Peony: Mastering Watercolor Floral Painting

1. Welcome: Welcome to my Skillshare class. In this tutorial, we'll delve into the intricate process of creating a stunning floral painting step by step. I'm Chris, a watercolor artist online teacher, and your guide for this skillshare tutorial. Today we'll focus on painting a beautiful peony, capturing its delicate petals and vibrant hues. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced artist, this tutorial will guide you through the techniques needed to bring this flower to life on paper. Throughout this class, I will show you step by step, how to paint this fabulous flower. I'll provide you with helpful resources that will help you with this project, and I'll guide you in every step of the way. The tutorial is thoughtfully divided into short, manageable segments. In each part, we'll focus on a small part of the painting, bringing it all together step by step like a jigsaw puzzle. Join me on this creative journey, and let's get started. 2. Project and Resources: Thank you for choosing to be a part of the artistic journey with me. It's an honor to have you here In this class. I've prepared some helpful resources for your project, which you can access in the projects and resources section. There you'll find a PDF file containing a list of the supplies I used for this particular painting, a reference photo, and my finished painting to guide you. Line drawings are available in different sizes that you can print and transfer into your watercolor paper, allowing you to choose the size that suits your preferences. I painted this on a 12 by nine size. Additionally, there are working progress photos that will help you follow the process and focus on specific areas. Feel free to explore these resources and use them to create your unique and beautiful painting. It would be great to see your results. Please don't hesitate to share your progress shots and the final painting with the class in the projects and resources section. I also strongly recommend that you take a look at each other's work in the student project gallery. It's always inspiring to see others work and extremely comforting to get the support of your fellow students. Don't forget to like and comment on each other's work. Lastly, I highly recommend watching each lesson before you start your painting. This will help you get a better understanding of what to expect in each part of the tutorial. If you find this class helpful, I would greatly appreciate it. If you could leave an honest review, Your feedback will help me create better content and assist other students in deciding whether to take this class. Thank you in advance. 3. My Art Supplies: In this video, I'd like to share with you a general overview of my art supplies that I regularly use. I think I should mention first that I'm not the type of person who constantly buys new art supplies and experiments with them. I use the same supplies all the time. They work well for me and I've learned how to make the most out of them, which also helps me save money. Instead of buying five new colors that I might only use once for creating a color swatch, I prefer investing in books, for example. Don't get me wrong, Experimenting with new art supplies and regularly buying new materials can offer many benefits to artists. Let's take a look at some pros and cons of trying out new art materials. It can spark fresh ideas and inspiration. Different mediums, colors and textures may lead to unique artistic expressions and help break through creative blocks. Exploring new art supplies often involves learning new techniques and approaches. This continual learning process contributes to the development of artistic skills and broadens artists tool kit. Having a diverse range of art supplies allows for greater versatility in artistic expression. Artists can switch between different mediums and tools based on the specific requirements of a project, leading to more dynamic and varied artwork. Experimenting with new materials can push an artist out of their comfort zone. The willingness to explore and take risks fosters personal growth and encourages artistic development. The art world is continually evolving with new technologies and new materials. Staying up to date with the latest art supplies ensures that an artist remains relevant in the contemporary art scene. Trying out new art supplies often involves problem solving. Artists may need to figure out how to manipulate a new medium or adapt their techniques, enhancing their problem solving skills and creative thinking. The excitement of using a new art supply or discovering a new technique can reignite motivation and passion for creating art. This enthusiasm is essential for maintaining a consistent and fulfilling artistic practice. As technology advances, so do the quality and capabilities of art supplies. Trying out new products allows artists to explore improved formulations, leading to potentially better results in their work. Different art supplies offer unique ways to convey emotions and messages. And experimenting with a variety of materials allows artists to find the ones that best suit their personal style and enable them to express themselves more authentically. And the least goes on. On the flip side, here are some potential reasons why. Some may argue that it's not always good. Art supplies can be expensive, and constantly buying new materials without a plan or purpose may strain your budget. It's good to be mindful of your spending, especially if you're not using all the supplies you've accumulated. Relying on new and varied art supplies might distract from the development of fundamental artistic skills. A proficient artist can create impressive works with basic tools. The emphasis should be on mastering techniques rather than relying on specific supplies. Accumulating a vast array of art supplies can lead to clatter and storage challenges. Too many supplies can make it difficult to find what you need constantly. Buying new art supplies contributes to waste, especially if the materials are not fully used. It's essential to consider the environmental impact of your artistic practices and try to minimize unnecessary consumption. Some artists argue that working with limitations, such as a restricted set of materials, can actually enhance creativity. Constraints can force you to think outside the box and find innovative solutions within your existing toolkit. Too much emphasis on trying out new supplies may distract from the core of artistic expression. The concept or message you want to convey through your art. Focusing on the meaning behind your work is crucial, regardless of the materials used. Constantly seeking and buying new supplies may foster a consumerist mentality where the joy comes from acquiring new items rather than the creation process itself. This can lead to a cycle of chasing after the next trended material, rather than honing your artistic voice. May also create unrealistic expectations about the transformative power of materials. While quality supplies can enhance your work, the key to artistic success lies in your skills, techniques, and creative vision. Relying too heavily on the belief that new supplies will drastically improve your art may lead to disappointment and frustration. Constantly exploring and adapting new art supplies may lead to an unintentional shift towards popular trends rather than developing a unique personal style. As you can see, there are many elements that I believe are worth considering. And ultimately, it's a personal choice. I used to want to buy every art supplies I could afford. However, upon realizing that I didn't need them all, and having found supplies that I'm genuinely happy with, I stopped buying unnecessary items. Instead, I focused on the ones I have and I actually use. Now let's take a look at what I have. Let's begin with paper. Among brushes, paints, and paper, I consider paper to be the most crucial art supply. The quality of the paper significantly influences your painting experience and results. Use arches. Paper, which is made of 100% cotton cotton paper is often considered the top choice among artists. It has excellent absorbency, strength, and durability, making it suitable for various watercolor techniques. It provides the best results because paint behaves much better on it than on cheaper cellulose papers. The high quality paper is also more forgiving, making it easier to correct mistakes. Moving on to paints, I use Windsor and Newton professional grade paints. Professional grade paints, no matter what brand you use, offer excellent quality. They have more pigment, richer colors, and a longer lifespan than student grade paints. While professional grade paints are more expensive than student