Hi there! 

I chose to paint a maple leaf that my mother brought me last fall. 

These are the first layers of watercolor, an ochre base to which I added soft browns to mark the shaded areas.

 

 

Next I added more contrast, stronger browns and bluish grey to tone. Finally I highlighted the veins of the leaf and added a few dots to give texture.

The final piece!

 

 

Here's the picture I took of the leaf compared to the drawing (the scanned version because in the photos I can't get the colors right).

 

 

 

Some colors had a slight shimmer effect

 

I would've liked to take a picture of the real leaf with the drawing because it's almost three times bigger, but right now it's inside the press with other flowers that I have put there recently and I didn't wanted to open it for fear that they would move.

 

Thanks Rosalie for this amazing class! I've picked up a couple of new tricks :)