Finishing the rose

First a quote...how do you know when someone is serious about watercolor?

When the hairdryer is no longer in the bathroom but in the paint area .thanks, Sarah.

Working on the leaves

For the leaves and stems, under-paint it all with yellow or yellow green.

With a sap green or a mixed green ...I used french ultramarine with yellow or pthalo with quin gold...paint around the veins. It may help to lightly draw in veins first. Curve the veins to match the curve of the leaf. When you are done with this step, the veins will look yellow. 

This step you need cerulean blue...or a green blue...and red or orange for the tips. When the leaf is dry, glaze it with cerulean. This should not turn the leaf blue, just change the green. While the paint is wet, with a small brush, dab orange or red into the tips of the serrations, letting it bleed into the blue green of the leaf. The orange should not be watery, but a thicker consistency than the glaze color. Otherwise you might get blossoms instead of a blend.

For stems, mix your green and have an orange or burnt sienna ready. Cover the stem with green, and while wet, drop in orange (or b. Sienna or warm red) along one edge of the stem to create the reddish variations you find on rose stems. Also wet the thorn areas and drop paint in the tip of the thorn. I used the same pink as the flower.

For the bud, paint it in the rose color and dry. Paint in the green, and darken one edge to create a rounded effect. When it is dry, darken the underside of the sepal on the right.

Painting the petals is often a lot of push and pull between darkening shadows and lifting hilights, and adjusting warm and cool colors. In the picture below I want to show the value of having a transparent blue to cool areas. I love using cobalt blue in cooler areas, such as the petals that face the sky.

When you want a petal to show a curve or curl, you take advantage of three things: change of value, change of temperature, and soft rather than hard edges. The inner edge may be warm, the outer side cool, with a soft highlight lifted at the curve.

I always save lifting for the last step bc it can damage the paper. For achieving a soft edge I just use clean water on a brush, lift paint, and blot. But for a small, hard edged area, like the center of this flower, I use masking tape, leaving an opening where I want to lift. Then I can use a damp sponge or mr. Clean to remove the paint. Wait until it dries to remove tape so you don't risk tearing the paper.

I lifted areas that I want to feel more rounded 

Here you can see where I lifted highlights on some petals 

Last week I showed creating the background first. You can also do it at the end. After your painting is dry, tape off a window and loosely paint in the colors you want for the background. Dry before removing the tape.