STAGE ONE After drawing the main petal shapes in soft pencil, I began washing on the lighter colours with a size 5 squirrel mop brush. I tried to make this varied and reflective of the light, using new gamboge, Daniel Smith perinone orange and Winsor violet. In places I used only water to dilute and vary the wash further
STAGE TWO When the initial wash was dry, I built up the shapes with a size 2 mop, using some quite intense pigment in places. I added new gamboge in the sunlit parts and permanent rose in the mid-values, switching to a thicker mix with Winsor violet in the shade, cutting around highlights but keeping the shapes damp to allow for incidental bleeding and fusing of the colours
Paul Talbot-Greaves teaches watercolour and acrylic painting in workshops and demonstrations to art societies throughout the midlands and the north of England. He can be contacted by email: information@talbotgreaves.co.uk or through his website: www.talbot-greaves.co.uk