I have begun painting the Iris and chose Schminke’s pthalo blue, magenta, Indian yellow, translucent orange and ultramarine blue for a start. Wet the lower petal first, and dropped in a very weak solution of blue and magenta with more of the blue in the middle and more of the magenta towards the sides leaving the lower edge very pale. Also dropped in a little yellow at the base of the petal. Started with a few veins with stronger colors as the wash was beginning to dry. If you have a good brush, painting the veins is easier with a number 2 round rather than a 0 round as you run out of paint very quickly with the smaller brush. The upper left petal is painted in the same way leaving a white highlight for the vein at the centre. Used a bit of ultramarine for the veins here.
Layed in the first washes for the upper petals in the same way. After the lower petal was completely dry, I wet small areas at the upper left and right hand side, and stroked in stronger violet colors for shadows. The veins at the upper right are of a darker value as they are at the base of the petal. The petal below the lower petal is in front of leaves and so there is a bit of grayish green showing through which I painted by adding a little yellow to the violet mix.
Dropped in a weak solution of translucent orange in the wet areas of the inner petals adding a little blue in the vein area letting them blend together on the paper.
Added a few more shadows and painted all the veins after the lower petal had dried. I think I am done with this petal, after rubbing out the pencil lines the veins wont look so prominent. I thoroughly enjoyed this painting upto now. It’s really fun to paint when the drawing underneath is accurate and complete. Was there really a time when I thought software programming was interesting?! It compares in no way to the joy of this.
Watercolor Journal 
