PEACH ROSE- CONQUERING WET IN WET

 I like to watch and follow other watercolor artists as much as anyone, and I enjoy some of the challenges. I enjoy learning something new from others. But when it comes down to it, I don't want to get so sucked in that I never do anything of my own. The purpose of watching others is to bring more skills to my own work.

Therefore, I present to you my latest rose. My husband said, "Flowers, AGAIN?" Truthfully, I haven't done much in the way of flowers for some months. I enjoy the wet in wet techniques and find it rather soothing to do flower petals. And I wanted to practice the leaves.

I drew this from a photo I found online, and I'd give credit if I could find it again. So sorry.

One of the challenges was to create this peach color without making it too orange-y. I used Quin Coral (or a warm red, such as cad medium) and new gamboge, watered down quite a bit, for the base colors. For deeper oranges I used quin burnt scarlet. For the leaves  used green gold, sap green, some green apatite genuine, and some purple. 

Before applying paint, erase lines to be very pale, but dark enough for you to see. *I just roll a gray kneaded eraser over the entire page to pick up extra pencil marks.

First step was to wash over the entire flower with the base peach color, very pale. I washed over all the greens with green gold and sap.

After the initial wash, check to be sure you haven't lost your lines. You need to understand what the petals look like, and not try to guess your way through the flower. 

When all was dry, I began the fun part of defining the petals. Some artists work from the center outward; I find it easier to find my way if I work from the outward petals in. Using a stronger blend of my peach color, I began the wet in wet process. I wet each petal one at a time. Then I added the peach color, encouraging it to travel and gradually become lighter toward the petal ends. I worked in a circular pattern around the flower so as to avoid running into an area that is still drying. Where I needed pinker color I added the coral into the mix. When I got to areas that were very dark and warm, I used quin burnt scarlet.

You can create a similar color to burnt scarlet by using your red and burnt sienna, adding a little orange if needed.