A Spoonful of Sugar..

Yep, helps the medicine go down.  A little time in the studio can make a big difference in an otherwise mundane day.  Of course, a LOT of time in the studio can make for an awesome day, but in real life, those are not a steady diet for me.  (There's also the factor of: too-much-time-in-the-studio-can-wreck-a-week-all-to-heck, but that's for another day)

You can see in this photo how I've under-painted the blossom area, creating what will be the lightest value in that section of the piece.  The yellow bits will help with the appearance of sunlight on the petals.    

However, life is a grand adventure and I'm happy.  Even though the past day or so has been filled with putting-out-fires sorts of activities, there was a little bit of time to paint.  Every little session will add up to a painting eventually.  I'm not sad to be making slow progress on this; I feel like it needs careful thought and planning to keep it from getting so busy and filled with detail that I ruin it altogether.  Those red blossom areas need to stay the stars of the whole show, with the thorns adding a subtle contrast.  So, off I go to put out more fires.  And hopefully finish another piece of this painting.  Till tomorrow..

Thanks for stopping by and happy creating!  Alice