I've been painting flowers for about 6 months, but they always feel so flat. I like the style I've developed, but I've been wanting to find a way to add a bit more interest and depth to my pieces. The first item I'm posting is a sketch of floral bouquet I drew yesterday. I referenced a bouquet from my Pinterest board to help me with the structure.

Working on Dropped Flowers - image 1 - student project

And here is my sketch of it:

Working on Dropped Flowers - image 2 - student project

I totally froze after sketching it and got too nervous to try to paint over it (or erase lines before painting!!), so I set it aside and started working on dropped flowers to see if I could get the hang of it. I had a hard time with adding the layers because the paint seemed to be drying too quickly. I definitely need to step outside of my comfort zone and let more paper hit the water. I usually paint in a fairly dry style since it allows me to have a bit more control. Here are the two roses I've tried so far:

Working on Dropped Flowers - image 3 - student project

Working on Dropped Flowers - image 4 - student project

I'm going to try painting a bouquet off of the sketch that I did, but on a fresh sheet of paper. I'll post the results, if it turns out.

BREAKTHROUGH! I quit using my pan paints (like you recommended) and bought some gel food coloring (thanks to an instagram recommendation from @honeybopdesigns). This stuff is AMAZING! Here is my first try at a bouquet. I feel like it needs a bit more detail or background coloring, but I got too nervous and decided I should set it down before I overdo it. :)

Working on Dropped Flowers - image 5 - student project

Susan Lentz

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