grade ones, they are truly worth the investment. It took me some time to collect all the colors I needed. I gradually bought one or two tubes at a time until I had a complete set. Now I rarely need to buy new tubes. They last a long time. I buy one or two colors, maybe once or twice a year. Currently, I have 17 colors on my palette, although some are for testing purposes. In the class materials, you'll find PDF files with additional information about my colors, why I selected them, and how I arranged them on my palette. There's also a helpful conversion chart if you would like similar colors from different brands. Let me very briefly explain how I choose colors to my palette. I do this in four main steps. My starting point in choosing colors is always a split primary palette. A worm and a cool yellow. A worm and a cool red. And a worm and a cool blue. Here I think it's a good time to mention that the ultramarine blue I use is the green shade. It's not French ultramarine. There are four main differences between ultramarine blue, the green shade, and French ultramarine. However, they are really small ultramarine blue. The green shade has a greener undertone. It is cooler in appearance. It creates cooler shades of purple and gray and it's less granulating. Both paints share the same pigment coat B 29. Use ultramarine blue, the green shade mainly out of habit, as it's what I've always used and grown accustomed to. Additionally, I find it less granulating than French ultramarine, a quality that I value. However, again, the differences between the two are really subtle. In the second step, I look for colors from the same color family with specific properties such as being made with a single pigment, having good light fastness, not granulating. With some exceptions, I prefer using non granulating paints and being transparent or semi transparent. I primarily use single pigmented paints with one exception, which is paints gray colors in this group must noticeably differ from the first group. If they are too similar, I eliminate them. I don't see a good reason for keeping, let's say seven very similar yellows on the palette. I choose the ones that are the most unique and I can mix other shades. The third step, I add colors that I just like or I know I will use. Frequently burnt sienna is a must have on my palette because it's a versatile, basic brown. It creates beautiful neutroals with blues, mutes down some greens creates various shades of yellows. It's a very versatile color. Additionally, since green is my favorite color, I like to have two ready made ones that serve as a good base for mixing other shades. Step four is optional. There are three remaining spots on my palette which are reserved for new colors or colors that I'm currently testing, which may change over time. In addition to watercolor paint, I also have a tube of white guash. I often use it for tiny details or highlights. I keep my paints in a porcelain palette with 17 wells and two large mixing areas. Porcelain palettes are excellent because they are easy to clean and don't stain like plastic ones. Before using this palette, I used a plastic one with 33 wells for a long time. I switched when I realized I didn't use half of those colors. I always fill the entire well with paint and I refill it when I run out of the specific color, I usually buy 5 milliliters tubes because I can squeeze the entire tube into the well. Let's move on to brushes. My primary brushes are round silver black velvet in various sizes I found they work exceptionally well for the wet on wet technique, which I often use. They also come to a perfect point. A brush I always have on hand, which I fondly call my secret weapon is Windsor and Newton's Galleria brush size four. It's my scrubber brush and I use it in almost every painting. I also have a smaller Princeton snap shader brush size four, which I use for lifting off very small details such as tiny veins on leaves. I also have spotter brushes from Rosemary and Co, specifically from the 37 series. They are small, they don't hold a lot of water, so they are not good for wet on wet painting. But they are excellent for painting small areas wet on dry, and for adding tiny details. I always use them for creating visual texture. With the stipling technique, occasionally I use designers brushes, rigger brushes or script brushes. They go by different names and are very similar. These brushes have thin, long bristles and are useful for painting long, thin lines or more natural lines like tree branches. Finally, I have a big flat brush for applying water to large areas, or sometimes even for painting big areas. I also have to mention about two additional brushes. One of them is a cheap old brush that I use only for applying masking fluid. Applying masking fluid with a brush can damage your brushes, so avoid using your good brushes for that purpose. The other one is a cheap flat brush, which I use for preparing colors on my palette. If I have to prepare larger amounts of paint. This brush is great for that because it allows for transferring larger amounts of paint from the well to the mixing area. The downside of this particular one is that it is losing bristles. I will have to buy something a bit better Gator board. I always attach my watercolor paper to a gator board using staples and masking tape. This board is lightweight, waterproof, and allows me to move and tilt my painting as needed. Crucial for me, especially when painting smooth backgrounds with the wet on wet technique. I always use an office stapler to attach my paper to the gator board. After stapling, I secured the paper on all four sides with tape to create a clean border around the finished painting. I prefer using lavender scotch tape designed for delicate surfaces. I've noticed that it adheres well during painting, and if it ever comes off, it's likely because of my excessive use of a hair dryer. This tape has not caused any damage to my paper. I like its surface, It's slightly slick, which is very convenient for easily cleaning off paint drops. My only wish is that it came in white. Here are other supplies I use more or less frequently. Light pad, I use it actually for every painting. This one is the cheapest one I found on Amazon. I use it to transfer an image to my watercolor paper masking fluid from Windsor Newton. This is an essential medium for many of my paintings. Tools for applying masking fluid like an old brush, ruling pen, embossing tools, and a deep pen. Those tools may be apart from that. Old brush can also be used to apply paint and create specific effects. A piece of soap and an old cup from an old masking fluid. When using masking fluid, I dip the brushing water, rub it on a bar of soap, creating a protective coat on the bristles. Then I dip it into the masking fluid. This prevents the masking from sticking the bristles together. Always pour a bit of masking into an old cup and quickly close the bottle to avoid dried clumps in the bottle. Rubber masking pick up tool for removing masking fluid, a very handy tool. Hair dryer, useful for speeding up drying time. Spray bottle with clean water, for wetting the paper gently or forcing the paint to flow. I also spray paints in my palette before I start painting regular HB pencil eraser. And needed I use a regular HB pencil for my sketch and I often use a needed erasor to remove the excess graphite and make the pencil lines. Lighter water container must have during painting, I often have 21 for clean water and one for dirty water. Paper towel, always good to have it. Finally, a white towel that it's not so white anymore. Speaking of towels, a large one is spread across my desk, beneath my Gator board. I do this to prevent the Gator board from sliding, moving, or rotating. While I paint, this not only ensures stability but also protects my desk and adds a nice field to my workspace. The second smaller towel is always positioned next to my palette and water container, serving as a dedicated space for cleaning my brushes. I let my brushes rest on this towel. In the past, when I placed my brushes on my desk, magic seemed to happen. They transformed into living beings hiding from me, jumping off the desk and moving around so that I couldn't find them. Now I always place them on the towel and they stay in place, always here with me. So these are my current art supplies. Although there may be changes in the future, this is what I'm using for now. 4. Introduction and Masking: Oh hello, and welcome to my watercolor painting class. In this tutorial, we'll delve into the intricate process of creating a stunning floral painting step by step. Today we'll focus on painting a beautiful pony, capturing its delicate petals and vibrant hues. This tutorial will guide you through