Beautiful job! You are much more skilled than I am so I’m not the one to advise you but I can’t help but give you my ideas. I think that traditionally the light toned stamens would be on a darker background since they are in front. . Looking at the flower photo however you could ignore tradition and have the background lighter in tone than the stamens. I do a lot of practice drawings first. What if you apply white pencil to the lightest petal areas first so you know where they are then you could shade the petals very very lightly with dark sepia and then apply white pencil over that. Or how about a very light grey watercolor wash on the petals and then apply white pencil and then bring the stamens out with light dark sepia?
Hi Pat- I tried googling the anatomy of a peony and could not find clear, concise information, so excuse me if my terminology is incorrect. It seems like you are off to a good start. Are you drawing this from the photo or did you bring a cut flower in to your studio? Remember if you are drawing based on this photo the flower being outside has many light sources and you have to work on what you know the shading would be based on a single light source instead of what you are seeing in the photo. There are many clues in the photo for the basic shading. The center around the green carpels should be darker and the carpels themselves should have some appropriate toning to convey their form. (In you photo I see 6 carpels and white stigmas and only 3 in your drawing). There should also be darker toning in between the pink strands. For the shading of the petals themselves a light gray would work and I see a lot of pink tones on some of the petals. You will get there!
I need suggestions on how to shade in the white petals. I am at a loss
Beautiful job! You are much more skilled than I am so I’m not the one to advise you but I can’t help but give you my ideas. I think that traditionally the light toned stamens would be on a darker background since they are in front. . Looking at the flower photo however you could ignore tradition and have the background lighter in tone than the stamens. I do a lot of practice drawings first. What if you apply white pencil to the lightest petal areas first so you know where they are then you could shade the petals very very lightly with dark sepia and then apply white pencil over that. Or how about a very light grey watercolor wash on the petals and then apply white pencil and then bring the stamens out with light dark sepia?
Hi Pat- I tried googling the anatomy of a peony and could not find clear, concise information, so excuse me if my terminology is incorrect. It seems like you are off to a good start. Are you drawing this from the photo or did you bring a cut flower in to your studio? Remember if you are drawing based on this photo the flower being outside has many light sources and you have to work on what you know the shading would be based on a single light source instead of what you are seeing in the photo. There are many clues in the photo for the basic shading. The center around the green carpels should be darker and the carpels themselves should have some appropriate toning to convey their form. (In you photo I see 6 carpels and white stigmas and only 3 in your drawing). There should also be darker toning in between the pink strands. For the shading of the petals themselves a light gray would work and I see a lot of pink tones on some of the petals. You will get there!