Iris: Jazz Festival 2

As promised, I have had another go at the Iris called Jazz Festival, to try to paint it a little looser. The process was exactly the same, but I made a conscious effort to avoid too much detail and to create a few more lost edges.

I painted wet-in-wet washes over the original drawing, using pale versions of the pigments I intended to use for the flowers. When this was dry, I began with the centres of the flowers and added as much detail as I thought necessary.

I am really pleased with the result,( although I will have to go back and put more detail in the beards, which I notice are only painted with their underwash colour!) and am glad I gave it a go. If I am honest, I felt the process was a bit contrived and did not flow like my painting usually does. Maybe this will improve with practice.The previous attempt seemed to happen without too much thought, just what felt like a natural process taking place. So perhaps the first attempt reflects the real me, although I like the composition of the second painting better. I have put both paintings together side by side so that you can compare the results.