Painting Process

I promised I would do a painting in stages from start to finish last time and here it is! I'm still not quite sure how I want the painting to look in the end but I have a few ideas. See if you agree or feel free to give some suggestions of your own! The painted started with a photograph I took of some delphiniums in a vase in my home (and I'm proud to say they were from my garden!). Here is the photo:

I did a quick drawing in my sketch book of a simple scene with the flowers and the vase the main focus with a dark shaded background. I may decide to add some shapes to the back ground of the painting or I may decide to add the bowl. At this point I was just focusing on the flowers and the vase. I love the rich blues of the flowers!

Here is the page from my sketch book (at the top of the page). As I said, pretty simple. I was trying mainly to see where I would place the light and dark values. I actually did decide to add the other shapes to the painting later, though.

So onto the next stage. I drew the painting on newsprint and when I was satisfied with the drawing I copied it onto Arches 140 lb. watercolor paper and started painting. I start with a light background of permanent rose, quinacridone gold and cobalt blue. I keep the colors light and spatter some of it for texture. Here is the photo of the painting so far:

I should add that I put misket on the white flowers and let it dry before I applied paint. I start with the blue petals using cobalt blue, some cerulean blue and also ultramarine blue and permanent rose is spots. For the really dark areas I used a little indigo as well. I worked on the vase using similar shades of blue. I used some greens and yellows in the window area and splatters of blue as well.

So I step back and observe the painting in progress and I decide I will add some more elements like the bowl and the table cloth in the picture. I'm thinking maybe it will make it a more interesting painting overall. So I continue on.

Here is the finished painting. As I was taking pictures of it I cropped off the sides and decided I liked it much better with the cropping than without. I think it focuses more on the delphiniums and their beauty. Of course the cropping was only done with camera so I still haven't actually changed the painting-yet! Here are the photos where the painting was cropped. What do you think? Please let me know!