Are We THERE Yet???

Here we go ... from the top ...

This was a bit of a scary stage. But then I thought  it's only paper!
I wet the entire background, and very carefully stroked in two different mixtures - a dark blue/gray and a dark blue/green. I don't usually do this sort of w/w application, and was worried the colors would explode all over the page. I think it has given a good impression of the out-of-focus branches.

This is where I am now. I thought about darkening some of the background branches, but I believe it would ruin the overall delicacy of the painting. So I have darkened the main branch and some of the petal centers in the focal area, and  it is done!

As always, your comments are most welcome!

Doing It's Thing

I've been trying to think of a way to paint dead hydrangea. This I started with a w/w, go where you will, wash of quin. gold and quin. siena. I must admit, I like the shapes even at this early stage.

Again, all done w/w, painting groups of petals. I am using quin. pink, alizarin crimson, quin. burnt orange, cobalt blue and indanthrone blue. 

I am at this point now, and am quite excited about how it is coming along.
This will be about 6 x 8 inches when finished.

I am also re-doing this chicken, trying to keep her nice and loose.

I needed something else, something loose, to work on with the larger hydrangea painting.  It's quite a controlled painting, and all those greens are a bit much to look at for long. I also wanted to get out of the old comfort zone and into a smaller format.

As always, your comments are so welcome!