the techniques needed to bring this flower to life on paper. Throughout this class, I will show you step by step how to paint this peony flower. In the class materials, you will find helpful resources that will help you with this project. The tutorial is thoughtfully divided into short, manageable segments. In each part, we will focus on a small part of the painting, bringing it all together step by step like a jigsaw puzzle. Without further ado, let's get started. Let's begin by masking off our main subject. I typically do the step when painting the background, allowing me to focus only on painting the background without worrying too much about painting precisely around the subject. Sometimes I don't use masking fluid, particularly when the main shape is simple and it would be easy to paint around it. This pony is relatively simple. However, the background is one big shape. It is not divided into smaller sections by any of the element of the pony. Typically, I strategically position elements to create smaller background sections. For example, I may draw a part of the leaf extending beyond the painting, which would divide the background into two halves. However, in this instance, I opted to keep the leaves and flour within the frame that led me to the decision to mask out the flour. This will make painting much easier. I'll be using Windsor and Newton masking fluid. Additionally, I'll need an old cup from an old masking fluid container, a small piece of soap, water, and a brush for applying the masking fluid. Firstly, I'll remove the dried masking fluid build up from the old cup. This build up happens every time I use it, and I have to remove it once in a while to make room for another use. Next, I'll pour a small amount of masking fluid into the cup and quickly close the bottle to minimize its exposure to oxygen. Oxygen exposure can cause it to dry out or become less effective over time. By minimizing contact with oxygen, the masking fluid can maintain its consistency and effectiveness for longer periods. Making it more reliable for use in painting. Start by wetting the brush and rubbing it on a bar of soap to create a protective coat on the bristles. Thanks to the soap, the bristles will not stick together after contact with the masking fluid. Then dip the brush in the masking fluid and start applying it to the edges of the leaves and the flower. I covered the small leaf entirely. For the rest, I'm applying the masking only to the edges. Be generous with the masking fluid. The layer shouldn't be very thin. Apply a lot of it because it will create a nice thick layer that will be easy to remove. Later in the class resources, you will find an illustration showing exactly where I applied the masking. Following that illustration will likely be easier for you than following me in the video. From time to time, rinse the brush in the water and reapply soap. This will keep the soap layer fresh and ensure your brush stays in good condition for much longer. I don't think it makes sense to record the entire process. I'll cut the video here and show you the end result. Apply your masking in a similar manner and clean your brush After finishing. Leave everything to dry completely. And when the masking fluid has dried, we will start painting the background. 5. Background: The masking fluid is now completely dry so we can begin painting the background in the original reference, The background is black, which nicely highlights the flower, ensuring there are no distractions. And creating excellent contrast with the plant, which enhances the beautiful light. However, I didn't want to stick to just a black background because I think it's lifeless and not interesting. I used Photoshop to experiment with alternative colors, considered adding a blue sky or making the background lighter than the pony itself. I explored various options, If you prefer any of them or have a different idea, feel free to paint your own background. Ultimately, I decided to go with a dark green background with the upper right part slightly lighter than the bottom. This choice maintains the contrast with the petals and leaves while adding more liveliness to the scene. Avoiding a lifeless black background. With this image in front of me and a general idea of how to distribute the colors, I began preparing the colors. If you want to paint a similar background to mine, start by preparing a lot of dark green. My green is a mix of green, gold, Windsor green, yellow shade, and paints gray in the upper part of the large petal. I'm also adding burnt sienna, permanent rose, and a bit of paints gray. This unusual color will reference the stem, which I already know will be brown, and the petals of the flowers on a separate mixing area. I'm preparing even more color that will reflect the main subject in the background. Burnt sienna and permanent rose will echo the colors of the main subject, helping to create a cohesive hole. The addition of paints, gray, makes this mix less saturated. Less saturated colors in the background will help bring out the rich, glowing colors of the main subject. I'm going to use my large flat brush for applying a water glaze. But if you don't have such a brush, just use any large brush you have. I prefer this one because it allows me to quickly cover a large area. We're going to paint wet on wet. We first need to evenly wet the entire background. My water isn't clean anymore, but that's okay, because the background will be the same color but much darker. The water doesn't have to be clean. At least you can see it better in the video. Make sure to cover the entire background with an even layer of water. Now start by applying the lightest tones. I'm picking up that peculiar pinkish brown color and applying it in the upper right area. As you can see in the final painting, this color disappeared under the green. But that's okay. At least I have a hint of that color to reflect the main subject. Then pick up your light green and dark green and apply those colors across the entire background. I'm still using this 12 inch flat brush, but I'll switch to a regular round brush size 12 in a minute. I just want to quickly cover the entire background with wet paint. I'll switch to my silver black velvet brush because it works better for the wet on wet technique. This big flat brush has synthetic bristles that are quite stiff and don't hold a lot of paint. I feel like this brush scratches the surface of the paper too much. When I switch to my black velvet brush, it's a completely different experience. This brush holds a lot of paint even though it's smaller and it's also much softer. I can use more dabbing motions instead of just brush strokes to release more paint from the brush unto the paper. This is important because I want to paint this background in just one layer. Sometimes two layers or even more are necessary for the background to achieve specific colors or effects. But if possible, I try to paint it in one layer, especially if it's green. Green color is very prone to lifting off. A second layer may easily disturb the first one. When painting a green background, I keep that in mind and aim to complete it with just one layer to eliminate the risk of disturbing it with a second one. In this case, the background needs to be dark. I'm applying an even darker color than I intend to achieve because I know that when the paint dries, it will dry lighter. Knowing that I don't want to apply another layer to deepen the color, I have to make sure that this one will be dark enough. After applying the paint, here comes a very important part. For the next 10 minutes, I will be tilting my painting until the paint stops. Moving The tilting process will help the colors to blend nicely on the paper, creating soft color transitions. It's okay if the green covers that pinkish brown area. I'm fine with that. A little bit of unpredictability is part of the process. We can't control everything precisely. The most important lesson from this process is that to achieve a nice smooth background, we have to leave the paint and let it spread on its own. Without the help of our brush, we can only tilt the painting to force the paint to flow in a specific direction. This way, we won't see any brush strokes. The entire surface will be nice and smooth and we'll get a beautiful background after 10 minutes of tilting, when I can see that the paint has already soaked in a little bit and it's not moving so much, I will leave the painting to dry. In the meantime, I'm also cleaning the taped the painting from water and paint spots. I like to leave such backgrounds to dry overnight. That's what I'm going to do this first day included creating a sketch, attaching the paper to the gator board with staples and masking tape, masking off the main subject, and painting the background. Tomorrow I'll start painting the flower. 