Hollyhocks in progress...

Progress - View #1

For the past week or so, I've been working on a new floral painting, using a new-to-me paper which I like very much -- actually, it's a not paper, exactly, but Strathmore 500 Illustration Board for Wet Media. It's a smoother surface than I normally work on, which is a bit challenging but so far I'm liking the results. It holds up well to multiple layers of glazing. 

My reference photos are a series of shots I took at a local garden center. It was near the end of the season and there were only a few smallish hollyhock plants available, but their purple blossoms and tall, gangly stalks were appealing. 

My palette for this painting is: Opera, Quinacridone Fuchsia, Mineral Violet, Winsor Violet, Green Gold, Sap Green, Shadow Green, and Winsor Blue GS. And I'm using several sizes of round brushes from the Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin series -- mostly #8 and #4.

I'll post the final steps and finished painting in a few days. 

Progress - View #2

Progress - View #3