Yellow Roses, step 1

The drawing and under painting



We bought these roses for the garden...I wanted to paint them "en plein air," however, my time got scarce and I had to photograph them instead.

But I will paint them as if I were sitting in front of them. When I finish painting the roses and some of the leaves from the photos, I may bring the plant inside and paint the rest of the leaves and stems from the actual plant.

Since I was painting from photos, I had the advantage of taking my time arranging the roses in a more artistic manner than I might have if I had been on location. I fiddled with pencil and paper before settling on this arrangement, which has a nice flow to it. So far I like it!