6. Petals - Initial Layer - Part 1: Welcome to the second day of painting. The background has dried completely. Now we can remove the masking fluid. I'm using this rubber masking pickup tool. I usually try to run it from the unpainted area site so that I don't unintentionally drag any paint from the outside to the white area. Sometimes there is dry paint on the masking which can be smashed into that white area. If the masking was applied in a thick layer, it should come off in one piece like this. I can easily pull it off. Perhaps you can see that it left a very light yellow stain. This is because the masking wasn't steered well enough. The masking I have is actually quite old. Fresh masking shouldn't leave any stains like this, but I never worry about them because they are very, very light. And after applying the paint, they won't be visible very often, if not almost always. At this stage, before I start applying the paint, I like to smooth out the edges of my subject. For example, the edge of this petal on the left is not smooth, it has a slightly jagged edge. In this case, I would use my scrubber brush, dip it in water, remove the excess water on a paper towel, then I'm rubbing that edge back and forth with the clean dump brush. I do this very gently, only on the edge to activate the dry paint on the edge. When the paint is activated, I dab it with the paper towel to remove it. This way the edge becomes smoother and I think it helps to create a nice smooth end result. This time, I think that the edges came out pretty good, and they don't need additional smoothing. Now let's take a break and I will explain the process we are going to follow. We're going to paint the petals and the leaves in three steps. In the first step, we'll apply the basic colors, taking into consideration light and dark tones. This will be our base layer. In the second step, we will apply a second layer focusing on deepening the tones where needed and painting the shadows. In the third step, we will add finishing touches, details, and maybe also some shadows. Let's start with the first petal on the left. I'll be using a size six brush. But first, let's prepare some colors. Whenever I see pink, I think about either permanent rose, my warmer pink, or queen acrodon magenta, my cool pink. In this case, the choice was easy. I went for permanent rose because it's a closer match. I am also preparing ultramarine blue. This will be helpful in creating those purple areas at the bottom, I'll mix both permanent rose and ultramarine blue. You may be wondering why I wouldn't just use Windsor Violet for example. The reason is because I like to be able to shift the color more towards blue or pink depending on a specific area. With violet, I would just have violet. But with pink and blue, I have a whole range from pink to blue. Start by applying a water glaze to one section. This petal is curled and it's divided into two sections. In such cases, I will treat each section separately and we'll be focusing on one section at a time. I'm applying a water glaze first because we want to paint wet on wet. This technique will give us more time for applying colors and it will be easier to create beautiful, smooth tunnel transitions from dark to light, or color transitions from pink to purple. Now pick up your permanent rose and start applying it from the left side. Then rinse your brush and pick up the purple mix. Apply the purple in places where you can see it and allow it to blend smoothly with the pink. The water glaze we applied should help with that. Now I'm rinsing and blotting my brush, and with a clean dump brush, I'm pulling the paint up to the edges so that the paint covers the entire section. The edge here in the photo is actually white, so you don't have to pull the paint. But I somehow thought I would do this. I don't know why, no reason for that. While the paint is still wet, we can drop in more color. This is called charging technique. When we have already applied one color and it's still wet and we're dropping in more paint in the same color or a different color. This is called charging. I'm adding more purple to my petal. And that's all for this petal, for now. Now we can move on to the next petal, The next section, I chose this one. It doesn't matter which one you choose, because we will have to paint all of them eventually. The only thing that I keep in mind is that I can't paint the petals that are touching each other. The reason for that is that I don't want the paint from one petal to flow into the petal I have just painted. Because that's a simple way to get blooms, skip one petal and paint the next one. This one again, I'm starting by applying a water glaze first. After applying a water, I'm applying my permanent rose. This is the base color. I want to cover the entire petal with it, but this time I'm leaving that tiny white edge that catches the light. While the pink is still wet, I can add purple. The purple here gives a subtle color change. Notice that the pink is very light in tone. This is the lightest tone that I can see in the reference photo. Now I'm picking up a darker tone of the pink and I'm applying it in the darker areas. I will do the same with the purple. This is the very first base layer, but I'm already trying to suggest where the light tones will be and where the tones will get darker in the final painting. After finishing this petal, I will move on to the upper part and paint small sections of the curled petal and no surprises here. I'll start with the water glaze and then I will just apply the basic colors I can see there. Have you noticed that I'm painting very slowly, patiently, and in a quite organized way? I'm focusing only on one petal at a time. I'm very slowly building the entire painting like a jigsaw puzzle. Step by step, piece by piece, with a plan in my head. The plan is that first I'll apply basic colors, then I will deepen them in the second layer. And finally, in the third layer, I will add details. I can take a break anytime. I don't have to finish today, nobody is chasing me. I don't have deadlines, so I can slow down and really mindfully focus on just one section and relax. This takes time. That's true. But isn't it a very calming activity? I think it is. I'm going from one petal to another, slowly filling each section with basic colors using the wet on wet technique. Here I'm starting with more ultramarine blue and then I will shift to a permanent rose. Notice also that my paint is really watered down. The tone is very light. I'd like to start with a light tone to test the waters. See if I'm putting the paint in the right place. I know that I can always come back to that area and apply more paint to darken it here, I want to leave more white space for that light highlight. At this point, I don't have many options left. Because some parts of the petals I have already painted or directly touching the petals that are left. However, I can still paint the curled petal on the right again, after applying a water glaze. I'm filling it with pinks and purples. Here I'm mixing a slightly darker purple with permanent rose and ultramarine blue. I'm also trying to leave the edge lighter in tone. The paint is flowing to the edge, but I'm trying to lift it out with a clean, dumb brush. There is also the small section over here. It actually touches the petal I have already painted, but that section has already dried. I shouldn't have any issues. This section will be pretty dark here. I'm applying a deep pink straightaway and that's all we can paint in this part. Now, leave everything to dry. I left it to dry naturally for about 10 minutes, and then I used a hair dryer to dry everything properly. 