With the cartoon made and placed on my paper (Arches 140# cold press) I wasn't sure where to begin but thought outlining the petals would help me get the vision a little easier. I found that once I did that I just needed to continue working inward as you can see in this series of photos.
At this point I felt like the rose was complete and if not I could adjust it as the remaining portion starts to filled in. What would a rose be without leaves? Unfinished.... so leaves was the next step to tackle, which is not my favorite project but it needed to be done. Below are the steps taken to complete this part. You might notice that in this set of photos it looks like a different rose in each picture but this is due to taking the shots after each session and not following the same process to take each picture.
With the rose and leaves complete it was time to fill in the background. I wasn't interested in using the background from the photo and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do so it was time to put this painting aside until I could figure it out. I often come to this point while doing a painting and have learned that patience is the best way to keep a good painting from going bad. After weeks of pondering I finally came up with a solution I felt would be perfect. The solution came from a painting I saw in a magazine that would complement the rose and allow it to stand out. This stage was done by applying many layers and letting the color build up with each layer. I wanted the effect of having other flowers and leaves in the background by using complementary colors but forcing them back using smaller clusters and a deeper value to achieve this. Once this was complete I checked the values of the entire painting and made adjustments as needed.
Moonlight Rose
Watercolor
11" X 15"
