Deb Smith Watercolors

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.