7. Petals - Initial Layer - Part 2: I'm still using my hair dryer to make sure that everything is completely dry and we can continue painting. Now, we will be painting all the petals that we have skipped. There are seven of them, but we will have to take a break after four, dry them, and finish the remaining three. Let's start from the first one on the left. Now I want to show you this from a different angle. Perhaps you will see the process better. I'm not sure if you can see this, but when I'm applying a water glaze now, I don't really apply it up to the edges. There is a small gap between the edge or between the pencil line and my water layer. I think that it's not necessary to be careful and apply water up to the edges. The gap is very tiny and I will paint that anyway with my brush and paint. I don't have to be super careful with applying the water. Most importantly, the water should be in the main part of the petal. While I'm working on the edges, the paint will spread in the water in the middle. And this gives me some time to work carefully on the edges with my I'm starting with a bluish purple in the upper part and then I will transition smoothly to pink for the rest. Let's leave this pedal now too dry and move on to the one at the top. I think here you can clearly see that there is that dry gap around the middle part of the pedal. This petal has a slightly warmer pink, so I decided to add Windsor Yellow deep to my pink to change the color temperature. The yellow is also in the center of the flower, so the petal catches a reflection of that yellow. I'm starting on the right side by applying this warmer shade of pink, then I'm shifting the color to permanent rose on the left side. The petal is more in shadow. I'm using a deeper tone of pink, straightaway, because this area will have to be darker anyway and leave it to dry. The next petal will be this one in front. If you like, you can use a bigger brush now, maybe a size eight. I was thinking about it, it would be easier. But somehow I stayed with a size six. Let's start with purple on the right and then transition to permanent ro. Don't go too dark with the pink because this petal catches a lot of light. Also leave a wide gap on the edge to suggest a high light. If we now drop in a little bit of purple just under that highlight, this will create a nice effect, slightly more three dimensional. The last petal before a break is this one on the right. Again, I'm starting with the purple and then I'm switching to pink in the upper part. I'm trying to use a lighter tone and change the tone to a darker pink at the bottom. Now we have to take a break because three petals that are left are directly touching the petals we have just painted. Let those petals dry for a few minutes naturally. And then use a hair dryer to dry them properly. After that, you can finish the three petals. I thought that I wouldn't record that because basically, I will be repeating exactly the same process here with the magic of editing is how it turned out. In the resources, you will find the photo from this stage. We can follow that photo. This is also a good opportunity for you to paint those three petals without looking and see how I did it. Try it on your own. I'm sure you can do this when you finish dry everything very well. Because in the next part, we will start applying the second layer, so everything has to be bone dry. 8. Petals - Second Layer - Part 1: Okay, I hope your painting is completely dry. Now, we'll be adding a second layer. But first, let's prepare some colors for this stage. We will need maybe a bit unexpected color, bright red. Let's mix permanent rose with Windsor Red. If we look at the reference photo, we will notice some areas which are actually not pink nor purple but vibrant red. That's why we need this additional color, besides a combination of pink and red is very strong. Those colors placed next to each other increase the vibrancy of each other. On a separate mixing space, I'm mixing permanent rows with ultramarine blue. Additionally, we also need a darker version of our red. Let's mix permanent rows with Windsor red again, but this time add a touch of paints gray to the mix to make it darker. All right, let's start from the inside of the petal on the left. I thought we could start here because this is the darkest shadow we can see in the flower. If we paint it first, we will have a good reference point for all other shadows. We will know that nothing can be darker than this. Pick up the dark mix of permanent rose winds are red and paints gray and apply it wet on wet. Then pick up the mix of pink and red and create a transition with the darker color. I like to think about the mix of pink and red as fussia color. It's a nice color in between red and pink, and some Fuussia flowers have exactly the color in the upper part of the petal. Add also purple to repeat the colors from the previous layer. The first petal is done for now. Let's move on to the upper one here. Apply a water glaze only on the left side in the shadow area, but don't go with water up to the shadow edge. We need a sharp edge here. We have to paint it wet and dry. But we need water in the middle so the colors could nicely spread and blend on the paper. Pick up the fussia color and paint the edge of the shadow first. I don't have a pencil line here, I just paint it by eye. But of course, if you like, first draw a line there to know exactly where the shadow edge is. I also suggest that you use a lighter tone than me on the edge. I used a two dark tone and later I will have to lift out some color and fix the edge. You will see it. If I were to paint it again, I would use a lighter tone here on the edge. I thought that I would drop in some Windsor yellow deep here to make the color warmer, But also to suggest yellow reflection from the center of the flower on the left transition to the dark shadow, red color. Okay, now let's move on to the petal in front. Apply a water layer only on the left side and leave that white edge in the upper part. Drop in fuca color along that right edge and let it slightly spread in the water in the upper part, drop in some purple. Now pick up a light fuschia tone on your brush and paint a few light lines. Clean your brush and run a clean dump brush between those lines to soften the edges. Now let's paint the right side of the petal. Apply a water glaze first. Again, leave the upper edge of the petal and don't apply the water on the lighter line in the middle. Pick up a very strong fusion mix and start applying it from the bottom and along the left edge. Now pick up some purple and apply it to the upper part and on the right. Now rinse your brush plotted on the towel and with a clean dump brush, pull the color from the pink area to the purple area connecting them and creating those nice lines. I'm using the colors I have already applied to create those subtle lines. We can also pick up some paint from the palette if the lines are too light, but use a very light tone. Moving onto the petal on the right, after applying a water glaze, I'm starting from the bottom, which is the darkest area, and I'm applying our dark red mix. Moving on towards the upper part, I will be transitioning to my fuss color and even some purple. I'm also suggesting some lines here. Notice that the direction of those lines is really important. They show us how the petal is curled. Those are not just randomly painted lines, but they have to be painted in a specific direction to show the form of the petal. We can't paint anything more now because all other petals are touching directly the areas we've just painted. So now we can take a break everything completely, and then when we can move on to the next part to finish the second layer. 9. Petals - Second Layer - Part 2: In this part, we'll finish the rest of the petals. Let's start from the one on the left. What I want to do here is to add more purple and create a nice cast shadow in the upper corner. That shadow has a sharp edge, while the purple below smoothly blends with pink. In this case, I'm applying a water glaze only in the area where I'm planning to apply more purple. I leave the upper part without water because there I want to create that hard edge of the shadow, the paint can't touch water. I'll start with a deeper purple and paint the shadow first. As you can see, the edge is sharp because the paint is not touching the water that I applied lower. I'm painting wet and dry, but now when the paint touches the water, it nicely blends with the previous layer. I'm picking up pure, permanent rose and adding it to the edge. While the paint is still wet, I can drop in more purple. Notice that the edge of the petal is lighter. The slighter edge along with the purple shadow, helps to create a rounded curled form of the petal. Now let's work on the small sections in the upper part. As you can see with each next layer, we are adding more details. And we are more specific here. For example, apart from just adding more pink and purple to darken the tone and make the color richer and more saturated. I'm also thinking about the form of the petal and shadows. I'm trying to leave the edge lighter, which again, helps to create a nice round form with a clean, dumb brush. I'm lifting out the paint to create lighter highlights. The shape and direction help me to build the form of the petal. They show us how the petal is bent. I dropped in a little bit darker purple here. But it's a detail that we will leave for the next part here. In this part of the petal, I want to add more warm pink and create soft lines that again, help to show the form of the petal. Now we can see how dark is the edge of the shadow. In the next part, I will lift out some color and blend it more with the