A Rosy Picture

Still working with the quinacridone red wash, I decided to paint a dried-up oak leaf over the washed paper. Here is my pencil sketch, drawn from a leaf I brought home with me a few weeks ago.

My experiment today is with a wet-on-wet technique. First I used plain water stroked over sections of the leaf individually. Then I dropped in burnt sienna. After watching the brown spread out, I added drops of different colors.

Adding details, I painted in the stem, veins and a shadow. Next came a little white gouache stroked over the pale veins. And finally some brown pen outlined the edges.

This one makes me feel happy.