I hate roses!

They're beautiful and fragrant but they're so complicated!!!!  Every so often I need to challenge myself to paint something I don't enjoy, so here's my WIP of yellow (in for a penny, in for a pound!) roses.

I started by wetting the paper after very lightly sketching in the basic shapes, then dropped in azo yellow, cad. yellow and quin. coral, then added some greens for background while the paper was drying, which left some good lost edges. Now I gradually built up the rose shapes with glazes....

See the ugly man in the rose on the left?  Now I had to get rid of him!  I also worked on the background.

The ugly man is starting to vanish!  I gradually shaped the roses by adding shadows.

 

Sick of yellow, I did a little green leaf and the rose bud on the right

And this is where it stands now, the roses are taking shape nicely!

Iris from life

It's always good to get your observational skills honed by painting from life, but I'm ashamed to admit that I rarely do so.  I don't enjoy painting out of doors, there are too many distractions and the light changes constantly.  Last week a single flower snapped from its stem and I brought it inside to paint it quickly, before it wilted.

Wasn't it a stunner?  My friend Janet said "that's not a flower, it's a floozy!" and I agree!  I went straight in with the paintbrush, no pencil sketch, and was amazed at how well it turned out.  I added an invented stem and foliage and here's the result: