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Is this all watercolor? From the workshop? I really like the textures on the skin. And there is a great dramatic feel to the painting. The little speckles work quite well. I’m thinking maybe the brown is not the right color or maybe too heavy. I’m not sure. Maybe moisten and blot it down some. Then just pick out some of the darkest darks.

Hi Ishbel, Beautiful! That center flower is a standout! The center really pulls me in. I also like the way the flowers are emerging from the sepals in the far left one. It looks like a birth.

@sam-mcwilliams Love your insights, they read like poetry!
I am hoping for soft with a bit of drama, I am thinking to keep darkest shadows to a minimum here, will keep posting updates.

@doug-milne Always nice to hear from you, I will keep plunking away here. It’s a fun winter subject, I’ve been trying to capture golds on white paper but am having much better success with Kraft.

@katylyness Great to hear from you. Are you thinking of burnt sienna or red violet instead of dark sepia for shadows then? I am continuing to play, moving on to the leaf for a bit…

Nice curling leaves.
On this one I’d like to see more of what you did with the daisy drawing. i.e. allow the paper tone to indicate values. I know with Kraft paper the struggle will be to keep those bright colors.

Nice practice page. I really like the way you have used the paper tone to indicate the values. That is not an easy feat, but really, when you get down to it, the essence of watercolor.

Thank you Doug – you gave me a bright spot in this day.

Well it looks like this was a good workshop!

Hi Bettina, nice pattern, colours and glow. The highlight would be a bit to the left. You could try putting some watercolour over this to get rid of the pencil marks and create a smooth shiny surface. We would see a cast shadow from the stem.

Excellent -that pink watercolour really did the trick. Now you can go back in and increase your darks where needed/overlaps with the colour pencil.

I like the highlight/shine you achieved on the flower.

You really have such a pleasing sensibility, Koshin. This is lovely to look at.

It is so gorgeous, Maureen. Wow. I love it as is, and looking at the photo, if you choose to put in that dark, crispy leaf and increase the darks in the shadow of the dried flower it really will be dramatic. Soft? Or dramatic? Which way will the path lead…

Yes – you can definitely get more tones and definition in the roots – have fun, we all love drawing roots.