How To Paint a Rose in Watercolor Step By Step – Part 2

I have started with the painting.

Here is a photo of the drawing. As you can see, the detail is not very good. I am sorry.

At first I wanted to do a square format, but I did not really like it, so I changed the composition and now it will be a high format.

There are several larger roses, some buds and leaves.

I also have decided for my palette. I am using:

• Naples Yellow (Winsor & Newton)
• Indian Yellow (Schmincke)
• Translucent orange (Schmincke)
• Permanent rose (Winsor & Newton)
• Alizarin Crimson (Schmincke)
• Phthalo blue (Schmincke)
• Brillant Purple (Schmincke)
• Sap Green (Daniel Smith)

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I do not like to use masking fluid, but in this painting I will go over all the stamens with the masquepen. It would be otherwise too complicated to paint around them. I have done small lines, so I am sure, I will have no hard edges there later, when I have removed the masking fluid and add the colour there.

The next photo will show you, how I have started with the first rose.

In this rose are areas of white. I do not like the raw white, so I did a very very fine wash with Naples Yellow over this rose. Then I added some Indian yellow where I saw more yellow in this reference photo.

I wanted to have the colours in this rose warm, so the next layers were a mix of permanent rose and translucent orange. Where it was not so warm, I added to this mix a bit of brillant purple. To the areas that seem to be more cold, I added a mix of brillant purple and phthalo blue.

So far I like what I have done , but there is one area which I do not really like. It is this blue area. I am sure you see it, so I will go over it. Maybe I will try to lighten the color a bit or simply add a touch of my warmer mix. I will try this carefully until I am pleased.
I paint petal for petal and when I am finished with them, I soften the edges. I am using a flat brush for this, it works perfect.

I hope to do more painting tomorrow. I will work on the stamens later – I usually do this when I am in the mood. First I will continue with the other roses and some buds.

In the next step I have painted on two buds and also on some leaves around them. The buds and leaves are not finished yet, as you will see.

I have start again with underlayers. On the buds I did a very fine wash of Naples Yellow – but where I saw more yellow I did an underlayer of Indian Yellow and where necessary I added a bit of Sap Green.
Then I worked with the same colours I used on the large rose – but I tried to make them a bit more cool (adding a bit more of brillant purple and/or phthalo blue).

On the leaves I also started with underlayers. One side of the leaves I did an underlayer of Indian yellow and on the other side I did an underlayer of phthalo blue, so I have a warm and a cool side on the leaves. In the next layer I added Sap Green. I will work more on the leaves and also add some of my petal-colour (permanent rose or brillant purple), because the leaves will be reflected from the roses and also the roses will be reflected from the leaves. I will also add sap green/ phthalo blue and/or alizarin crimson on the leaves, to make beautiful darker areas.

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