp paper

I lift off the lightest whites and add the deepest pinks.

 I start adding darks

Pink Rose 4" x 6"
Initially, I made the shadowed petals too dark, so I scrubbed the dark off and just added some darker areas between the petals to define them. It's a process to paint delicate rose petals in shadow without making them look too 'heavy'. They should look light and airy.

watercolor on damp paper

After everything was dry, I lifted off the highlights (chinese white had been applied to those areas before the first wash of colors) Then I started adding darks.

I added the refections on the glass.

Wine with Grapes (7" x 10")

"Roses in silver" (4 1/2" x 6 1/2")
I used a little gouache on the rose petals because they were too dark.

Fishing Boat Reflections (4 1/2" x 7 1/2")

A Day in Paradise (5"x 7")

watercolor on damp paper

 White areas were lifted off (they were painted with chinese white before the paint was applied)

Adding darks

"Giraffe"
5" x 7 1/2"

Stage 1 of "Sheep with Lamb"
Watercolor on damp paper

Stage 2: Adding medium and dark values

Sheep with Lamb  7" x 10"

Brown and White Cow (5"x 7")

These are some random, 'just for fun', subjects. I was looking for something less detailed and complicated to paint.

Panda (5"x 7")

This gives some perspective on the "Tea with Lemon" painting size and how it hangs on a wall. The watercolor painting gets sealed with a varnish so it doesn't need to be behind glass.

"Tea with Lemon" 8"x 8"
Watercolor on Aquabord panel (ready to hang on the wall without frame or glass.)
This painting will be at the Lititz Historical Foundation on June 3rd, 5 - 9 pm in the Chinese auction.

This board is what is supplied to all the watercolor artists to paint their subject on. The choice of subject is Food, or Music.

Stage 1 of my donation: I decided on a still life with tea and lemon. I started with the tea cup and saucer.

I think the top, right area needed something to break up all that black space, so I added another yellow napkin.

The dark around the white dishes makes them stand out. Just like the dark night against the stars in the sky. The stars still shine during the day, it's just that we can't see them without the darkness. 

I'm starting to lift off the glass highlights on the juicer. I still have some work to do. I need to finish it before the end of May.

I start with the pinks and reds on damp paper (then quick took a photo)

then I add the yellows and greens

I didn't like how 'stiff' it looked with the colors in the lines, so I spritzed the edges of the flower with water.

The colors flowed into the background, I let the painting dry, then I lifted off the highlights.

After the painting dried, I started adding a dark background for contrast.

The background is still wet.

Day Lily  (7"x 10")
 I deepened some of the colors while trying to keep as much as the 'glow' as I could.