Today I started a small painting of some water lilies, using my vacation photos as a reference (although the lilies at Moses Cone were white, not pink). I'm interested in trying to capture the reflections cast by the lily pads and the flowers -- definitely not an easy task.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg0MrEeQENgP2WgaLoOKG5ms3AqYyCctex2cVmd-dgyNkvrupVRLL5tlz_TznvYZXnoQBbAaBpWagMWx1M36Rre_2ZNy87mqpVcRXN6j9ToOwPdCHFRg0qehSfr2fmBGEyxOv_05YkJCQ/s400/FullSizeRender.jpg)
Next, I began to work on the petals, using several colors: Opera, Permanent Rose, and Magenta. I worked wet-in-wet at first. After the petals had dried, I added shadows using a wash of Winsor violet and Magenta. I also did some light dry-brush work on some of the petals, using Permanent Rose.
Finally, I painted the reflected water lily petals in a pale wash of Yellow Ochre.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUSMKv5Z0FKS0fFmy9GWxTXvCGQvm2I-ovIRKOZKzJT434pihkUsce7S8w8PrV9tAK6Hkk5Wc5WI0zkIPXiY_evV3bRQlomUQc50ZCvFLJdxKqf4pMwQSPVBr7Iw_sVJNMxGpbVty88E0/s400/FullSizeRender_1.jpg)
My next step will be to apply a smooth wash of blue to indicate the water, while preserving the reflections and adding a few more shadows.
The finished painting...
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"Waterlilies" SOLD |