Adventurous Watercolours

 I'm reading Jenny Wheatley's book Adventurous Watercolours, and picking up lots of wonderful examples on her style of "freedom with control." She uses different brush strokes, layers upon layers, and hints at what the subjects are without worrying too much about exact details.  I like it.

 This first one I tried today I'm not too fussed about.  I didn't plan my painting enough, as a result my flowers are all at wonky angles and there is no way I could paint a vase to put them in.
I even painted over one of the best roses, (bottom left) in an attempt to try to bring some balance and realism to the painting. 

My second painting, however, turned out great.  I use two very different brush strokes (bottom left and right) and then I lifted a lot of the pink out of the top to ensure a lot of white would show through. I painted the vase in very light yellow just to help me plan the painting.

I love how bright and vibrant the colours are. I think you can definitely tell its a vase of flowers ... the large flower (left) is actually a copy of a flower off the top I was wearing today.