Today's work on this painting included painting lots of leaves, and trying to vary the hue of greens to not get too boring.  Painting greens can be challenging.  Of course, everyone knows mixing blue and yellow produces green, but to get different shades involves some practice.  The best tool I have found is to make a green chart, writing all the different combinations down on a piece of watercolor paper along with a swipe of the color.  This chart can be used over and over again.  Daniel Smith has many paints in all different greens.  I hate to venture a guess as to how many colors of green can be purchased.  This is an easy way to accomplish the same as above , but saves time (not money) and sometimes frustration.  Either way, it's wise to keep changing the color on your brush to make your painting interesting. 

The wild blueberries were scrubbed out some with a scrubber brush and then blotted with a tissue to make them appear round. Some of the flowers featured in this painting actually grow wild in Alaska, but you may notice some of the flowers are vague and imaginary.  I guess they could grow somewhere in the world.  Mostly, it was a fun practice of making the rock garden interesting with a variety of shapes, textures and color, along with the featured plant, the phlox.  The roots growing here and there were faintly painted with a light grey or light tan, and the branch was dry brushed to create a weathered look.

The foliage at the top of the rocks are starting to take form now.  Some negative painting was done, but this area still needs a bit of work.  The painting probably has about 2 more hours to finish.  When it is complete, it will be posted on my main website page. 

Here's hoping you have flowers growing in your part of the world or at least in your imagination.  May some sunny weather shine on your bouquet!