Doin' it my own way

For the past few weeks I've been looking at watercolor books and viewing artists' watercolor paintings on the internet to get a sense of "how" to watercolor.  And this is the conclusion I've come up with... whatever way I want to paint with watercolor is fine.  I'm not trying to please anybody except myself and if I like it then so-be-it.  I know before I've stated that I need to learn to "loosen up" because watercolor paintings, in general, seem to have less defining lines and my paintings have very definite lines.  Maybe one day I'll paint like that but for now I love the way my paintings are turning out and to me that's all that matters.  I'm finding my style now.

I've also been looking at books and paintings for inspiration.  I should have known to look at my own photos first.  This is where I found a picture of a monarch butterfly hoovering over this gorgeous lavendar flower.  I decided to add a little blue/purple to the flower to give it more depth and to contrast it with the rich hues of the butterfly.  I may eventually go back and darken the background too.

I really like how the center of the flower turned out.  At first I was just going to paint it a light green with a few dark green sprigs in it.  But then I used my, I call it my grass brush, to stipple some dark green dots in the center.  It gave it a raised effect plus it blended the dark purple flower with the lightness of the center. 

Some call it cheating but I call it a really cool effect... yes I did use masking fluid for parts of the flower and the top torso of the butterfly (and the spots on the wings).

While looking at my photos for inspiration for this project I found a lot of other photos of past things I've done (like embroidery, knitting, soap making, etc.)  So I think some of my future posts will be "a look back" at my creative journey.