Blue Lilies

I was given these amazing blue lilies by a friend. Apparently the blue is a dye - how it's done I have no idea - are they dipped in the dye or is the dye present is their water when they are growing them? These photos don't actually do them justice - they are an electric blue, not as purply as shown here

I can't have these striking flowers and not try to paint them of course. What will happen, as it always does, is that I will sketch them, photograph them, think about them, and then I will only get started on a proper painting when they are starting to fade. Hopefully by then I will have enough information in my head to be able to do them justice. At least I have a couple of sketches done now, and an idea of what colours to use: cobalt blue + a touch of ultramarine for the blue, burnt sienna + cadmium red for the stamens (is that the right name?), lemon yellow with a dab of cobalt blue for the green stems, and cobalt blue + burnt sienna + cadmium red for the leaves.

How I will merge the red and the blue at the centre without blending them too much, I have no idea. And will I have to use masking fluid to protect the red dots, again I don't know.

Or will I paint in acrylics instead? There's an idea!

Sketch 1, drawn over a coloured background

Sketch 2, where I tried out different colours and techniques. The blue on the left-hand side is exactly what I want, a mix of cobalt blue with just a touch of ultramarine. And I used the edge of a mini paint brush metal cover to drag the dark green background paint - will definitely work for the leaves. I just need to remember to keep the paint quite thick to achieve that effect. If it's too diluted, I will get dark marks rather than light ones.