Work in Progress: Edge of Summer II & Beauty Queen

The effort on the quarter sheet orchid painting continues... I have added another layer of paint on most petals. They look awfully dark right now, but when the darker background is added these petal colors should pale by comparison -- they are now light to medium range in value. I have introduced Alizarin Crimson and Quinacridone Gold in the darker shadow areas of the flower on the left, which should be more integrated into the background when the painting is finished (hopefully...). When painting multiple flowers, I try to keep in my mind that only one of them should be in the center of stage and therefore painted with greater focus, harder edges and more dramatic value contrasts. The other blossoms should play successively receding role of support elements, with respect to their distance to the flower at the center of attention. These "supporting characters" should be painted with increasingly softer, more blurred edges and diminishing value contrast as well as chromatic intensity, so that they do not draw the viewer's eye as much and compete with the center-stage flower. I try very hard not to paint everything with the same degree of sharpness -- not always successfully, I should say, but that's the goal I'm striving for.

Edge of Summer II, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, WIP 2

I also worked on the smaller rose painting, "Beauty Queen", a little more, glazing over background areas with mixtures of Quinacridone Gold, Peacock Blue, Winsor Green and Permanent Rose to make the darker shadow areas on leaves. They look a bit too hard-edged and unnatural right now, but the entire background area will be painted over wet-in-wet later to create a softer-focus effect, so I'm not worried about it right now. My goal of the underpainting stage is to put in the right color temperature indication with higher chroma, and create the right shapes of different value groups (light, medium and dark). When in doubt, I always put in more information with harder edges and brighter colors in the underpainting, because I know they can be "painted away" in the much more thickly applied overpainting stage. It's easier to dull down a color that is too bright by painting over it, but in watercolor, trying to brighten a color has has become too dull or muddy is almost impossible...

I also started to mingle pinks and lavenders on the rose petal to create its lovely blush. I am wetting larger areas than the ones I intend for the paint to cover so that there wouldn't be a harsh hard edge forming between each petal. When such hard line forms by accident, I am trying my best to catch it when the area it surrounds is still damp, and soften it using a damp brush. This takes a lot of time and patience and I am progressing very slowly on this painting. But it's totally worth the effort! I am in love with the lovely pink which evokes the joy of summer days...

Beauty Queen, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 7"h x 5"w, WIP 4