petal, because now it looks really odd. He now this big petal here. Again, notice that there is a sharp shadow edge. I'm applying a water layer in the shadow area, but I'm leaving a small gap close to that shadow edge, which I want to paint wet on dry. Start with purple and then switch to a darker pink. Here you can see that the paint spreads in the water. But I can paint a sharp edge in the place where I didn't apply water. This petal may be a bit more challenging. Take a closer look at how I'm dealing with it. We have to keep an eye on the wet area, but at the same time we have to paint that edge of the shadow after applying the paint, covering the whole shadow area and blood your brush. And let's create a lighter line here by lifting out the paint. After each swipe of the paint, rinse and blot your brush, and come back here with a clean brush. We have to do this as many times as needed until we left out enough paint. And the pink paint on both sides stops moving and covering that lighter line. After several swipes, you will notice that the line becomes a lighter and paint stops flowing into that area. Okay, now let's move on to the next petal. This time I'm applying the water layer on the entire petal. I'm picking up Windsor Red and applying the color at the bottom. I think this is the most red area in this pony going upwards, I'm using a color shade. I'm switching to permanent rose and purple at the top. I'm trying to paint the left side of the petal. Now I'm switching to a darker purple mix and I'm painting the right side of the petal. I'm applying this color with two quick brush strokes, leaving the upper part as it is here. Now again, similarly to what we did with the petal on the left, we have to lift out the paint to create that lighter highlight. Do this as many times as you need to until you see that lighter line. Now the petal below here, we also have a sharp shadow edge. I'm applying water at the bottom part, not going up to that edge. Now, with a darker, pinkish purple, I'm painting that sharp edge of the shadow and then I'm adding more paint to the shadow area. Winds are red and purple. Notice that I'm leaving the bottom part for some yellow, which I will add in a second. I'm picking up Windsor yellow deep, and I'm applying it at the bottom part of this petal. This creates a nice glowing effect and adds more interest. Now let's dry everything with a hair dryer. Remember that after using a hair dryer, you have to wait until the paper cools down. Don't start painting if it's still warm because the paint will be drying too quickly. Okay, we still have three sections to paint. First, this one right here. Let's apply a water layer first. Now, apply Windsor red in the corner. And then switch to purple, a mix of permanent rows and ultramarine blue. I'm using more permanent rows here than ultramarine blue. Now use permanent rows and add it to the upper part. Try to keep the edge of this petal lighter in tone paint, a purple line in the middle. And again, with a clean dump brush, lift off the paint to create some lighter highlights on this petal. I just want to apply similar colors to the ones that are already there, to just make them a bit deeper. And we also have to paint that shadow in the upper part. That shadow has a sharp edge, so don't apply water in that area. Now, the paint on the right hand side, nothing too complex here. I just want to deepen the colors. So I'm applying more dark purple, trying to leave the upper part and the edges lighter to create a curled round form. And finally, the small area here, I'm applying Windsor red here. And then I'm also adding permanent rows on the right. The tone is slightly darker, so there is just a tiny addition of paints gray in that mix. With that, we can finish this part. I hope you are not too exhausted, but if you are, take a break and maybe even come back later or tomorrow with fresh eyes. In the next part, we will finish the petals completely by adding some details. 10. Petals - Details: After two layers on the petals, I think the color is now intense enough. All we have to do now is to go one by one and check if there is anything else we can add or fix. I'm thinking here mainly about adding some lines that will indicate the form of those petals and perhaps an additional layer of color to make some areas darker. Or maybe to add a shadow. For example, here on the inner side of this petal. On the left, I'm adding subtle lines. I'm starting with a light tone to see how it looks. When I'm happy with the look of them and their placement, I will add a stronger color to make those lines more visible. But I don't want to exaggerate. The key here is to find a balance. I don't want the lines to take too much attention. With a light purple, I'm also adding lines to the curl of the petal. Notice the direction of those lines. The direction is extremely important on this pedal. I'm adding just a few tiny lines here and there to add more character to the pedal. On this one I want to add lines, but I also want to slightly increase the depth of color in the shadow. Notice that those subtle, transparent layers, along with lighter edges, create this nice suten look of the petals. Now, I want to deal with this strong shadow here. Honestly, I'm afraid to touch it, but I just feel the need to do something with the dark edge of the shadow. I'm going to use my scrubber brush. And with a clean dump scrubber brush, I'm trying to activate and remove the paint from that edge. Of course, I'm making a because it's not the best place to use a, it's best to use it when a color meets with white paper. Here we have color everywhere. I'm rubbing not only the edge of that shadow, but also that warmer pink on the right. Now I have a lighter spot here, but at least I removed that hard edge. I'm adding more paint here to blend everything together to cover that lighter spot. I'm adding a deeper tone on the left. And this time I'm creating a softer and lighter edge than it was before, since I'm already here. I can also add some additional lines to this pedal as well on the next petal. I don't want to add any lines, but I want to deepen the color a bit more. I will just add exactly the same colors as in the previous layer. With each next layer, we can adjust the intensity of color, the temperature, and the tone here. By adding the same color, I'm increasing saturation and deepening the tone here. On the inner side of the pedal on the right, I want to add more lines. And also darken just slightly the bottom part of this section. Now I'm picking up a darker, pinkish purple, and I'm painting it here on the petal, creating this V shape. After that, I'm quickly rinsing and blotting my brush and trying to soften those edges here. I first soften the edges just to make it look a bit smoother, then I'm adding just a little bit more pink. Now I'm picking up a very watery purple paint, and with a quick brush stroke, I'm painting that shadow at the bottom. I'm adding more pink, with a darker pink which is a mix of permanent rose and Windsor red. With a tiny touch of paints gray. I'm adding a darker shadow here. I'm also going to add some lines, which in this case I painted in the wrong direction. They should be more horizontal and a few more lines on this petal. Finally, the last pedal here, I want to add a few lines and darken the tone in the shadow. Often when I add those lines, I make a gap here. A part of the line is in the middle of the petal. Then a gap, and then the line is on the edge. I think that gap in the line is a subtle indication of light and a curl of the petal. Finally, here I'm adding a darker purple tone. Not only to darken this shadow, but I also want to fix the arc shape here. It was a bit too angular. I wanted to be more round, another additional layer here. With that, we can call the petals finished. In the next part, we can move on to paint the center of the flower. 