For me, a painting starts with a thorough prep process: I do a round of thumbnails, a round of sketches, and then a detailed drawing that will be transferred to watercolor paper. All this prep gives me space and time to explore ideas as well as composition, value structure, etc., but there is a potential hazard to the method -- sometimes the spontaneity of the sketches doesn't reach the final piece.
I decided to challenge myself by painting a series of mini paintings with no prep at all. Naturally some of the results were better than others, but overall, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how much I could wing it. A happy bonus was getting to experiment with a lot of 2-color palettes I hadn't tried before.
Yellow Tulips
Jack in the Pulpit
Crocus
Pink Poppies
Golden Iris
Black Orchid
Red Calla
Green Daffodils
Gladiolus, Pink and Green
Fritillary
Bleeding Hearts
Orange Amaryllis
