Lily

Productive weekend - as my rainy sky over the North Sea watercolours were not going well, I cheered myself up by drawing and painting the flowers I was given last week.

The red roses are still going strong, and also the lilies.

I quickly decided that painting the roses was going to be too hard and I focused on a beautiful pale pink lily instead. Apart from one muddy area in the bottom petal, I was happy with the result.

What have I learned from the experience?

- If a painting is not going well, move on to something completely different.

- And also, go back to basics: mask detail areas, paint wet into wet for a soft look, pick up wet paint with absorbent paper to create highlights.

- And most of all, don't ever paint over an area that's covered in speckled paint, unless you want muddy colours.