Earth laughs in flowers ...

...  a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I think that says it all.

For the final Line and Wash session I started another painting, as I had already finished the final project (see previous post).

Originally I was going to do another line & wash, but there is only a tiny bit of line in this one!

I started out using masking fluid over the flowers. I then tried another background technique which my class tutor suggested. She called it lake wetting. This involves brushing water over the whole area, twice. Then spend 5 minutes dropping in more water. Ultimately the paper is thoroughly soaked and can't take any more water.

Then I dropped in 4 different washes. Because the paper is thoroughly saturated there is plenty of time to get the effects you are after, and there are no hard edges. The paper takes an age to dry though!

I then painted the flowers in about 5 layers. The line element is in the form of yellow acrylic ink in the flower centres, which I did first.

Echinacea is my favourite flower ...

I started my next art course yesterday - Painting Trees. I'll be taking a break from classes after that finishes in 5 weeks time - phew!

Talking of flowers, my wisteria is in bloom - love that scent ...