Sky Garden - from 1st layer to final painting

Back to painting florals in a loose fashion - I like this technique from Anne-Laure Jacquart (#FollowingTheWhiteRabbit), and I want to practise it more, learning how to define shapes after a loose wash without losing too much of the spontaneity.

Step 1: Loose wash, very wet, very loose shapes. This is my favourite stage - all colour and options open. A colour I don't use very often these days is Phthalo blue, so I thought it would be interesting to experiment with it. It's a very strong pigment. And staining. So I hadn't used it in a long time.

Step 2: Trying to define the shapes, without losing the more successful effects from the first wash. I may have gone too dark and hard edges already.  I might have to do a bit of lifting to recover soft edges. After that, I'm planning to refine the centre of the roses and just leave it at that!

Step 3: I added a warmer wash over parts of the roses, as I found the colours were a bit too cold for my liking. I softened the space above the roses. I redefined some of the leaves on the trellis above the roses. And I added detail to the roses themselves. Oh, and I also fixed the main rose's stem! All done.