Colour Burst step 1 and 2

OK. Now I'm embarrassed by the length of time since my last post. What can I say? Work and life have gotten in the way of painting. The good news is that this blog will once again be a lot more active. I have three paintings to be done before June so I'll be painting whenever I'm not working. The good news is that I am retiring as of Aug 1 so I will be devoting a lot more time to my art.

This new painting is for a show at our local museum with my art club. The theme of the show is "Bright Earth" so I thought the reference photo I took a couple of years ago of a water lily in my pond would suite the theme. It is 25 x 21" on Fabriano Artistico 300 lb paper with a variety of artist quality watercolours.

Step 1
I started with the background because I wasn't sure if I could do the blurry shadows. After a couple of washes and some scrubbing then another wash over top, it looks like I wanted it to. I also couldn't resist starting the first washes on the center of the lily although it was more for placement of  the stamens than accuracy of colour.

 Step 2
I added more washes of greys to the background as well as dark details in the reflections. I also blocked in a few of the green leaves to get an initial wash on them. I'll leave the flower for last as it will be the most fun.