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Start Art 5 40 RT START www.painters-online.co.uk 22 Paint the other bud in the same way, then use the red and green mixes to paint the stems and thorns at the bottom. Deepen the red with brown madder for shading. This red mix can also be used for the veins of leaves 23 Wet the paper on the left-hand side right to the edge of the paper, then drop in a cobalt blue wash a finger’s width from the painting and draw the wash towards the flowers 24 If the paper is still wet, continue adding a faint blue backdrop around the flower. If it is dry or merely damp, allow it to dry completely, then re-wet it and continue until the background is completed. Where the background is completely enclosed by the picture, you can paint the blue wet-on-dry 25 At this point, allow your painting to dry completely and decide if there is anything you would like to accentuate. In this case, I would like the central flower to be warmer. Add a glaze of cadmium lemon and quinacridone gold. Use a size 10 brush and take it swiftly over the area or areas that you wish to deepen 26 Add a touch of the green mix to one of the lower petals. This increases the contrast between the cool and warm colours and adds to the impact 27 Lift out part of the central flower’s lowest petal by running a clean, wet brush over it. Clean and dry the brush and repeat the process until a highlight is formed 28 Allow the central flower to dry completely, then make any other changes you feel are necessary. Once you are happy with the painting, allow it to dry thoroughly and remove the masking tape to finish. You can remove the pencil lines with a clean eraser if you wish Extract from Ready to Paint Watercolour Flowers , by Wendy Tait, published by Search Press. See page 32 for how to order