White Lillies

I've started working through the exercises in the Botanical Palette book - Chapter One - White. While waiting for the Casa Blanca lilies to bloom so I can paint them from life, I've also started to work on a watercolor painting from a photo I took of the lilies in the garden last summer. The pencil sketch for that is show below. I drew the lily directly on my watercolor paper using an HB pencil and the divider tool to take accurate measurements from the image on my computer screen. It took a few hours, but then I decided it needed to be about 150% bigger. I scanned the drawing, enlarged it, printed it and transferred it to the watercolor paper with graphite paper, then refined the pencil drawing further.

Watercolor, 9x12" 

Watercolor, 9x12" 

Sketch transferred to watercolor paper

Sketch transferred to watercolor paper

Watercolor sketches of a little old cart and a koi

I don't know how old this little cart is, or where it was made, but it's full of rustic charm and very fragile.

Also here is a recent watercolor and gouache sketch of a koi, using Daniel Smith's Cascade Green and Undersea Green in the background. I really loved using these colors and the beautiful effects they produce. I also used some  Perylene Green for the very darkest green close to the body at the bottom of the koi. The koi is painted with gouache.

Here are some in-progress photos:

Koi sketch in progress

Koi sketch in progress

Koi sketch in progress

Koi sketch in progress

Little old cart watercolor sketch

Little old cart watercolor sketch

Koi, watercolor and gouache, 5x7"

Koi, watercolor and gouache, 5x7"