I haven’t finished my watercolour yet, but I wanted to do an update post about how far I have got with it. I have progressed a lot since I last posted a photo of it, and have come to the point where I think it is time to stop adding details on the petals. This is – as I have said before – something that is very hard to do, as the temptation to just carry on adding detail in indefinitely is very great – especially given the level of texture that is in the petals of the flower. However, if I were to continue adding the details, it would just muddy the final effect, and I would (as I did with my initial pen and ink drawing) completely lose the definition that I was aiming to create in the first place. This has already happened a few times, I feel, but as it is my first watercolour illustration and I am using it purely as a learning experience, I am pleased and proud overall.
I know that there are several elements that aren’t perfect – I need to work on the tones (the white sections aren’t nearly as pure as they are in the photograph, due to my need to create shadow and texture with darker tones), the detailing (again, here I need to buy and use new, finer equipment – namely brushes – that will allow me to achieve much greater levels of detail with much greater accuracy than I am currently achieving) and, as I have already said, not adding too much colour or paint to a section (there were several instances when I wished that I hadn’t added such a dark tone to the painting, but this has helped me to understand why the layering of diluted layers is so crucial).
The only section left now is the centre of the flower, with the stamen, which is the most detailed and fiddly part (which is part of the reason that I have left it until last) due to the small scale.
