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Hi Margaret- you are off to a great start! The colors are beautiful and the stems and buds are looking wonderful. I understand your concern about the petals getting muddy, but you need more shading to give the flower dimension and form. Right now most of the petals appear very flat. Leave the highlight areas as white as possible and I would use faber-castell’s warm gray pencil to build up layers of tone to emphasize the curve of the petals and the shadows. Also remember that there will be a light side of the overall flower closest to the light source and a darker side furthest from the light source. Thinking of the peony flower as a sphere, as they usually are, will help guide you as to how it should be toned for form. Adding leaves behind the flowers will set the white flowers off more, but I really like the composition now and I would urge you not to add too many leaves if you decide to go that route. I don’t think you need to add leaves if you can create more contrast by working on the toning.