11. Center of the Flower: In this part, we're going to paint the center of the flower. And unfortunately, I must say that this will be the most disorganized part, in a sense that the steps will not be so clear as in other parts. But I hope we'll make it through. I'll first clean a part of my palette because I want to prepare cleaner colors. We will need Windsor Yellow, deep mixed with a touch of burnt sienna. This will be our warm brownish yellow, which I think will work great. Let's use a light tone of this color to apply to the whole area. This yellow center will beautifully complement pink petals and it will push the painting more to a warmer side. The pink petals will become warmer and more vibrant. Next to the yellow center tone of it is light, but it's slightly darker in the upper part and lighter at the bottom. I'm thinking here about the color of the stamens, which have this battery color, but it's darker at the top where they are under the shadow of the petals. I'm applying the paint wet on dry. Now I'm adding more yellow here and there, and also some pink close to the petals. This is our base. And now I'm going to dry this completely with my hair dryer. We now have the main colors, and we have to start adding details in order to make a clear distinction between each. I'm going to use a brush size four for this step. I'm adding more burnt sienna. We'll need that winds are yellow deep on the left. On the right, I have a mix of burnt sienna with paints gray. This is a dark brown. We have these three colors to work with plus pink here. The fun part begins. In this part, it's really difficult for me to describe the process. The reason for that is that when I have so many little shapes to paint, then I don't follow any particular order of applying the paint. But rather I just skip from one place to another and I paint an area that in this very moment stands out to me. For example, here I decided to add small dark brown details because they drew my attention. They are most prominent, easy to identify. It's quite clear where they are, I'm painting them at the same time, I'm trying to slowly build the colors and tones of the statements. That jumping from one place to another also has a practical reason. When I apply paint in one place and then move on to the other place, I give those small areas some time to dry that. When I come back somewhere around, I know that everything will be dry enough so that I can paint sections next to the ones I have just painted. It's a process of constant adjustments. I focus on one small section at a time. I'm adding some paint and go to another section. After adding the paint to another section, I notice that the previous one has to be darker. I'll go over that previous section again. This way I'm slowly building this entire area by constantly adjusting tiny portions of it until I get a bigger picture that eventually will come together. This is quite a slow process, but on the other hand, I just checked that it took me exactly half an hour. Is that really a long time? Half an hour of con painting and relaxation. Half an hour just for you and your painting. Isn't it enjoyable and relaxing? I think it is. I don't think it would be even possible for you to follow me exactly at this stage. But I want you to see how I'm painting this and perhaps you will come up with a better idea how to approach this area. Feel free to paint it in your own way. Follow the reference photo or my finished painting and paint it however you feel is best for you. I'm painting now wet and dry because these are tiny sections. Even if I want to create a tonal transition from dark to light, I'll just apply the paint and then rinse my brush, blot it, and blend away the paint. My paint has a watery consistency. The indication of that is the light tone on the paper. I may go even three or four times over one area, each time adding one more thin layer. This way I'm slowly building the depth of color, the tonal value. I adjust everything according to what I see in the photo, but also what I have done so far in my painting. Very slowly, calmly, a nice center of the pony is starting to emerge. The statements that are close to the petals catch pink from the petals. Even if I don't see pink in the photo, I may add a touch of it. What I'm most concerned about is to make a clear distinction between each statement. To do that, I know I have to build correct tonnal values. I don't want the distinction to come from the pencil lines, but rather from the various tonal values and correct contrast that build each shape. I like to ask myself, if I removed completely pencil lines now, would I be able to make a distinction between each shape? Would it be clear to see the edge of each shape? If not, then I haven't finished yet. I have to fix the contrast. Perhaps add some darker tones somewhere to build more distinct shapes. I think it's quite important to add those pinks close to the petals, because this way we can build a nice cohesive hole that interplay between colors from different shapes plays an important role in the overall perception of the finished painting. Okay, so the center of the flower is ready. I hope you won't have too much problems with painting this. When you finish, take a break, or if you like, let's move on, straightaway to the stem. 12. Stem: In this short part, we will paint the stem. I'll be using a size six brush. First, let's apply a water glaze, even though this area is quite small and we could paint it wet and dry. I think a water glaze will help us better blend the colors. Start by applying burnt sienna. Notice that at the bottom, on the right, there is a very light highlight. I will keep that area in mind all the time and try not to paint over it. Now, take a darker brown, a mix of burned Siena with paints gray, and add it over the burnt sienna on the left, I just noticed some green. I'm also adding green gold and even some Windsor green yellow shade in a second. This is the base layer that will be showing through the next layer. Of course, because I'm painting wet and wet, the paint is spreading everywhere and has flown into that high light area. But that's fine. Now, with a clean dump brush, I will start lifting off the paint from that highlight. After each swipe, I rinse and blot my brush. And repeat that process with a clean brush. I do this many times until I can see that the paint stops moving and is not flowing into that area anymore. I can't, I did that 13 times now. We can dry everything after drying. Remember to wait until the paper cools down. Let's prepare a dark brown mix of burned sienna with paints gray. We'll also need just burned sienna and a bit of green gold. Now apply those colors on the stem again. This time wet and dry. And avoid painting that high light area. With the second layer, we're creating a very dark tone. Add more and more dark brown until you think the tone is dark enough. Make the right side slightly lighter than the left, letting the area around the high light be lighter brown. When you apply the paint, clean your brush and with a clean dump brush, start lifting off the paint to create high lights. I like this step because we can easily create a nice looking natural texture and form of the stem. Those subtle highlights create a nice natural effect. I'm also lifting off the paint from the left. As you can see, we can see a subtle green color here from the previous layer. This is our reflected light which helps to show the round form of the stem. Now after drying it again with a hair dryer, I want to soften the edge here just to make it more soft and natural. And that's all. Now if you like take a break or if you still have some energy to paint, we can move on to the next step where we will apply the initial layer to the leaves. 13. Leaves - Initial Layer: In this part, we will start painting the leaves. Before we start, I'll clean my palette because we'll be using colors from a different color family. I don't want to get muddy colors. I love porcelain because I can clean it very well. And there are no stains, unlike on plastic palettes. It's also a good time to change the water. I like to place my brushes next to the subject. I'm going to paint to determine which size would be best. This time, I thought I would go with a size eight brush. Let's prepare colors. I'll start with a mix of green gold with Windsor green yellow shade, adding a touch of Windsor yellow deep at the bottom. This time will also need a more turquoise, bluish green to my green mix of green gold and Windsor green yellow shade. I'm going to add ultramarine blue. We used ultramarine blue on the petals. I knew I would use it for the leaves too. Keeping with the same colors as long as we can is good for maintaining color harmony in a painting. Now with a size eight brush, I'm applying a water layer over the leaves on the left. We'll be painting wet and wet because it will be easier to blend the different shades of green. Let's start with the turquoise on the left. And generally, we have to cover those leaves with the very basic colors we can see. Don't look at the details at this stage. You can look at the reference photo with squinted eyes. Or we can blur the photo a bit to see just the main basic colors of those leaves. On the right side, the green is much, so here I'm applying my first bright green mix. Oh, oh, there's also the leave behind. But we can apply the paint on both of them. Now, the reason for that is that at a later stage, we'll be able to make a clear distinction between those two leaves with a darker tone applied to the leave behind. Apply this bright green also to the small leaf. I decided to add paints gray to create a darker tone. And while the paint is still wet, I added it at the top of the leaf to already suggest that darker tone that will be here. Now let's apply the colors to the small leave behind the stem. On the left, I'm applying a light turquoise, wet and dry. On the right, I'm applying a water glaze first, make sure not to go over the highlight of the stem. Finally, the main colors of the leaf on the right start with the water gla first and then use a bright green mix of green, gold and Windsor green yellow shade. At this stage, I only want to suggest the basic information that the dark green is closer to the stem and at the bottom of the leaf, at the top and on the right, the leaf becomes lighter. I just want to create that smooth tunnel, transition from dark green to a very pale green. And that's all in this part. In the next part, we will darken the colors and add shadows. 