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.