Gomphrena Purple Globe... can't find any wildflowers in NC right now but I picked these up at the Farmers Market. These flowers were very fun to paint... I think the sepia ink made them photograph a bit dark. Used the same color palette as the Butterfly Bush and added Ultramarine and Cadmium Yellow Hue.

Close up...made a mistake and smudged the tiny purple flower on the right so I just added another stem off the right side of the paper and you would never know... I love that Ohn Mar just moves right through her drips and smudges and works it into the painting...

 

Another example of a Butterfly Bush... This one had less buds but I loved all the leaves. Winsor Purple, Opera Rose, Permanent Magenta & Winsor Orange made up the buds... Permanent Sap Green, Payne's Gray & Opera Rose colored the leaves. So grateful for Ohn Mar for showing us how valuable Payne's Gray is to our stems and leaves. 

 

 

 

Sepia Ink added to Butterfly Bush. I like using the ink to emphasize the jagged edges of the mature leaves.  I also used a lighter Walnut Ink for the leaves in the background.

 

 

Shape study...I used the sunlight shadow on to a sheet of paper to capture the whimsy of the pedals. The tip with the light/shadow was very helpful.Value Study.. Made the pedals darker closer to the center of the flower by adding more pigment to the same cadmium yellow hue (W&N)Ink study...definitely the most challenging so far.. Hard to not overdue. I ended up inking all my shape and value studies for extra practice. This helped .. as recommended.Color Mixing... very fun..I was pleasantly surprised how the colors looked so much better after they dried.  Reminder to not overwork and let the colors do their thing! Another great tip.Final Project 1... one of several... the more I practiced I realized the inking can really give your flower shape. 

Final Project 2....Gave more attention to my leaves... and realized the black eyed susan's were more Winsor Orange than Cadmium Yellow Hue so I added more depth to this painting.. I am very pleased with my progress.  I will say my flowers (that I got at the Far Mar on Saturday) looking sad near the end. I will paint more promptly next time.

 

This one is for my daughter's 24th birthday.. she will be thrilled!

 

Project #2..... Jumped right into this on a scratch sheet of paper... not sure how would turn out.  I think this is a type of Butterfly Bush... I enjoyed the depth in the color and was able to add value to the pedals with just 2 colors: Winsor Violet & Permanent Magenta.  Olive and Sap Green was used for the leaves.  I am very happy with this...  I hope I don't get in trouble for snipping these flowers from a bush on the 6th floor of my apartment building....