14. Leaves - Second Layer: Make sure that everything is completely dry. And now we'll be applying the second layer. I'll be using a size eight brush. And the same colors as in the previous stage. I've been thinking for quite a few minutes about how to paint the leaves, how to simplify them, because I knew that I didn't want to paint any details, but I wanted to achieve a convincing image of a leaf. Eventually, I thought I would just paint the shadow and deepen the colors, But I won't be focusing too much on painting the veins or any additional details. Let's start by applying a second layer on the left side of the sleeve, running along the middle vein and leaving the left edge of the leaf. Start with a more bluish green at the tip and then transition to more green at the bottom. Paint wet and dry and use a very watery paint consistency. At this stage, it's very important not to fiddle too much with your brush in one place. Green is a color that is very easy to lift off if we run our brush twice in the same place. Now we are already at risk of disturbing the previous layer. Apply the paint as quickly as possible and try not to stay for too long in one place. Now, repeat the same on the right hand side, this time leaving the right edge of the leaf and leaving a small gap between this side and the left side to create a middle vein running through the leaf. Again, use a darker green close to the tip of the leaf. And then shift the color to bright green and use a slightly darker tone at the bottom of the leaf. Use a dark green with a bit more paints gray to paint the leaf that is behind. Now we can create a distinction between the two leaves. If we use a darker green now, we can visually push the leaf more to the background while painting. The leave also painted in two sections left and right, leaving a gap between them for the impression of a vein. Finally, add a darker tone of the green to the small leave. We won't be doing anything more to the leave, just a simple dark layer. Now add also a slightly darker tone to the small leave behind the stem. Do this also in two sections, leaving a gap for the impression of a vein. That's all very simple. We don't want to go into details now. Mix a little bit more of the bright green mix of green gold and Windsor green yellow shade. If you run out of it and use this color to paint a shadow on the on the right, cover this entire part of the leaf with green. Notice that I don't go with the paint up to the edge of the leaf. I left a small gap very close to the pencil line while the paint is still wet, drop in a darker tone on the left. Now let's add another shadow, a very, very watery green mix. Apply the paint here, leaving a gap between those two areas. And then clean and blot your brush. And try to blend everything, leaving a lighter tone in the middle and making both sides slightly darker. Finally, paint a small triangular shape of the shadow on the tip of the sleeve. And with that, we can finish this stage. Leave everything to use, a hair dryer, if you like. In the next and the last step, we'll finish the painting. 15. Leaves - Details: There are still some things that we can do to make the leaves look a bit better without overworking them. First of all, I want to use a smaller size fore brush to paint the curled part of the sleeve. I just picked up a very watery consistency, green. I'm applying this to the left side of the sleeve, leaving a gap that is the edge of the sleeve. Now I'm switching to a size six brush and I'm going to add a more dark tone to the leave behind. I need more dark green. I'm mixing again green, gold, Windsor green, yellow shade and paints gray. My mix is quite dark, but it's watery. With this darker green, I'm simply adding a shadow painting wet on dry and just trying to paint the shape as quickly as possible, trying not to disturb the previous layer. Notice that this is just a simple flat wet on dry wash. The very basic technique, we only have to paint a specific shape, leaving an edge and the middle vein, and paint around that lighter diamond shape in the middle. I'm thinking now about this main leaf on the left. What else I can do here? I thought I would add cast shadow on the right side, one close to the tip and one below. I think the cast shadows are pretty important here because without them, we couldn't actually see the light parts of the leaf. Everything was unified. And adding those shadows create a more dimension. On the left side of the leaf, I want to add a darker shadow at the bottom and blend it away upwards on this leaf. I thought I would just add a darker green tone in the upper part, just below the flower and at the bottom. This should add a bit more dimension to the leaf. And finally, let's add a few details to the leaf on the right, first of all, that additional dark shadow at the bottom. After adding that shadow, I thought that the other shadow should be slightly darker. So I'm adding another layer here now with a much lighter and yellower green. I'm going to add a very sub l shadow in the middle of that leaf. There is that vein running in the middle. I'm just adding my worm green along that vein and blend it away upwards. And a tiny little detail, a darker shadow at the tip. That's all we could finish at this stage. It looks good the way it is now, and this could be our final step. But I want to dry everything now and do one more thing. Notice how flat the painting is when it's attached with staples to the Gboard. I love it. Now I want to use my second scrubber brush, which I use very rarely, but this is a good opportunity for that. This is Princeton snap, bright shader size four. It's a very tiny flat brush with very soft bristles. I use it rarely because it's very small. But this is an advantage in cases like here. I dip it in the water and blow it on a paper towel, and now I'm going to run it along the edge to lift off some paint and make the edges lighter and make them nice and smooth. I'm rubbing it on a surface several times and then I lift off the activated paint with a paper towel here. I thought I could also create a vein with that brush. This brush allows you to lift off those very thin lines. It's great for creating such veins on the leaves. I will do the same on the lift on the right, I lift off some veins and work on the edges. If you don't have this brush, you may try to use Windsor Newton Galleria brush if you have that one, if it's fairly new. Because when it's new, it has a very sharp edge of the bristles, mine is worn out already, it wouldn't work for that. Alternatively, you can use an opaque paint to add those veins if you like. This is just a subtle addition, they are not really necessary. With that, I think I can call this painting finished now. All we have to do is to sign it. This time I thought I would use my gash paints because I have them, but I don't use them. I used all of them once. For one painting, for my brother, I only use white for tiny details and highlights. I will use sub green as my base, but it's not very visible. So I'll mix it with yellow ochre and I'll paint my signature with a mix of them. It's barely visible in the bottom right corner, but that's fine. I like it that way. I don't like it to be too prominent. Now, I can remove the tape and reveal a nice clean border around. I like to leave a finished painting overnight and cut off the edges with staples the next day. I don't cut them off here on the Gator board, of course, because I would cut the board, remove the painting from the board, and then cut off the edges with an Exacto knife and the ruler, or just scissors. That would be all for this tutorial. I hope you enjoyed it and found it inspirational. I hope you will give it a go. It's a beautiful painting with beautiful colors and it's not so complex. I think you'll enjoy it. Thank you very much for watching and happy painting by