52frames this week set the challenge of Choose a Colour. I have been picking little bunches of sweet peas from my garden for a few weeks and wanted to include them. Because I did not have many flowers I needed a vase with a tiny neck. I found this little bottle and posed them against some pink silk. I used watercolour for the main medium and added someDerwent crayon and pencil.

I did a loose drawing and then put a pink wash on trying to leave the whites clear. I tidied up the drawing as I went along painting in the flowers and then doing the bottle and stems.

This is what I had

Sweet peas in watercolour Derwent crayon and pencil

I like it but think the flowers do not stand out enough, which they did in life, and that the purple ones are too dominant. it may have been a mistake to include them.

I went over the background to bring the flowers forward, which I think has been a success. However some of the lovely looseness of the original is lost. It is so easy to forget how much lighter your wash will dry when you first paint the white paper!!

I like them both but would be interested to know what other people think.

Sweet peas in watercolour Derwent crayon and pencil