Lions Rose - finished

Lions Rose, watercolor,

around 7,3"x11,5", painted on 95 Lb coldpressed Arches paper

Oh I just realized that there are almost 4 days over since I have done my last post here.
I am sorry about that.
I have painted more on this Lion Rose and I also have finished it. But I have done photos of the earlier stages.

I told you already which colours I used in the bloom and I have go on with these colours. I darkened them where neccessary until I was happy with the look.
I then started with the leaves.
I have paint them in sections to describe them well and not to have only a soft look on them.
I used underpaintings of indian yellow for the warm areas and Helio Turquoise on the cool sides.
Over these underwashes I used Sap Green, a mix of Helio Turquiose and Sap Green, added some translucent orange, added sometimes a bit of Alizarin Crimson and a bit of Phthalo green.
I used them there where I wanted to have these colours. For more warm I added the Translucent Orange, for more dark I added alizarin crimson with sap green and/or phthalo green, for more cool dark sides I added more of the Helio Turquoise to the Sap green.
It is always a good way to use the same colours which are used in the subject. The only change I made was that I used the Helio Turquoise on the leaves instead of the Phthalo blue which I used in the bloom.

At first I wanted to stay with a white background but I did not like it. The Rose is such a light colour and it was not good to see on the white background, so I added a background.
I wanted the background around the rose darker and lighter where the leaves are, because otherwise the leaves would have seen not very good.
In the background I wet the areas and then added here and there Sap Green and/or Alizarin Crimson and/or Translucent Orange and/or Helio Turqouise and/or Phthalo Green and/or also a bit of Ivory Black.
Behind the leaves I used some Translucent Orange and Alizarin Crimson but then added some Sap Green to dissatisfied the colours a bit.
It is really bad weather outside to take a very good photo, but I think this comes near to the Original painting. I also was thinking about adding a really dark background behind the bloom but was not sure how it would have looked with the lighter background at the bottom, so I stay with it as it is now. I am pleased about the result. I think the Rose looks elegant and the background fits perfect to it.

Tomorrow I plan to start a new Rose and this one will be very different in composition and colour - a pink/deep purple Rose. The Heidi Klum Rose. I once painted this Rose in oil, but I think with watercolors it will be very different.

See you soon!